SHANGHAI, Nov. 30 (SMM) – China imported 331,900 tonnes of scrap copper in October, down 15.32% from September, Customs data show.

Scrap copper typically surge in September and fall back in October due to the Chinese National Day holiday.

A decline in SHFE/LME copper price ratio from 7.2 to 7.15 during the month and year-end cash problems also left few opportunities for Chinese traders to import scrap.

Moreover, holders of scrap copper in China suffered from larger losses and were reluctant to import scrap copper after bare bright copper prices dropped to 44,328 yuan per tonne, an over 1,000-yuan-per-tonne decline from September, .

Shipments of high-grade scrap copper – mainly from Europe and US – continued to fall in October, as foreign suppliers held quotations elevated for such materials .

Heading into November, the higher SHFE/LME copper price ratio may help scrap copper imports return to September’s levels.

The YTD imports through October fell 10.18% year-on-year to 3.19 million tonnes.
 
For news cooperation, please contact us by email: sallyzhang@smm.cn or service.en@smm.cn.