China sees 20% lower import of unwrought copper, copper products in Feb

SHANGHAI, Mar 8 (SMM) – China's imports of unwrought copper and copper products in February stood at 352,000 mt, down 20% month on month while up 3.5% year on year, according to China Customs.

The month-on-month drop was mainly due to the Chinese New Year holiday. However, losses made in copper imports last month also put a cap on the overall volumes.

Imports for the first two months of this year amounted to 790,000 mt, up 9.8% from the same period last year. SMM believes this is due to the arbitrage window as well as restrictions on copper scrap imports.

Separately, China imported 1.45 million mt of copper ore and concentrate last month, bringing the January-February total to 3.07 million mt.

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