China copper concentrate imports rose 11.6% in 2019

SHANGHAI, Jan 14 (SMM) – China’s imports of copper concentrate rose 11.6% in 2019, while imports of unwrought copper fell 6%, according to data from the General Administration of Customs released on Tuesday.

In December, China imported 1.93 million mt of copper concentrate, down from an all-time high of 2.16 million mt in November, but up 31.8% from the same month 2018. This brought the intake for the full year to 21.99 million mt, compared to 19.7 million mt in 2018.

China’s imports of unwrought copper and copper products, however, rose to 527,000 mt last month, from 483,000 mt in November, and the tally for 2019 came in at 4.98 million mt.