China’s copper ore, concentrate imports dipped 0.5%YoY in Q1 2020

SHANGHAI, Apr 15 (SMM) – China imported 1.78 million mt of copper ore and concentrate last month, the lowest monthly level since September 2019, according to data from China Customs released on Tuesday.

This brought total copper ore and concentrate imports in the first three months of 2020 to 5.55 million mt, down 0.5% from the same period last year. That was smaller than the decline of 1.2% registered in the first two months of this year.

Customs data also showed that China’s imports of unwrought copper and copper products increased 13% in March from a year earlier to 441,926 mt.

In the January-to-March period, China imported a total of 1.29 million mt of unwrought copper and copper products. That was up 9.1% year on year, accelerating from an increase of 7.2% in January-to-February.