PREVIEW-China Feb Copper Imports Seen Flat, or Down

HONG KONG, March 8 (Reuters) - China's February imports of unwrought and semi-finished copper products are flat to slightly lower from a month ago due to the Lunar New Year holiday, a shorter month and fewer term shipment arrivals, traders said.

Imports of refined copper, the most popular form in global and Chinese markets, was around 190,000 tonnes in February, compared to a 19 percent decline to 196,926 tonnes in January which was about 67 percent of the total, traders estimated.

Total imports of copper for February due to release on Wednesday which include anodes, alloys and semi-finished products are seen about 282,000 tonnes using the same percentage breakdown seen in January.

Customs will not release detailed February import data for refined copper alone until late March.

"February had the Lunar New Year holidays and that made it difficult for importers to process new shipments," a manager at a large trading house said, referring to workers and transport needed for newly arrived shipments.

The manager said the company had requested overseas suppliers not to send shipments around mid-February when the country started a week break for the Lunar New Year, though supplies did come during other parts of the month.

"We estimate 190,000-200,000 tonnes of refined copper arrived in February."
 
Chinese importers had booked less Chilean term copper for loading in January and February, which was expected to arrive in February and March, because of expected high stocks in the world's biggest copper market in the first quarter, traders said.

"Loadings were relatively low in January from Chile to China and had been expected to rise from March," a trader selling Chilean copper to China said.

"February is also a shorter month. So, February imports should have been flat, or less than January," he said, of refined copper.

But arbitrage buying from the London Metal Exchange MCU0 and selling to the Shanghai market had stayed attractive for much of last month, which may have supported spot imports, Jing Chuan, chief researcher at Great Wall Futures said.

Importers have also received more credits for copper imports since late February after briefly tighter funding in January cut imports, he said.

But traders said importers had taken copper from bonded warehouses to sell for profit and thereby cut demand for fresh spot imports while pushing down bonded stocks.

Copper in bonded warehouses in Shanghai has dropped to 80,000-100,000 tonnes versus 150,000-200,000 tonnes in January, traders estimated.

The copper that arrived in Shanghai in previous months had built up in bonded warehouses, temporarily avoiding China's 17 percent value-added tax, because importers did not want to sell the metal at then weaker Chinese prices.