Copper imports surge

Reuters

Hong Kong

China's copper imports in February surged 50 percent from a year ago, the biggest year-on-year percentage gain since April 2014, as favourable import prices prompted traders to increase spot purchases of the metal.

Arrivals of anode, refined metal, alloys and semi-finished copper products stood at 420,000 tonnes in February, customs data showed on Tuesday.

That was down 4.5 percent from January's 440,000 tonnes but a huge jump from last year's 280,000 tonnes.  "The February imports were lower than January but still quite high given the one-week Chinese New Year holiday," said Peng Sanhao, analyst at Chaos Ternary Futures. He added that price differentials between the international and domestic markets had favoured imports in December and January mostly, prompting importers to place some spot orders and the shipments arrived last month.