News

Chinese copper and iron ore imports slow.

Issued at 2010-05-22



China trimmed imports of copper and iron ore in April, but its hunger for thermal and coking coal remained strong, customs data showed on Friday.

The data offered a mixed picture for analysts trying to glean the impact of measures by China to cool demand in certain sectors, in particular, property.

"There was a concern in China about measures to cool property buying and the potential for weak export demand from thd euro zone and pull backs in iron ore and copper were expected," said John Meyer, analyst at investment bank Fairfax in London.

China's imports of refined copper fell 8.1 percent on the month after a 52.9 percent rise in the previous month, due to Beijing's moves to tighten bank lending and reduce arrivals of contracted shipments.

For a round-up of all stories and data on China trade, click [ID:nSGE64K0BW]

China, the world's top copper consumer and one of the key drivers of last year's 140 percent price rise on London Metal Exchange copper <CMCU3), imported 309,772 tonnes of refined copper in April, down from 337,125 tonnes in March, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Friday.

"The sentiment has changed from before. The bullish outlook had dominated the scene, but people have become cautious about importing copper," said Judy Zhu, an analyst at Standard Chartered.

Almost all of April's slowdown was accounted for by a cut of almost 25,000 tonnes, or 17 percent, in supplies from Chile, China's top supplier. Imports from Japan also slumped by more than a third, to 26,000 tonnes, while China imported more from Zambia and Kazakhstan. Imports of iron ore from Australia reached 20 million tonnes last month, down 17 percent compared with the previous month, customs data showed on Friday.

Australian ore accounted for 36 percent of China's total imports over the month, which stood at 55.33 million tonnes. Australia's share fell 4 percentage points compared to March.

Supplies from Australia, India and Brazil accounted for 80.8 percent, down from 83 percent in March. But imports of coking coal, used with iron ore to make steel, grew 17 percent from a month earlier to nearly 4 million tonnes in April, data showed, as China's crude steel output hit a new record. [ID:nTOE64A03V] Thermal coal imports rose by 47.55 percent from a year earlier to 13.52 million tonnes. Total imports in the first fourth months of the year amounted to 57.99 million tonnes, up nearly 155 percent on the year, the data also said.

"We've probably seen the peak of year-on-year growth in economic growth or imports for this year," said Standard Chartered's Zhu.

Some coal exporters and analysts, including the International Energy Agency, expected China's net coal imports to soar by 70-100 percent to 170 million tonnes or more in 2010, boosting coal prices globally.

Farifax's Meyer said: "It's also not surprising that coal imports are rising at a rapid rate. Power generation in the region is pulling in new supplies.

"I don't see that trend changing significantly and unlike other commodities, its harder to stockpile coal so it may more accurately reflect economic growth in China."

Imports of wheat also shot up, rising almost fourfold to 131.422 tonnes. Corn imports rose by 500 percent but the total was just 3,588 tonnes.

However, large buys by China in the past few weeks would like see upwards of 300,000 to 500,000 tonnes in the next few months.


Source: Mine Web



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