By Siyi Liu and Dominique Patton
BEIJING (Reuters) -China’s copper imports fell 12.7% in December from a year earlier, weighed down by weak demand as factory activity shrank at a sharper pace amid surging COVID-19 infections.
Imports of unwrought copper and copper products totalled 514,049 tonnes in December, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Friday.
The purchases, which included anode, refined, alloy and semi-finished copper products, compared with imports of 589,165 tonnes in December 2021, a 14-month high.
“Domestic copper consumption slowed down since mid- to late-October, resulting in lower demand for imports,” said Ye Jianhua, a copper analyst at Shanghai Metals Market.
In addition, China’s abrupt exit in December from its zero-COVID policy prompted a surge in infections that disrupted production and weighed on demand for copper, a metal widely used in power generation, construction and transportation.
The Caixin/Markit manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 49.0 in December from 49.4 in November, staying below the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction for a fifth straight month.
Meanwhile, shrinking orders at home and abroad are forcing many metal goods factories, including those in China’s southern Guangdong province, to shut for the Lunar New Year holiday weeks earlier than usual. Some are also cutting production plans.
Last month’s decline in imports was also attributable to copper prices being higher on the London market than in Shanghai, traders said.
China’s main copper suppliers include Chile, Congo and Russia.
Despite the recent tail-off, total imports were 5.87 million tonnes in 2022, up 6.2% from 2021.
“We expect improving industrial activity and record investment in the power grid to keep imports resilient,” said ANZ research in a note.
Meanwhile, exports in December stood at 471,432 tonnes of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products, including primary, alloy and semi-finished aluminium products.
That brought 2022 aluminium exports to 6.6 million tonnes, the highest annual figure since at least 2013, according to Reuters’ records of customs data.
However, slowing global growth will be a headwind for exports, ANZ research said in the same note.
(Reporting by Siyi Liu and Dominique Patton; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Bradley Perrett and Kim Coghill)
