China's copper imports fell 4.4 percent in April from a year earlier as weak domestic demand limited appetites for imports. Arrivals of anode, refined copper, copper alloys and semi-finished copper products stood at 430,000 tonnes in April, the highest monthly imports since April 2014 and up 4.9 percent from 410,000 tonnes in March, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Friday.
Monthly imports continued to rise in April after surging 46 percent on-month in March when importers resumed shipments after the February holidays. In the first four months of 2015, the imports dropped 14 percent on year to 1.53 million tonnes, the data showed. "The April imports rise was mainly due to expected seasonal demand in May and June in China," said Jin Yidan, analyst at Minmetals JingYi Futures. "Importers expected the demand to rise in the months, therefore they arranged more shipments."
He added that the price differentials between Shanghai and the London Metal Exchange had been favourable for refined copper imports mostly in March and the bulk of those imports had arrived last month. Jin expects the imports in May to fall from April given the price differentials have not been good so far this month. While importers had bought copper ahead of the expected seasonal boom, demand in the domestic market did not rise strongly last month amid the slow economy, traders said.
Seasonal demand for copper in the world's top copper consumer, China is expected to be moderate in the second quarter compared with previous years as the slow economy cut orders to factories. Many factories appeared to hold limited cash to buy copper despite Beijing's recent measures to increase the liquidity. Reflecting sluggish demand for imports, bonded stocks of refined copper in Shanghai are plentiful currently, even though imports of the metal dropped 18 percent in the first quarter. Three traders estimated the stocks at 500,000-550,000 tonnes last week, compared with less than 500,000 tonnes in January 2015.
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