BEIJING: China’s unwrought copper imports fell 8.2% in April from the prior month, customs data showed on Thursday, as a surge in global prices dampened buying appetite.

Imports of unwrought copper and products in China, the world’s biggest consumer of the metal, stood at 438,000 metric tons in April, compared with 474,000 tons in March, showed data from the General Administration of Customs.

The data includes anode, refined, alloy and semi-finished copper products.

Profit-taking sparked by firm dollar push down copper price

The past month saw strong upward momentum for copper, boosted by raw material shortages, demand optimism driven by new energy and AI sectors, and speculative buying.

Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange (LME) advanced 13% in April, surpassing the two-year high of $10,000 a ton on April 29.

The most-traded copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange similarly gained 13% last month to a record high.

Rising prices weighed down buying, as reflected by a drop in the Yangshan premium, an indicator for import demand that fell to zero in late April for the first time on record.

Imports of copper concentrate came in at 2.35 million tons for April, up 11.9% from a year earlier, customs data showed.

Imports totalled 9.34 million tons in the first four months, up 6.9% on the year.