BEIJING: China’s April imports of unwrought aluminium and products jumped 72.1% on-year to 380,000 metric tons, customs data showed on Saturday.

The data include primary metal and unwrought, alloyed aluminium.

That brought imports in the first four months to 1.49 million tons, up 86.6% from the same period a year earlier, according to data from the General Administration of Customs.

The world’s biggest consumer of the light metal saw robust consumption as factory output in April exceeded expectations.

Aluminium, widely used in construction, transportation and packaging, also saw rapidly growing consumption from China’s solar and wind power sectors.

The surging imports this year were attributed to higher flows from Russia.

China will release March data on specific origin countries for imports on Monday. Russian imports totalled 392,775 tons in the first quarter of the year, up 127.7% from the 172,526 tons imported in the corresponding period last year.

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Following the latest sanctions on Russian metals by the U.S. and Britain over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, more Russian aluminium is expected to flow into China.

The rising imports have contributed to higher stocks of the metal in China. Aluminium stocks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange stood at 231,765 tons on Friday, up 139.8% from the beginning of this year and near a one-year peak.

Imports of bauxite, a key raw material for aluminium, climbed 18.8% to 14.24 million tons in April, the customs data showed.

Imports of bauxite in the first four months stood at 50.5 million tons, up 6.2% from a year earlier.