BEIJING: China’s unwrought copper imports in May rose 15.8% from a year earlier, customs data showed on Friday, beating market expectations despite weak physical consumption.

Imports of unwrought copper and products in China, the world’s biggest consumer of the metal, were 514,000 metric tons last month, compared with 444,010 tons a year earlier, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

Imports were up 17.4% from the previous month.

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

The double-digit gains came as a surprise to many in the market given that actual consumption was weak last month amid record high copper prices.

“Some more Russia-origin copper could flow into China following western sanctions on Russian metals,” said He Tianyu, a Shanghai-based copper analyst at CRU.

Following sanctions on Russian metals by the US and UK governments in April, the London Metal Exchange and Chicago Mercantile Exchange banned from its system Russian aluminium, copper and nickel produced from April 13.

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And the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also shipped more after delays in shipments caused by logistics hurdles earlier, CRU’s He added.

In the first five months, China imported 2.33 million tons of unwrought copper and products, up 8.8% from the same period in 2023.

Imports of copper concentrate were 2.26 million tons for May, down 11.7% from a year earlier, customs data showed.

Imports totalled 11.59 million tons in the first five months of 2024, up 2.7% from a year earlier.