BEIJING: China’s imports of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products rose 11.1% in July from the same month last year to 260,000 metric tons, customs data showed on Sunday.

Imports for the first seven months of this year totalled 2.3 million tons, up 60.6% from the same period a year earlier, according to the data from the General Administration of Customs.

The data include primary metal and unwrought, alloyed aluminium.

China July aluminium output rises to highest monthly total in over 20 years

The light metal is traditionally used in the construction, transportation and packaging sectors. Imports of bauxite, a key raw material for aluminium, rose 16.5% in July to 15 million tons.

For the first seven months, they were up 8.7% to 92.4 million tons.