SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE: China’s copper imports rose in November to a one-year high, customs data showed on Tuesday, fuelled by shipments from Africa and purchases to restock domestic inventories.

Imports of unwrought copper and products stood at 528,000 tons last month, up 4.3% from October’s imports, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

The figure was the highest since last November, when imports reached 550,566 tons.

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

The higher imports came amid a drop in copper prices, in China and globally, as investors sold off bullish positions on the potential for tariffs under US President-elect Donald Trump and disappointment over the lack of aggressive Chinese stimulus.

There was an increase in copper shipments from Africa, mainly from the assets owned by Chinese companies like Zijin Mining Group and CMOC Group, said Zhao Yongcheng, principal analyst at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI), ahead of the data release.

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“These African-produced cathodes still offer higher margins due to their lower production cost,” Zhao said. The higher imports also came as domestic inventories declined further over the past month.

Deliverable copper stocks on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell last month to a nine-month low to 108,775 tons on Nov. 29, down 29% from 153,221 tons on Nov. 1.

For the first 11 months of the year, unwrought copper imports totalled 5.13 million tons, a year-on-year increase of 1.7%, the data showed.

Imports of copper concentrate last month stood at 2.25 million tons, down 7.8% from a year earlier.

Copper concentrate imports totalled 25.6 million tons for the first 11 months, up 2.2% from a year earlier.