{"id":1183097,"date":"2020-05-07T13:06:48","date_gmt":"2020-05-07T18:06:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1023135"},"modified":"2020-05-08T12:40:48","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T17:40:48","slug":"copper-price-jumps-as-chinese-imports-surge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1183097","title":{"rendered":"Copper price jumps as Chinese imports surge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>UPDATED FRIDAY, MAY 8 @ 2pm EST.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class='ad-slot' id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {    googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');    googletag.pubads().addEventListener('slotRenderEnded', function (event) {        if (event.isEmpty) {            var id = event.slot.getSlotElementId();            var x = document.getElementById(id);            if(x == null) return;            if (x.parentElement.classList.contains('ad-slot')) {                x.parentElement.style.display = 'none';            }\t\t\t\t        }    });});<\/script><\/div>\n<p>Copper rallied again on Friday after a rebound in Chinese imports of the metal indicated the country\u2019s manufacturing and construction sector may be emerging faster than anticipated from the covid-19 slump.<\/p>\n<p>Copper trading in New York rose by more than 2% to $2.43 a pound ($5,355 a tonne) in early afternoon trade, on track to close at an eight-week high. In March, the bellwether metal briefly traded below $2.00, levels last seen during the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, but has now recovered by more than 20%.<\/p>\n<p>Customs data released Thursday showed China\u2019s refined copper imports in April rose 14% from a year ago to just under 442,000 tonnes, as factories and construction activity continues to ramp up. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Demand in China will continue to improve but there will be some supply risk for unwrought copper as well as for concentrate<\/p>\n<p><cite>Argonaut Securities analyst Helen Lau<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>For the first four months of the year, copper imports are up 10.4%, also boosted by a drawdown of stockpiles in warehouses overseen by the Shanghai Futures Exchange and arbitrage opportunities for traders between LME and SHFE prices.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>China consumes more than half the world\u2019s copper and last year cargoes totaled just shy of 5 million tonnes, down 6% from a record high of 5.3 million tonnes in 2018.<\/p>\n<p>April imports of copper concentrate rebounded, topping 2 million tonnes for only the third time. Cargoes for the month soared by 22.5% over the same month last year as shipments from South America recover following production halts and logistics problems.<\/p>\n<p>For the first four months of 2020 imports total 7.58 million tonnes, on pace to surpass last year&#8217;s record-breaking tally of 22 million tonnes. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Argonaut Securities analyst Helen Lau&nbsp;told Reuters there may be supply issues for copper concentrates as Chinese demand grows:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>&#8220;Smelting facilities in South America and Africa will be affected by the pandemic, so certainly I think going forward, demand in China will continue to improve but there will be some supply risk for unwrought copper as well as for concentrate.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Copper price now up more than 20% from covid-19 lows as China&#8217;s April concentrate imports surge 22% to over 2m tonnes for only the third time ever.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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