China boosted import volumes of some key commodities in March – specifically copper, iron ore and coal.
Iron ore was a case in point – they hit 85.77 million tonnes in March, up 16.5% from the 73.61 million tonne figure reported in February.
March’s figure was higher than the 81.1 million tonnes in January, but well under the all time high of 96.27 million tonnes in December.
Over the year to March imports rose to 969 million tonnes, the highest 12-month total on record.
China’s crude oil imports rose nearly 22% on a daily basis in March from a year earlier, down from a record-high in February, while imports for the first quarter grew over 13% from the same period in 2015, official data showed.
March imports stood at 32.61 million tonnes, or 7.68 million barrels a day (bpd), compared with February’s 8 million bpd.
For the first quarter, imports rose 13.4% on the year to 91.1 million tonnes, or about 7.31 million bpd. That would be an increase of nearly 800,000 bpd on average during the period, according to analysis by Reuters.
China’s steel exports rebounded in March to their highest this year, pointing to more trouble ahead for global producers
China exported 9.98 million tonnes last month, up 30% from March, 2015 and well ahead of the 8.11 million tonnes shipped in February.
The March figure too exports for the quarter to 27.83 million tonnes, up 8% from the first three months of last year.
Coal imports also surged in March, up 45% from February
Customs said coal imports totalled 19.69 million tonnes of coal in March, up 15.6% from march last year.
The surge in copper imports was dramatic – a record for the month, according to Chinese Customs data.
China’s copper arrivals hit a record in March, pushing up total imports 30.1% in the first quarter from last year.
Customs data showed that inbound shipments of anode, refined copper, copper alloys and semi-finished copper products hit a monthly record figure of 570,000 tonnes against the previous record 536,000 tonnes in January 2014.
Shipments were up 36% from the Lunar New Year holiday impacted month of February and 39% than March, 2015.
Imports rose to 1.43 million tonnes the March quarter.
Imports of raw material copper ores and concentrates jumped 34% from a year ago to 4 million tonnes in the first quarter.
Copper ore imports in March dropped 6% to 1.37 million tonnes, from February.
Exports of primary aluminium, alloy and semi-finished aluminium products fell 11% to 1.08 million tonnes in the March quarter. March shipments jumped 50% to 420,000 tonnes, from February 2016 and 16.7% from March last year.
