Chinese imports rose a surprising 1.5% in August (after sliding more than 12% in July) for the first increase in 22 months.
Higher imports of crude oil and coal, supported that improvement, offset by small falls in key commodities copper, soybeans and iron ore. Imports of machinery and semi finished goods also rose.
Crude oil arrivals rose to 32.85 million tonnes, or about 7.77 million barrels a day, the fastest since April. Refined oil product imports totalled 2.02 million tonnes, while exports totalled 3.71 million tonnes.
The second-highest on record, while coal imports jumped 25% from July, hitting 26.6 million tonnes in August, and perhaps helping to explain why coal prices are rising around the world.
In August of last year, Chinese coal imports fell nearly 18% to 17.49 million tonnes, so imports are up around 50% year on year..
“Seasonal demand peak and consistently rising domestic prices since start of this year, and the government’s supply side restrictions all contributed to the higher (coal) imports,” said a Beijing-based senior coal trader told Marketwatch.com.
Imports of some other commodities slipped, with iron ore arrival shipments easing 0.8% to to 87.72 million tonnes, from 88.40 million tonnes in July – the second-highest monthly volume on record.
China’s soybean imports eased 1.2% in August from July.
Copper imports fell to the lowest in a year on slow seasonal demand and higher domestic output of refined metal.
China’s imports of copper fell 2.8% from a month ago to 350,000 tonnes in August.
The August figure was 10,000 tonnes lower than imports for July, but was in line with monthly imports seen across June, July and August last year, figures from the General Administration of Customs showed.
But in contrast, China’s copper ore and concentrate imports, have jumped 34.6% for the first eight months of the year to 10.86 million tonnes.
China also exported 410,000 tonnes of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products, including primary, alloy and semi-finished aluminium products, in August, up from 390,000 tonnes in July and 340,000 tonnes in August 2015.
In the first eight months of the year, China’s iron ore imports rose 9.3% by volume, while that of crude oil and coal surged 13.5% and 12.4%. respectively.
And Chinese exports of steel products fell to 9.01 million tonnes in August from 10.3 million tonnes in July, China’s General Administration of Customs sid on Thursday.
It was the second month of lower exports and the volume was the smallest since February’s 8.11 million tonnes. However, shipments over the first eight months still rose 6.3% at 76.35 million tonnes.
The fall in exports indicates the difficulties faced by Chinese steel producers amid anti-dumping tariffs imposed by other countries such as the United States, Australia and India, said Cola.
But with rising demand in China, the fall had less to do with foreign pressure than local factors. Chinese steel prices are up 20% this year.
