A mixed month and first half of 2016 for China’s commodity imports.
Crude oil imports between January to June grew by 14.2% compared to the same period a year earlier (but June’s were the lowest in five months). Imports of iron ore, copper and coal grew by 9.1%, 22% and 8.2% respectively.
China’s iron ore imports fell 5.9% from May, but were up on June 2015 as rebound in demand and prices continued to puzzle producers and analysts alike.
Monthly shipments of the steelmaking ingredient in June fell to 81.63 million tonnes from May, but up from the 74.96 million tonnes imported in June last year.
Imports for the first half came in at 493.7 million tonnes, the monthly data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Wednesday. The 452.9 million tonnes imported between January and June, 2015 fell 0.9% from the same period in 2014.
Spot iron ore prices rose 9% in June, and are up about 37% so far this year. They jumped a further 7% yesterday to $US59.38 a tonne.
China’s monthly steel exports rose to the second-highest on record of 10.94 million tonnes in June, as steel mills kept shipping out products, despite complaints of dumping from other regions including the United States and Europe (and countervailing duties imposed by more and more countries, including Australia).
Steel exports hit a record high of 11.25 million tonnes in September, 2015. Total exports for the first half of 2016 rose 9 year-on-year to 57.12 million tonnes.
Crude oil imports rose 14.2% year-on-year in the first half of this year (to more than 186 million tonnes), compared with a 16.5% increase in the first five months.
China’s crude imports in June hit a five-month low of 30.62 million tons, or around 7.5 million barrels a day, the data from the General Administration of Customs showed.
Analysts said the fall in imports was underpinned by congestion at major ports, as well as heavy maintenance by refiners.
On a year-on-year basis, China’s crude imports were 3.8% higher than the 29.49 million tons of crude shipped in June of last year.
The on-year rise is driven by the continuing strong demand for crude by China’s local refiners, known as teapots.
China’s copper imports eased 2.3% last month to 420,000 tonnes from May.
It was the third monthly fall in copper imports in a row, but imports are still up 22% for the first half of the year at 2.74 million tonnes.
The copper imports data includes include anode, refined, alloy and semi-finished copper products.
China’s copper ore imports eased by 5.6% to 1.35 million tonnes in June while concentrate imports surged 34.7% in the six months to June.
Elsewhere, China exported 380,000 tonnes of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products, including primary, alloy and semi-finished aluminium products, in June, down nearly 10% from May’s 420,000 tonnes.
Exports for the first six months of this year fell 9.4% from the same period in 2015. Aluminium prices rebounded solidly in the first six months of this year, suggesting Chinese consumers switched from imports to local production. And China boosted coal imports to their highest in more than a year as domestic production continues to fall.
Chinese customs data showed imports in June jumped to 21.75 million tonnes last month, the highest since late 2014, In the first six months of the year imports rose by 8.2% to 108 million tonnes, compared with a 38% plunge in the fist half of last year.
