China’s imports of key (and sensitive) commodities were again at solid levels in November, though iron ore and copper fell from October levels, they were still higher than a year ago.
Copper imports were at six-month lows in November, while iron ore imports were 15% under the all-time high of 112.7 million tonnes hit in July of this year.
That fall should be a little warning bell about the sustainability of the current price boom for iron ore.
Oil and soybean imports though were stronger month on month while imports of LNG rose 22% from October as China’s winter heating season started in mid-November.
Continuing strong demand from manufacturers helped sustain volumes while a stronger yuan also played a role.
China’s imports of iron ore topped the billion-tonne mark with one month to go in the year and in doing so also topped 2019’s full-year total.
Customers figures showed that imports for the 11 months to November totalled 1.073 billion tonnes, beating full-year imports of 1.06 billion tonnes in 2019,
Imports totalled 98.15 million tonnes last month, compared with 106.74 million tonnes of imports in October, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs.
That was up 8.3% from November 2019 but down 8.1% from October.
Imports of crude oil eased 0.3% to 45.36 million tonnes from a year earlier but rose from the 42.56 million tonnes imported in October.
Imports totalled 504 million tonnes for the 11 months to the end of November, up around 11% from 461.88 million tones.
Natural gas imports, including piped and liquefied natural gas (LNG) were 9.18 million tonnes last month, down 3% from a year ago. But that was up a sharp 22% from the 7.53 million tonnes imported in October.
China’s January-November natural gas imports totalled 90.44 million tonnes.
China Jan-Nov coal imports were reported at 265 million tonnes, down 11.3% from the 299.3 million tonnes for the first 11 months of 2019. The November monthly figure doesn’t seem to have been released in yesterday’s data drop.
Exports of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products rose to 424,025 tonnes last month, from 418,893.7 tonnes in October, but were down 6.2% from November 2019.
Imports of unwrought copper and copper products surged 16.2% in November but were down on October.
In fact China’s copper imports fell 9.2% in November from October as a trading arbitrage between China and the LME in London was closed by the strong move in LME metal prices.
Arrivals of unwrought copper and copper products totalled 561,311 tonnes last month, the General Administration of Customs said.
That was down from 618,108 tonnes in October, and its lowest monthly levels in half a year, but up 16.2% from 483,000 tonnes in November 2019.
Imports over the January-November totalled 6.17 million tonnes, extending the annual record high that had been achieved in the 10 months to October.
Arrivals of copper concentrates totalled 1.83 million tonnes in November. That was up 8.3% from October, but down 15.1% from the record 2.157 million tonnes imported a year earlier.
China’s soybean imports kicked high in November from the previous year as cargoes booked from the US following January’s Phase 1 trade deal cleared customs.
China imported 9.59 million tonnes last month, up from 8.28 million tonnes in the previous year and 8.7 million tonnes in October, data from the General Administration of Customs showed, as more American cargoes arrived in the fourth quarter.
Imports for the first 11 months of the year totalled 92.80 million tonnes and are on track to hit 100 million tonnes for the first time.
