BEIJING, March 8 (Reuters) – China’s unwrought copper imports fell by 11.6 percent year-on-year in February, according to Reuters calculations based on customs data released on Friday, in a sign of waning demand for the metal considered to be an economic bellwether.
Arrivals of unwrought copper — including anode, refined, alloy and semi-finished copper products — into China, the world’s top consumer of the metal, came in at 790,000 tonnes in the first two months of the year, the General Administration of Customs said.
That implies a figure of 311,000 tonnes for February, down from 352,000 tonnes a year earlier and down 35.1 percent from a bumper 479,000 tonnes in January 2019, a month that had three more days and likely saw restocking ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.
