BLBG:Copper Advances as China Imports the Most Metal in Nine Months
Copper rose in London after imports of the metal into China reached a nine-month high, indicating steady demand in the world’s biggest consumer.
Shipments of refined metal, alloy and products were 379,951 metric tons in June, according to customs figures today, the highest since September. Separate data showed overall exports and imports unexpectedly declined, fueling concern about a slowdown in the Chinese economy.
Copper imports might “continue to be relatively robust in the coming months,” Daniel Briesemann, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, said in a report. “The trade statistics for the economy as a whole are probably to blame for the fact that the copper price is not profiting significantly from these figures.”
Copper for delivery in three months gained 0.7 percent to $6,777 a ton by 10:04 a.m. on the London Metal Exchange, erasing a decline of as much as 0.7 percent. Copper for delivery in September rose 0.3 percent to $3.0725 a pound on the Comex in New York.
China’s copper imports increased as traders bought metal in London and sold in Shanghai. Prices in the Asian city were about $73 a ton higher on average in June, based on Bloomberg calculations that account for currencies, shipping, tax and warehousing. Money-market rates in China surged in late June, also spurring imports for use as collateral to obtain credit.
The Chinese economy will expand 7.8 percent this year, less than April’s estimate of 8 percent, the International Monetary Fund said yesterday. World growth will be 3.1 percent, unchanged from 2012 and below the 3.3 percent predicted in April, it said.
The Federal Reserve is scheduled to release minutes today of policy makers’ June meeting, which may give clues to whether the central bank will keep buying $85 billion of debt each month. The U.S. is the second-biggest copper consumer.
Stockpiles of copper monitored by the LME fell 0.6 percent to 646,000 tons, daily exchange figures showed. Orders to remove metal from inventories, or canceled warrants, dropped for a ninth session to 342,600 tons. Tin canceled warrants jumped 38 percent to 3,680 tons on a surge in Johor, Malaysia.
Aluminum, tin, nickel, lead and zinc gained in London.
To contact the reporter on this story: Agnieszka Troszkiewicz in London at atroszkiewic@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net
