In 2022, China's copper foil production capacity increased significantly, which not only made the domestic market more sufficient but also reduced imports and increased exports. Exports of copper foil (refined copper foil without backing, thickness ≤ 0.15mm) in 2022 increased by 25.64% year on year to 41,870 tonnes, according to the General Administration of China Customs (GACC).
Except for February which was with the impact of the Spring Festival and April which was with the large-scale spread of the epidemic, the export growth in other months in 2022 was more than 20% year on year. Wherein, exports in June increased by 65.91% to 4,454 tonnes, both of which numbers were the highest in the year.
With the continuous improvement of China's copper foil production capacity, exporting will be an important way to alleviate the inventory pressure of enterprises. Although China mainly exports electronic circuit copper foil at present, lithium copper foil will provide new growth points for export in the future. According to Mysteel's survey, China's copper foil trade deficit may continue to narrow in 2023.
Data Source: GACC, Mysteel
According to GACC, Jiangsu, Guangdong and Anhui were the Chinese top three provinces to export copper foil in 2022, with a total export of 35,056 tonnes, accounting for 83.73% of the total.
Among the provinces and municipalities with an export volume of more than 100 tonnes, Shanghai was with the highest average export price of Yuan 123,357/tonne, which was higher than the average of Yuan 82,445/tonne, while Anhui was the lowest with Yuan 68,902/tonne.
Provinces | Exports 2022 |
Exports 2021 |
YoY % | Average Export Price 2022 (Yuan/t) |
Average Export Price 2021 (Yuan/t) |
Jiangsu | 16,448 | 12,762 | 28.88% | 77,809 | 78,695 |
Guangdong | 9,855 | 7,940 | 24.12% | 91,404 | 87,291 |
Anhui | 8,754 | 5,471 | 60.01% | 68,902 | 66,873 |
Henan | 1,408 | 2,286 | -38.40% | 99,502 | 94,814 |
Tianjin | 1,278 | 941 | 35.79% | 97,397 | 89,070 |
Shandong | 1,258 | 1,587 | -20.73% | 78,615 | 82,247 |
Shanghai | 1,148 | 683 | 68.05% | 123,357 | 149,316 |
Hubei | 695 | 420 | 65.66% | 73,579 | 68,114 |
Shanxi | 484 | 516 | -6.27% | 113,373 | 98,593 |
Zhejiang | 244 | 172 | 41.69% | 87,972 | 81,367 |
Jiangxi | 126 | 68 | 86.59% | 105,976 | 152,618 |
Fujian | 75 | 124 | -39.42% | 89,881 | 95,357 |
Beijing | 47 | 42 | 10.73% | 116,613 | 121,702 |
Chongqing | 13 | 7 | 99.14% | 293,915 | 105,418 |
Liaoning | 10 | 53 | -80.59% | 93,194 | 80,993 |
Hebei | 9 | 3 | 244.20% | 73,718 | 143,951 |
Guizhou | 7 | 0 | 0.00% | 32,132 | 0 |
Hunan | 4 | 9 | -50.26% | 381,213 | 472,029 |
Sichuan | 4 | 11 | -66.37% | 292,772 | 77,130 |
Guangxi | 2 | 2 | -11.79% | 257,894 | 133,851 |
Xinjiang | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | 1,170,961 | 0 |
Heilongjiang | 0 | 0 | 0.00% | 128,262 | 0 |
Jilin | 0 | 229 | -100.00% | 495,333 | 93,837 |
Total | 41,870 | 33,325 | 25.64% | 82,445 | 82,494 |
Data Source: GACC, Mysteel |
Egypt, Thailand, South Korea, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, the United States, Taiwan China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Pakistan were the top ten countries and regions of China's mainland to export copper foil in 2022, accounting for 84.22% of the total. Wherein, Egypt was the largest, with exports of 8,143 tonnes and accounting for 19.45%. By the way, exports to Egypt, which were only 7.2 tonnes in 2020, had increased rapidly in the past two years. Exports to other major export destination countries/regions also maintained a high growth rate.
Country/Regions | Exports 2022 |
Proportion | Average Export Price (Yuan/t) |
Exports 2021 |
YoY % |
South Korea | 4,999 | 11.94% | 102,380 | 6,391 | -21.77% |
Vietnam | 1,625 | 3.88% | 79,473 | 2,424 | -32.96% |
Malaysia | 4,399 | 10.51% | 79,764 | 3,353 | 31.20% |
Japan | 404 | 0.97% | 123,783 | 239 | 68.88% |
US | 3,152 | 7.53% | 98,408 | 368 | 756.00% |
India | 248 | 0.59% | 139,474 | 253 | -2.03% |
Indonesia | 983 | 2.35% | 67,060 | 509 | 93.21% |
Thailand | 5,610 | 13.40% | 82,232 | 1,884 | 197.84% |
Taiwan, China | 2,096 | 5.01% | 79,996 | 1,654 | 26.70% |
Hongkong, China | 854 | 2.04% | 86,798 | 6,150 | -86.11% |
Egypt | 8,143 | 19.45% | 69,076 | 2,682 | 203.61% |
Philippines | 89 | 0.21% | 75,674 | 58 | 53.10% |
Pakistan | 1,063 | 2.54% | 67,661 | 1,284 | -17.19% |
Saudi Arabia | 3,193 | 7.63% | 68,650 | 1,860 | 71.63% |
Turkey | 554 | 1.32% | 68,740 | 53 | 936.69% |
Singapore | 129 | 0.31% | 346,600 | 169 | -23.73% |
UK | 67 | 0.16% | 92,082 | 25 | 164.08% |
Mexico | 450 | 1.08% | 70,526 | 94 | 380.94% |
Brazil | 113 | 0.27% | 81,155 | 216 | -47.76% |
Germany | 71 | 0.17% | 103,193 | 145 | -51.10% |
Australia | 199 | 0.47% | 73,434 | 171 | 16.21% |
UAE | 381 | 0.91% | 71,331 | 266 | 42.89% |
Sweden | 331 | 0.79% | 78,449 | 70 | 370.88% |
Italy | 53 | 0.13% | 103,754 | 91 | -42.01% |
Canada | 87 | 0.21% | 72,109 | 3 | 2678.79% |
poland | 834 | 1.99% | 101,797 | 1,828 | -54.38% |
Jordan | 294 | 0.70% | 70,813 | 51 | 480.25% |
Spain | 73 | 0.18% | 70,861 | 1 | 8012.82% |
Macao, China | 229 | 0.55% | 86,998 | 5 | 4427.49% |
Romania | 63 | 0.15% | 78,492 | 87 | -28.23% |
South Africa | 77 | 0.18% | 59,339 | 2 | 3586.95% |
Hungary | 84 | 0.20% | 68,075 | 308 | -72.76% |
Qatar | 121 | 0.29% | 68,011 | 92 | 31.62% |
Columbia | 95 | 0.23% | 72,678 | 0 | 0.00% |
Slovakia | 174 | 0.42% | 76,033 | 0 | 0.00% |
Kuwait | 55 | 0.13% | 64,984 | 10 | 453.62% |
Sudan | 55 | 0.13% | 68,966 | 0 | 0.00% |
Algeria | 81 | 0.19% | 69,848 | 2 | 4037.96% |
Total | 41,870 | 100.00% | 82,445 | 33,325 | 25.64% |
Data Source: GACC, Mysteel |
Data Source: GACC, Mysteel
The main destination of China's copper foil export was still East Asia and Southeast Asia, due to the relatively close distance, which was conducive to transportation and management. At the same time, the rapid economic development in Southeast Asia supported the demand. Western Asia, North Africa and other Arab countries were new growth points of China's copper foil export in 2022. The increase in exports to North America and Europe means an improvement in the quality of Chinese copper foil.
Data Source: GACC, Mysteel
Data Source: GACC, Mysteel
Written by Edenlis Huang, huangting@mysteel.com
Edited by Paula Xu, xuzhongping@mysteel.com