China's copper ore and concentrates imports increased by 3.1% month on month and 23.6% year on year to 2.31 million tonnes in October, according to the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China (GACC). The cumulative import volume in January-October 2023 increased by 8.9% year on year to 22.664 million tonnes.
Data Source: GACC, Mysteel
Chile, Peru, Mexico, Mongolia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Ecuador, Serbia, Panama, and Armenia were the top 10 sources in October, which exported 762,997 tonnes, 582,901 tonnes, 149,140 tonnes, 110,516 tonnes, 82,809 tonnes, 79,455 tonnes, 65,576 tonnes, 59,447 tonnes, 50,475 tonnes, 45,961 tonnes to China separately, accounting for 85% of the total imports.
Data Source: GACC, Mysteel
Chile, Peru, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Mexico, Serbia, Panama, Indonesia, the United States (US), and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) were the top 10 sources of cumulative imports in January-October, which exported 6,903,257 tonnes, 5,952,732 tonnes, 1,316,375 tonnes, 1,182,970 tonnes, 1,174,305 tonnes, 591,744 tonnes, 547,295 tonnes, 524,304 tonnes, 493,175 tonnes, 475,958 tonnes to China separately, accounting for 84.6% of the total imports.
Data Source: GACC, Mysteel
China imported 762,997 tonnes of copper concentrates from Chile in October 2023, with a year-on-year increase of 35.5% and a month-on-month increase of 15.6%. The cumulative shipment volume of copper concentrates in Chile was 11.066 million tonnes, with an increase of 8.5% year on year, mainly due to the significant increase in cumulative volume arrivals at ports such as Mejillones, Coquimbo, Antofagasta, and Punta Chungo.
Data Source: GACC, Mysteel
China's copper concentrate imports from Serbia, DRC, Panama, and Mexico increased significantly by 251,550 tonnes or 73.9%, 183,931 tonnes or 63.0%, 160,534 tonnes or 41.5%, and 322,968 tonnes or 37.9% year on year to 591,744 tonnes, 475,958 tonnes, 547,295 tonnes, and 1,174,305 tonnes respectively in January-October 2023. The increases were mainly contributed by the Katanga and Mutanda copper mines in DRC, the Cobre Panama copper mine in Panama, and the La Caridad copper mine in Mexico.
The imports from Indonesia and Chile decreased by 63,839 tonnes or 10.9% and 141,838 tonnes or 2.0% year on year to 524,304 tonnes and 6,903,257 tonnes respectively and in January-October 2023. The significant decline of 29.7% and 20.1% in shipments at Quintero Port and Michilla Port was the main reason for the decrease in imports from Chile, meanwhile, shipments at Caleta Coloso Port and Puerto Patache Port decreased as well.
Written by Edenlis Huang, huangting@mysteel.com
Edited by Paula Xu, xuzhongping@mysteel.com