China’s imports of iron ore and concentrate declined by 8.1pc to 9,815mt in November compared to the previous month, according to Chinese customs data.
Market participants attributed the monthly drop to the continuing trade tensions between China and Australia, especially since the latter is a key iron ore supplier to the Asian nation. However, the customs data released on Monday indicated that in January-November, China’s iron ore imports increased by 17.4pc to 107,335mt from 96,745mt in the same period last year amid rising steel production in the country.
The country’s copper ore and concentrate exports in the first 11 months of the year remained almost flat dropping 0.9pc to 1,988mt from 2,005mt during the same period last year.
In the 11 months ended Nov 30, China’s steel imports grew by 74.3pc to 1,885mt from 1,082mt during January-November 2019, while its unwrought copper and copper materials imports rose by 38.7pc to 6.17mn mt from 4.45mn mt during the same timeframe under comparison.