China’s copper imports decline in November amid surging prices

SHANGHAI: China’s copper imports fell in November for a second consecutive month, official data showed on Monday, as rising prices of the metal blunted appetite for shipments.

Imports dropped 2.51% to 427,000 metric tons in November from 438,000 tons the previous month, the data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

Imports of unwrought copper and copper products by China, the world’s largest consumer, include anodes, refined metal, alloys and semi-finished copper products.

Rising copper prices drove benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange up 2.77% over November to an all-time peak of $11,210.50 a ton, before breaking through that level in December on supply concerns.

China’s top smelters agreed to cut output 10% in 2026 to combat negative processing fees, fuelling expectations for tighter supply of refined copper next year, which promises a further fillip for prices.

The Yangshan copper premium, a gauge of Chinese buyers’ appetite for imported copper, stood at $32 a ton by the end of November, from $36 by the end of October and $58 in September, reflecting shrinking demand for imported goods.

More global refined copper was being shipped to the United States throughout the year as traders rush to take profits from the Comex-LME arbitrage.

Copper stocks in the Comex warehouses rose to a record high in late November.

Chile’s state-owned copper heavyweight sought a big hike in premium offers for term contracts in 2026.

Traders saw the record-high Codelco premiums as designed for big trading houses with access to US warehouses, allowing them to take profits from the Comex-LME arbitrage, rather than for supplying markets outside the United States.

For the year through November, China imported 4.88 million tons of copper, down from 5.12 million in the corresponding period in 2024, according to the official data.

Copper concentrate imports, which go into smelters, rose to 2.53 million tons in November, up from 2.45 million a month earlier.

From January to November, China imported 27.61 million tons of copper concentrate, up from 25.57 million in the corresponding period last year.