China reported exports dipped just 1.4 per cent in United States dollar terms in December compared with forecasts of an eight per cent drop. Copper ore and concentrate imports climbed 13 percent to 13.29 million tons in 2015, according to data from the customs authority, as high treatment fees spurred smelters to buy more of the raw material from overseas.
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The report follows a raft of weak economic data out of China, which consumes about 45 per cent of global copper supplies.
Exports from China expanded 2.3 percent in December in yuan terms from a year earlier, the customs administration said Wednesday.
“China copper demand is better than the macro numbers have been suggesting but metals are trading on macro cues…concern over Chinese equities, factory and industrial production numbers etc.”, said David Wilson, an analyst at Citi.
The London Metal Exchange’s three-month copper contract was down 1.39 per cent at $US4,413 a metric ton in midmorning European trade, having hit a new six-year low of $US4,381 a metric ton earlier in the session.
A move by China’s central bank to halt the yuan’s steep deterioration quelled some of the jitters in commodities. “The slump in the oil price is in effect telling us that global growth is extremely weak while trade activity on a global basis we know is struggling”, said Robin Bhar, head of metals research at Societe Generale in London.
“We will see more price weakness in 2016, but a bottoming-out process will likely take place during the second half of the year”, said US-based analyst Ed Meir of financial services firm INTL FCStone, noting that low prices will eventually force producers to cut output.
In other metals, LME aluminium climbed 0.4 per cent, finding support from news China may stockpile the metal.
Purchases of unwrought copper and copper products were the second highest on record in December, reaching 530,000 tons, customs data compiled by Bloomberg show.
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Nickel prices gained $80.00 or 0.98 percent to close at $8,260.00 per MT. Lead prices rose $13.00 or 0.81 percent to close at $1,610.00 per MT. Tin prices lost $190.00 or 1.41 percent to close at $13,310.00 per MT. Aluminium prices declined $4.00 or 0.27 percent to close at $1,453.00 per MT. Zinc prices rose $7.50 or 0.52 percent to close at $1,461.00 per MT.
