China’s aluminium imports in may fell 16.4 per cent from
the same month a year earlier, government data showed
on saturday (jun 18), amid high overseas prices and
weaker domestic consumption.
The country brought in 188,469 tonnes of unwrought
aluminium and products – including primary metal and
unwrought, alloyed aluminium – last month, according to
data from the General Administration of Customs.
Monthly aluminium imports into China, the world’s biggest
producer and consumer of the metal, have been below
200,000 tonnes so far this year as an arbitrage window for
cheaper overseas metal shut and downstream demand
weakened due to Covid-19 induced lockdowns.
The May imports were up slightly from 175,289 tonnes in
April however.
China’s exports of unwrought aluminium and aluminium
products jumped 54 per cent from a year earlier to
676,605 tonnes in May, its highest in at least 9 years.
Imports of bauxite, the main aluminium ore source, were
11.97 million tonnes last month, up slightly from April’s
11.13 million tonnes, and compared with 9.11 million
tonnes in May a year earlier.