China stainless steel mogul fights to avoid a second collapse
A debt crisis is threatening the future of one of the world’s top stainless steel producers, Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry.
China’s copper imports declined 5% in August from a year earlier. Imports of unwrought copper and copper products totaled 473,330 metric tons in August, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.
The data includes anode, refined, alloy and semi-finished copper.
Rising domestic output this year is also weighing on demand for imported copper.
Last month, China’s refined copper output jumped 15.5% year-on-year to a record 989,000 tons, slightly exceeding expectations, according to Shanghai Metals Market (SMM).
Strong domestic production boosted demand for raw materials, with imports of copper ore and concentrate rising to a record 2.7 million tons in August, up 10.9% from August 2022 and a record high.
For the first eight months of 2023, China’s unwrought copper and copper products imports fell 10% to 3.51 million tons compared with a year earlier, the customs data showed.
Copper for delivery in September was down 0.61% on the Comex market in New York, touching $3.76 per pound ($8,272 per tonne).
Click here for an interactive chart of copper prices.
(With files from Reuters)
