Official customs statistics released today show that China absorbed huge volumes of non-ferrous metals in April, although this has been mainly due to arbitrage business and stockpiling rather than strong consumption by end-users. Refined tin imports in April were a record 4,817 tonnes, up 284% on April 2008. Meanwhile copper imports rose 149% year-on-year to some 318,000 tonnes and aluminium imports increased by more than 2,000% to 362,000 tonnes.
Both copper and aluminium trade has been stimulated by stockpile purchases by the Chinese government’s State Reserve Bureau and attractive arbitrage between the Shanghai and London futures markets. There has been no official stockpiling of tin, although the Yunnan provincial government has been offering short-term stock financing support. Chinese physical tin prices were also higher than LME levels until recently, encouraging imports. Chinese refined tin exports remain very low, amounting to just 7 tonnes in April.
