China’s copper concentrate imports slump 11% in October as smelter woes deepen

China’s October copper concentrate imports slumped 11% from a year earlier, customs data showed on Tuesday, at a time when smelters face another profit hit as sulphuric acid prices fall.

Imports of copper concentrates, the main feedstock for smelters, fell to 2.17 million metric tons from 2.45 million tons a year earlier and 2.48 million tons in September, according to the General Administration of Customs.

Shipments in the January-to-October period fell 3.8% to 24.14 million tons from 25.09 million tons a year earlier.

The decline came as Chinese smelters faced mounting pressure from negative processing fees, while falling sulphuric acid prices eroded a key source of income that had helped offset their losses. Smelters said production cuts were on the way

Meanwhile, imports of unwrought copper and copper products edged down 1.7% to 453,000 tons in October from 461,000 tons in September, though they rose 3.4% from 438,000 tons a year earlier.

Imports of unwrought copper and copper products in the January-to-October period fell 5.5% to 4.21 million tons from 4.46 million tons a year earlier.

The data came as China’s physical copper market faced a supply crunch, with reduced domestic smelter output and limited arrivals of seaborne metal driving spot premiums to record highs.

(Reporting by Dylan Duan and Lewis Jackson; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)