China’s imports of commodities decreased in August as the buying spree in copper and oil significantly reduced, and high prices for iron ore witnessed about 11% loss from July’s high.
Imports to China suddenly drop by 2.1% after the 1.4% decline in July. It was the second month of the dip in imports, amid weaker commodities prices. Also, iron, coal, crude oil, and soybean imports dipped from a month earlier. Copper import decreased by 12.3% from the all-time high in the previous month, but still up by 65.5% from August 2019, while they were extremely low.
Besides, import volumes of crude oil boosted 12,5% from a year earlier, but down from its peak earlier. Iron ore imports, which is the main commodity for Australia and Australian investors, decreased by 10.9% over the previous month.
According to China’s customs administration data for August, 100.36 million iron ore tonnes were imported during the last month. That was a decline from 112.65 million tonnes in July and gained 5.8% from 2019 July.
Iron ore imports in China were delayed last month amid COVID-19 related restrictions, which delayed customer processing. In July, shipments from big miners also eased after the end of the financial year in Australia, while delayed shipments from Brazil arrived and were cleared.
During the first eight months of 2020, China imported 759.91 million tonnes of iron ore. From the January-August period in 2019, it gained 11%.
oil imports in China decreased to 47.48 million tonnes from 51.29
Last month, oil imports in China hit 47.48 million tonnes. While in July, it stood at 51.29 million tonnes, and in June, it was at a peak and reached 53 million.
Daily imports decreased to 11.18 million barrels from a maximum of 12.94 million barrels in June. However, there still a million barrels a day more than the 10.11 million reported for August last year.
China’s gas imports (mainly LNG) gained to 9.36 million tonnes. While in July it was 7.35 million, and in August 2019, it stood at 8.34 million tonnes. Cooper import hit 668.486 tonnes, while in July, it contained 672.211 tonnes. Imports during the first eight months of 2020 came to 4.87 million tonnes.
Coal imports declined to 20.66 million, from 26.10 million tonnes in July. Imports decreased dramatically from 32.96 million tonnes imported in August 2019.
Imports for the first eight months of 2020 hit 221 million tonnes. Imports will remain around August’s level to meet China’s unofficial cap on coal imports of 300 million tonnes a year.
