The price of copper dipped on Monday despite trade data showing Chinese imports of refined copper rebounding in March while ore and concentrate shipments continue to strengthen.
Copper for delivery in May traded as low as $2.916 per pound ($6,430 a tonne) on the Comex market in New York, down from just shy of the $3.00 mark reached a fortnight ago.
China consumes half the world’s copper, and trade data released over the weekend showed the country’s imports of unwrought copper jumped 26.5% compared to the same month last year at 391kt.
For the first quarter, imports of refined copper are down 4.3% to 1.18mt however. Last year China imported a record 5.3m tonnes of refined copper.
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