Japan Copper Import Widely Increases in November

Japanese import of electrolytic copper (cathode copper) increased by 26.1% to 12,571 tonnes in November from a year earlier, which exceeded 10,000 tonnes for the first time since June 2007, according to the trade statistics by Ministry of Finance. Electrolytic copper import from Chile was 6,472 tonnes in November, 3.4 times year-on-year.The import of electrolytic lead was 2.8 times year-on-year in November entering the demand season of winter. Lead consumers actively procured the ingot when lead scrap generation was decreasing in Japan and Chinese government was expected to raise its export tariff for lead. With same reasons, the import of electrolytic zinc (more than 99.99% purity) increased by 50.2% in November from a year earlier.Primary aluminium import decreased by 19.4% year-on-year in November when domestic output of rolled aluminium products largely decreased impacted by the revision of Japanese building standard law. On the other hand, the import of aluminium alloy ingot represented year-to-year increase in November thanks to the steady demand from automakers.