Japan Copper and Primary Aluminium Import Down in October

Japanese import of electrolytic copper (cathode copper) decreased by 10.7% to 7,060 tonnes in October from a year ago, according to the trade statistics by Ministry of Finance. The averaged unit price of imported copper upped by 3.6% to 901.8 yen per kilogram. Copper and copper alloy scrap import decreased by 13-26% for all items in the statistics whose unit prices also declined in October from a year ago.The import of primary aluminium ingot decreased by 21.3% in October from a year earlier while aluminium scrap decreased by 9.1% when domestic output of aluminium rolled products were decreasing after the revision of Japanese building standard law. On the other hand, the import of aluminium alloy ingot and scrap showed year-to-year increase in October thanks to the stable demand for automotive parts.Tin ingot import increased from Indonesia and Thailand in October. The year-to-year growth was 67.6%.