China copper concentrate imports rose in July as new smelters ramped up

China's copper concentrate imports rose 9% in July as the smelting sector continued to snap up tight concentrate supplies amid a record-breaking production run. Copper concentrate imports rose 8.9% to 2.56 million tones from 2.35 million in June, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Thursday. China's vast and growing copper smelting sector is pulling in more copper concentrate, its main ingredient, to fuel production that is set to hit another record this year. Analysts expect output to grow 7.5% to 12%. "The growing import volume of copper concentrates reflects the robust demand for copper raw materials among Chinese smelters, especially as some new smelters continue to ramp up," said Zhao Yongcheng, an analyst at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. China also increased unwrought copper imports in July by 3.4% to 480,000 tonnes versus a month earlier, although Zhao said the slowing rate, down from 9% in June, reflected unfavourable prices and limited supply because of the rush to get copper to the United States ahead of import tariffs.