ING’s Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey say China’s latest trade data for Copper are mixed, with higher unwrought Copper imports in May but lower year-to-date volumes due to stronger domestic refined output. They add that Copper concentrate imports softened and CFTC data show a pullback in net long Copper positions after several weeks of increases.

China demand and CFTC positioning

"China’s latest trade data show mixed signals. Unwrought copper imports rose 4.4% YoY to 445.7kt in May, though year-to-date volumes remained down 7% YoY at 2.01mt."

"This reflects higher domestic refined output. Copper concentrate imports fell 1% YoY in May (2.36mt), with YTD volumes down 1.4%."

"CFTC data show copper net longs fell by 5,761 lots to 63,001 after five weeks of increases."

"In ferrous markets, iron ore imports declined 0.4% YoY and 5.9% MoM to 97.7mt. But YTD flows remain up 6.3%, supported by infrastructure and manufacturing activity despite weak real estate demand."

(This article was created with the help of an Artificial Intelligence tool and reviewed by an editor.)