Weaker copper consumption in China continues to put pressure on prices while the spot cathode trade remains extremely thin this week, industry sources said last week.rn"Copper demand is weak in China as this is the traditional slow demand season in July and August," one Shanghai-based trader said. "Copper prices are down as the market has been affected by the stronger US dollar amid weaker commodity prices." He added that copper demand in the real estate sector had slowed, affected by slowing housing sales in China.rn"Also, with weaker LME prices, more physical consumers tend to wait and buy later. They are not in a rush to get copper now as most of them still have stocks available and they are not in a hurry to buy," he said.rnAnother trader said copper imports remained slow-moving because LME prices are at a higher level than Chinesernprices. "The gap between the Chinese and LME prices recently narrowed due to falling LME values. We may see imports pick up later this year," the trader said.rnAccording to preliminary trade figures released last week by the General Administration of Customs, China's imports of unwrought copper and copper products for January-July dropped 12.1% year on year to about 1.51 million mt.
展开▼
