U.S. shipments of copper and copper alloy scrap to China grew more than 25 percent last year, helping to push up overall exports by 22.6 percent to more than 1.1 million short tons. The data announced in mid-February was a reversal of the situation at the start of 2010, when China had spent the winter and early spring on the sidelines of the U.S. copper scrap market. The general consensus at the time was that China was concerned about high prices for copper scrap, but there were strong feelings that the Asian economic giant would have to come back into the market at some point. This view ultimately was borne out: China's 2010 copper scrap intake from U.S. suppliers ultimately increased by 168,202 tons to 836,806 tons, accounting for 73.5 percent of U.S. exports vs. 72 percent in 2009.
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