Copper gains as China’s imports hit a nine-month high

Copper gained on Wednesday despite negative economic data from China as imports in the Asian country reached a nine-month high, indicating a steady demand.

On the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, copper for September delivery traded at $3.077 a pound at 10:40 GMT, marking a 0.42% daily gain. Prices ranged between days high and low of $3.082 and $3.032 a pound respectively. The industrial metal fell almost 1% yesterday, but is still posting a 0.3% weekly gain after settling 0.38% higher last week.

Today, China reported its June exports and imports declined, while an increase was expected. The General Administration of Customs said the Asian country’s exports fell 3.1% compared to the same month a year earlier, mismatching projections of a 3.7% increase according to a Bloomberg survey. The report also showed a 0.7% decline in imports compared to June 2012, reinforcing the view of an economic slowdown. The Asian countrys trade surplus stood at $27.1 billion, generally in line with the $27 billion forecast.

Yesterday, the National Bureau of Statistics reported that China’s Producer Price Index (PPI) fell 0.6% in June compared to May and 2.7% on an annual basis. This was above expectations for a 2.6% decrease according to a Bloomberg News survey, posting the worst reading since 2002 and adding another bit to the negative Chinese economic data that has been piling in the last two months. The country is the red metal’s biggest consumer, using it widely in its industrial production.

Despite the negative data, copper imports reached a nine-month high on arbitrage. Traders bought the industrial metal in London to sell it in Shanghai. According to calculations by Bloomberg, in June prices in Shanghai were an average $73 a ton higher than in London to account for currencies, shipping, tax and warehousing. The red metal was also widely used as collateral to get credit as money-market rates surged in June.

Xu Liping, an analyst at HNA Topwin Futures Co., said by phone for Bloomberg: “There should still be a lot of financing deals, plus good arbitrage opportunities. But there is also still concern about real demand, given weak macro economic data.”

According to data from Beijing Antaike Information Development Co., copper production in China, the biggest producer and consumer of the industrial metal, reached a record 567 892 tons in May. The General Administration of Customs said today imports of scrap copper were totaled 340 000 tons in June, 20 000 below Mays 360 000 tons.

Daniel Briesemann, an analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt, said in a report: “Copper imports might continue to be relatively robust in the coming months. The trade statistics for the economy as a whole are probably to blame for the fact that the copper price is not profiting significantly from these figures.”

Investors are now looking ahead into Wednesday’s Fed minutes, which will provide additional information on the central bank’s future monetary policy. In addition, Ben Bernanke’s speech at a National Bureau of Economic Research conference in Boston later today will most likely cause the dollar to fluctuate, influencing commodities prices.