Xinhua reported that China's refined copper imports this year is expected to drop 28% to 2.3 million tonnes from last year's 3.19 million tonnes.

Mr Judy Zhu commodities analyst with Standard Chartered attributed the refined copper import slide to decreased stocks and increased scrap copper supply.

According to China customs, China's refined copper imports in the first 5 months totaled 1.34 million tonnes down 4.3% from a year earlier.

Standard Chartered said that copper demand in the second half year would likely remain mixed. China's copper consumption is forecast to fall to 6.75 million tonnes compared with last year's 6.85 million tonnes. Copper consumption usually slows in the Q3 since the Q2 sees peak air conditioner output from manufactures ahead of the hot season.

Meanwhile, China's new real estate projects are expected to fall significantly in the 6 to 8 months in response to sluggish home purchases due to the government's restriction policies on the property market.

Mr Zhu said that the real estate sector accounts for about 10% of China's total copper consumption, mainly in the form of underground cables for power transmission.

He said that growth of automobile, real estate and home appliance sectors is expected to slow down, the latter two of which are major copper consumers. He added that observes believe the current pessimism in overdone, as development of power grid continues which is the largest consumer of copper.

(Sourced from Xinhua)