China's imports of copper concentrate from Australia completely dried up in December 2020, with monthly arrivals falling to zero for the first time in 16 years, according to customs data released on Wednesday, Jan 20, 2021.
The main reason is that a large number of smelters have shunned supplies from Australia because of bilateral tensions.
China's imports of Australian copper ore and concentrates were zero tonnes last month, according to the General Administration of Customs.
That compares with 26,717 tonnes and 110,930 tonnes for November and December 2019, respectively.
This is the first time since April 2004 that China's monthly imports of Copper concentrate from Australia have been zero, according to the International Copper Study Group.
Australia was China's sixth-largest supplier of copper concentrate in 2020, with 783,476 tonnes, down 25% from 2019 and the lowest annual total since 2016, the data showed.
Australia was the world's fifth largest supplier in 2019.
Australian media reported in November that Beijing had instructed companies not to buy copper concentrate and at least six other commodities from Australia because of deteriorating relations between the two countries.
In 2018, Australia became the first country to publicly ban China's Huawei Technologies Co. from using its 5G communications network, a move that angered the Chinese government.
Relations soured further last year when the government in Canberra called for an investigation into the root causes of the outbreak.
The outbreak of novel coronavirus (Coronavirus) was first reported in Wuhan, China.
The unofficial ban has forced Australian sellers of copper concentrate to find alternative buyers for their goods in markets such as Japan, South Korea and Europe.
Smelters that produce refined copper from copper concentrate are in desperate need of extra feedstock amid tight markets.
Data released on January 14, 2021 showed that China imported 1.89 million tons of copper concentrate from all countries in December 2020 and 21.77 million tons for the whole of 2020.
Chile remained the largest supplier of copper concentrate to China in 2020 with 7.72 million tonnes, followed by Peru, Mexico and Mongolia.
PUDA copper ore packaging machine:
