Instant View: China commodity imports rise in April on year

(Reuters) - China's imports of major commodities mostly rose in April from a year ago, data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Tuesday, as the world's second-biggest economy continued its post-COVID-19 gains.

China's overall imports rose 43.1% from a year earlier, the fastest gain since January 2011.

Below are comments from analysts on the commodities data.

KEY POINTS:

*Crude oil: April imports were at 40.36 million tonnes, down 0.2% yoy

*Iron ore: April imports were at 98.57 million tonnes, up 3.0% yoy

*Copper: April imports were at 484,890 tonnes, up 5.1% yoy

*Soybean: April imports were at 7.45 million tonnes, up 11% yoy

*Meat: April imports were 922,000 tonnes, up 6.9% yoy

Preliminary table of commodity trade data

Comment on copper

HE TIANYU, ANALYST, CRU:

Noted that higher April copper imports followed earlier delays in shipping and logistics issues.

"From mid April this issue started to ease because there were more cargo coming to the Chinese market. But in early April there were still some delays in logistics especially from South America, Japan and South Korea.

"Some of the shortage for Jan-Feb imports were delayed to March and April and we might still see some high level in May imports. Imports can go back to normal level may be from June. Normal level is relatively similar with 2019 levels (aka 300-400kt/month)"

Comment on soybeans

DARIN FRIEDRICHS, SENIOR ANALYST, STONEX:

"It was a fairly strong number given the delays we saw out of Brazil this year. May imports should be even stronger as the peak of Brazil shipments should be arriving now."

Comment on crude oil

CHEN JIYAO, HEAD OF CHINA CLIENT ADVISORY, FGE:

"Chinese refineries slowed down purchases of 2Q crude cargoes in previous months in anticipation of heavy turnarounds during the said period. However, the considerable improvement in domestic refining margins since April prompted some refiners to shorten their maintenance period. This, coupled with ample availability of prompt cargoes within Asia, has prompted refiners to snap up these cargoes in recent weeks at attractive discounts.

"However, further upside will be limited as high crude prices generally disincentivize purchase for stockpiling purposes."

LINKS:

For details, see the official Customs website

(www.customs.gov.cn)

BACKGROUND:

China is the world's biggest crude oil importer and top buyer of copper, coal, iron ore and soybeans.

(Reporting by Asia Commodities and Energy team; Editing by Richard Pullin)