* China Dec unwrought copper imports at 527,000 T - customs
* Annual copper imports down 6% at 4.98 mln T - customs
* Copper concs imports hit annual record high of 21.99 mln T
* Dec aluminium exports highest since July; annual shipmentsdrop (Adds graphics)By Tom DalyBEIJING, Jan 14 (Reuters) - China's unwrought copper importsrose 9.1% in December from the previous month to their highestsince March 2016, customs data showed on Tuesday, as improvingindustrial activity and dwindling scrap metal supply lifteddemand.
Imports of unwrought copper, including anode, refined andsemi-finished copper products into China, the world's biggestcopper consumer, stood at 527,000 tonnes last month, data fromthe General Administration of Customs showed.
That compared with 483,000 tonnes in November, itself a13-month high, and was up 22.8% from December last year.
The bumper December number was partly due to a favourableprice arbitrage between Chinese and international copper prices,allowing traders to profit by shipping metal into China, saidHelen Lau, an analyst with Argonaut Securities in Hong Kong."But also because of a turnaround in demand that we spottedsince the fourth quarter of last year. You can see thissequential increase in imports," she added, noting investment inthe power sector and automobile production had been improving.
Manufacturing activity in China expanded in December assigns of progress in trade talks with the United States boostedfactories' output and order books. "A third reason is because of the reduced imports of scrapso China may have to import other copper products for downstreamrefining," Lau said.Quotas to import copper scrap dried up toward the end of2019, although China's own refined copper production hit arecord high in November. Full-year unwrought copper imports for 2019 came in at 4.98million tonnes, down 6% from a record high 5.3 million tonnes in2018. The annual drop was due to weak import levels in the firsthalf of 2019, said Lau, who expects "strong" imports in thefirst six months of this year, rising from a low base.Imports of copper concentrate, the raw material processed bysmelters into refined metal, came in at 1.928 million tonneslast month, down 10.6% from a record 2.157 million tonnes inNovember but up 31.8% from December 2018.Imports for the full year rose 11.6% to 21.99 milliontonnes, easily beating the previous record of 19.72 milliontonnes in 2018 as smelter expansion boosted demand for ore.
Meanwhile, exports of unwrought aluminium stood at 478,000tonnes in December. That was up 5.8% from the previous month tothe highest level since July but down 9.3% from December 2018.Full-year exports came in at 5.73 million tonnes, down 1.2%from the yearly record set in 2018.<^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Decade of divergence: China copper ore imports chart relentlessrise as metal shipments stutter China copper imports since 2010 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^> (Reporting by Tom Daly; editing by Richard Pullin and JasonNeely)
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