In the first seven months of this year, Tianjin Port in north China imported 473,000 tons of scrap copper worth $390 million, a 32.1 percent and 37.1 per cent year-on-year respectively, according to Tianjin Customs.
Statistics from Chinese customs show that during the period, the port imported 190,000 tons of scrap copper from the U.S, 112,000 tons from Japan and 43,000 tons from the South Korea, representing an increase of 29.4 percent, 43.7 percent and 36.3 percent year-on-year respectively.
The price of scrap copper at Tianjin port, which reached$962 per ton in April, stands at $866 per ton in July.
During the first seven months, private firms imported 166,000 tons of scrap coppers, while the foreign-invested firms, 152,000 tons.
The country's copper ore output in 2004 reached 0.6 million tons in 2004, up 7 percent year-on-year, and however its copper smelting production grew by 12 per cent in the same year.