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China has also started selling crude from its strategic reserves in an attempt to moderate prices by limiting demand for imports, a strategy that still has a lot of influence in a global market more focused on bullish factors outside of Asia’s main importing region, where demand remains stagnant. .
China’s energy shortage is also beginning to be reflected in metal imports, with iron ore as an ingredient for steelmaking falling to 95.61 million tonnes in September, down 1.9% from the previous month. and 11.9% compared to the same month of 2020.
Restrictions on steel production, both from a pollution control and energy conservation point of view, are reducing demand for iron ore, a trend that is likely to persist into the coming winter.
Raw copper imports were up 3% in September from the previous month, rising to 406,000 tonnes, but this was a massive 43.8% compared to 722,000 last September, and was the second weakest month since August. 2019.
High world prices and moderate manufacturing growth have dampened demand for copper, and with energy constraints likely to continue in the coming months, demand for the industrial metal may remain weak.
(Edited by Lincoln Feast)