Prices of raw materials such as iron ore, coal, crude oil and refined oil have been hitting record low prices on the global market, but import volumes into China.
Although the trade balance has continued to be in excess of exports over imports since April, the cumulative total of the import in the period from January to June is still more than that of the export.
The exports of both roasted ore (molybdenum oxide) and unroasted ore in June were down from the prior month, whereas the only import of unroasted ore increased and the import of roasted ore decreased. This is thought to be because the domestic sales volume of processed imported ore increased.
General Adminstration of Customers of PRC reported that for the first four months of the year, the import volume of bulk commodities registered growth, with declining prices broadly.
Affected by the shrinking domestic manufacturing industry and the economic slowdown, China's crude imports also edged lower year-on-year by 0.6 percent last month to 27.98 million tons, said Gao Jian, a crude analyst with Sublime China.
"The main reason for the decline in crude imports, however, might be that China is close to the end of the second phase of expanding its strategic crude storage facilities," he said.
In particular, the China's imports of iron ore, crude oil, coal, grain, soybeans, plastics in primary forms, steel, unwrought copper and copper, unwrought aluminum and aluminum increased 2.3% -51%, while imports of refined oil and mechanical and electrical products were reduced by 22.6% and 7.2%. The import prices fell from 0.7 to 26.8%, but steel import price rose 1.6%.
