BEIJING: In December, during the period of cheap prices, China imported enough levels of crude oil, iron and Soybeans that has benefited China by utilizing these in boosting their shipments, despite hesitant growth was being experienced at home.
The surge in shipments helped improve China’s trade figures, according to data published on Tuesday by the country’s customs authority. Total imports still dipped 2.4 percent, down for a second month in succession, but they beat a decline forecast of 7.4 percent.
“The surge in imports was largely due to the sharp drop in prices, which encouraged opportunistic restocking,” said Nelson Wang, an energy analyst at CLSA Research.
Crude oil surged to a record 7.15 million barrels per day in December, confirming earlier predictions by Thomson Reuters Oil Research and Forecasts that China was seizing on tumbling global prices to to build up its strategic reserves.
While copper imports were flat in December compared to the previous month, deliveries for the whole of the year rose 7.4 percent to a record high, with state stockpiles taking advantage of cheaper prices.
Steel mills also replenished their iron ore stockpiles in the final month of the year, driving imports to a record 86.85 million tones, after prices nearly halved over 2014 due to a supply glut.
Cheaper prices also drove coal imports to their highest level since January but it was not enough to prevent the first annual decline in at least a decade, following a series of measures from the government aimed at curbing oversupply.
