China's aluminium imports in June rose 30% from the prior month, data released by the General Administration of Customs showed on Sunday.
Imports of unwrought aluminium and products - which include primary metal and unwrought, alloyed aluminium - were 294,081 tonnes last month, up from 225,458 tonnes in May and up 1.8% year-on-year.
January-June imports totalled 1.46 million tonnes, customs said, up 79.2% on the year.
Top aluminium maker China started importing much higher-than-usual volumes of the metal from mid-2020 as strong demand saw Shanghai prices far exceed London prices, opening an arbitrage window for cheaper material from overseas.
The Shanghai-London spread LMESHFALc0 in May hit its widest since July last year, paving the way for the arrival of more inbound arbitrage flows last month.
Imports of bauxite, the main aluminium ore source, were down 3% year-on-year at 10.14 million tonnes in June, which was also up 11.3% from 9.11 million tonnes in May; first-half imports fell 5.5% on the year to 55.14 million tonnes.
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