China’s central bank continues to add gold to its reserves. In July, the People’s Bank of China increased its gold reserves for the ninth straight month. Gold held by the central bank increased by 60,000 troy ounces to 73.96 million troy ounces last month. Gold is one of the strongest-performing major commodities, up by more than a quarter this year amid Trump’s aggressive trade policy, conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, and central bank buying.
Preliminary China’s Customs data showed strong domestic demand for industrial metals. Imports of unwrought copper rose 9.1% YoY (+4.3% MoM) to 480kt in July. However, cumulative copper imports are still down 2.7% YoY to 3.1mt in the first seven months of the year. Uncertainty over US tariffs on copper imports shifted supply from China to the US in the first half of the year. This trend may reverse in the second half, as Trump drops plans for a 50% tariff on refined copper. Meanwhile, copper concentrate imports increased 18% YoY (+8.9% MoM) to 2.6mt last month, as strong domestic refined output boosted demand for raw materials. On a year-to-date basis, imports of copper concentrate rose 7.7% YoY to 17.3mt.
In ferrous metals, iron ore imports rose 1.8% YoY to 104.6mt in July. However, cumulative iron ore imports are still down 2.4% YoY to 697.2mt in the first seven months of the year.
On the export side, China’s shipments of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products fell by 8.1% YoY to 542.1kt, while exports of steel products surged 25.6% YoY to 9.8mt last month. This is despite mounting trade barriers from countries concerned about a surge in Chinese shipments.