China imported 95 million tonnes of iron ore for the month of October 2022, down 4.75% on the previous month according to data released by the country’s General Administration of Customs.
Total spend for the metal was down 11.4% to $9.2 billion US dollars.
October also saw a decline in spend of 26.8% from the previous year, despite volume increasing by 3.7%.
Copper ore and concentrates
Chinese imports of copper ore and concentrates decreased by 17.8% in October to 1.9 million tonnes, with spend dropping by 18.8%.
Year-on-year volume for the base metal was up by 4%, despite spend declining by over 14%.
Coal and lignite
October coal and lignite imports decreased by 11.7% from September to 29.2 million tonnes, with spend also decreasing by 6.6%.
Rare Earths
Rare earth imports increased by 3.1% month-on-month during October, with spend logging a more robust increase of 27.2%
Australian exports to China
Total Australian exports to China amounted to 10.7 billion US dollars in October, representing a trade surplus of just over 4.1 billion dollars.
The figure decreased from 11.7 billion dollars in September, and represented a 15% year-on-year decline from October 2021.


