China's imports of copper rose 9.3 per cent from a year earlier, customs data on Sunday showed, as a sharp drop in the price of the metal triggered buying appetite amid falling domestic inventories. Unwrought copper and copper product imports into China, including anode, refined, alloy and semi-finished copper products, totalled 463,693.8 tonnes in July, compared with 424,280.3 tonnes a year earlier. July's copper imports, however, were down 13.8 per cent from the previous month's 537,698 tonnes. Copper prices, often seen as an economic bellwether, plunged by one-third from a March high to mid-July as China's ... (full story)