Data released today by the General Administration of Customs showed that in April, China's imports fell 0.2% year-on-year in US dollar terms, narrowing from a 4.3% drop in March.

Among bulk commodities, imports of copper ore and its concentrates, integrated circuits, etc. increased significantly, soybean imports fell significantly year-on-year. In addition, imports of energy products such as crude oil and refined oil fell at the forefront.

In terms of quantity, copper ore and concentrates grew fastest in April, reaching 24.53% year-on-year, and integrated circuit imports grew 7.56% year-on-year. In addition, crude oil imports grew 7.45% year-on-year in April.

However, imports of soybeans, refined oil and steel fell significantly year-on-year, by 29.06%, 37.15% and 20.67% respectively.

In the first four months of this year, the year-on-year growth rates of integrated circuits, copper ore and its concentrates, and crude oil were 8%, 7.8% and 0.5%, respectively.

Compared with the previous period,Soybean imports in April increased by 72.59% month-on-month, reaching 6.081 million tons. Imports of copper ore and its concentrates increased by 22.14% month-on-month in April to 2.924 million tons, and refined oil increased by 16.84% month-on-month.

In terms of value, imports of copper ore and concentrate, integrated circuits and copper materials increased by 50.42%, 12.23% and 7.76% year-on-year in April, respectively. Imports of soybeans, refined oil and coal fell by 37.78%, 38.57% and 38.4% year-on-year, respectively.

In the first four months of this year, copper ore and its concentrates, integrated circuits and copper materials increased by 13.1%, 6.5% and 4.3% year-on-year respectively.

Compared with the previous period,Soybean imports in April increased by 67.31% month-on-monthTo 119.35 billion yuan, imports of copper ore and its concentrates and iron ore and its concentrates increased by 33.83% and 9.26% month-on-month respectively.

Import volume and price of major commodities fell in the first four months

In the first four months of this year, except for integrated circuits, copper ore and its concentrate, most major commodity imports showed a decline in both volume and price.

In the first four months, my country imported 388 million tons of iron ore, a decrease of 5.5%, and the average import price (the same below) was 710.4 yuan per ton, a decrease of 17.8%;

Crude oil was 183 million tons, up 0.5%, 3,936.7 yuan per ton, down 8%;

Coal: 153 million tons, down 5.3%, 569.6 yuan per ton, down 22.2%;

Natural gas was 38.994 million tons, down 9.2%, 3,318.3 yuan per ton, down 6.1%;

Soybeans: 23.19 million tons, down 14.6%, 3,283.2 yuan per ton, down 15%;

Finished oil products: 12.922 million tons, down 25.6%, 4,381.8 yuan per ton, up 1.6%;

Unwrought copper and copper products were 1.742 million tons, down 3.9%, and 69,000 yuan per ton, up 8.5%.