China's imports of copper fell 14 percent in January from a year ago as demand from the world's top consumer and producer slowed ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, General Administration of Customs data showed on Friday.
China's imports of copper were also down 22 percent from December to 380,000 tonnes in January, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.
Businesses are likely to have slowed activity ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday earlier this year as it began on Jan. 28, compared with Feb. 8 in 2016.
But traders have said business has been slower than they expected even with the typical seasonal weakness.
Copper imports to China, the world's leading copper and aluminium consumer, include anode, refined, alloy and semi-finished copper products.
Copper concentrate and ore imports rose 6.8 percent from a year earlier to 1.25 million tonnes.
The country exported 390,000 tonnes of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products, including primary, alloy and semi-finished aluminium products, in January, unchanged from December's 390,000 tonnes.
