Copper drops after decline in Chinese imports

Copper prices fell during trading today following government data showing a decline in Chinese imports of industrial metals, despite the negative stability of US dollar against most major currencies.

China's copper imports fell by 27.2 percent in June compared to the same month in 2018 as the world's second-largest economy slowed down, which negatively impacts demand on industrial metals.

Last month, China attracted nearly 326,000 tons of finished and refined copper products imported from abroad from 361,000 tons in May.

It worth mentioning that the trade war is among the reasons and the strong factors behind the decline in Chinese demand on copper as Beijing's imports of the metal fell this summer in general compared to the summer of 2018.

In a related context, by 14:06 GMT, the dollar index stabilized at 97.01 points (against a number of major currencies), with the highest level at 97.1 points and the lowest level at 96.8 points.

In terms of trading, by 13:59 GMT, copper futures (September delivery) fell by 0.2% to $2.681 per pound, with the highest price at $2.714 and the lowest price at $2.672.