Reuters reported that China's production of refined copper rose 2.6% from October to a third straight monthly record in November due to increased profits at smelters, while primary aluminium output also hit a record for the second straight month.

Data from the National Bureau of Statistics said that production of refined copper hit 654,803 tonnes in November, compared with 637,958 tonne in the previous month. The November output was up 23.46% from a year ago.

China is the top producer and consumer of refined copper and primary aluminium.

Mr Yang Xiaoguang, analyst at Jinrui Futures, a subsidiary of Jiangxi Copper, said that the record monthly output reflected higher profits at China's copper smelters after the value of their raw material concentrate had fallen. Jiangxi Copper is the top producer followed by Tongling Nonferrous Metals.

Global miners pay treatment and refining charges to smelters to convert concentrate into refined metal, with the charges deducted from the concentrate sales price, based on London Metal Exchange copper values. Higher charges are typically seen when supply rises.

Traders said that Chinese copper smelters received TC/RCs of USD 113 per tonne to USD 120 per tonne and 11.3% to 12% per pound for spot imports of copper concentrate over October to December, compared to below USD 70 and 7 cents in July.

China's imports of copper ores and concentrates rose 34% in the first ten months of 2013 and monthly imports were expected to stay strong in November and December.

Mr Yang said that refined copper output is likely to rise further in December as smelters rush to meet annual production targets. He added that meeting the targets was important because some Chinese banks used those figures to determine whether to extend credit to smelters in the coming year. The data said that refined copper output came in at 6.24 million tonnes for the first 11 months of 2013, up 14.3% from a year ago.