China's full trade report for May sprung few surprises in terms of headline imports of base metals. As flagged by the preliminary snapshot released earlier this month net imports of refined copper were weak at 129,000 tonnes, albeit slightly higher than those in April thanks to a drop-off in exports to 20,000 tonnes from 44,500 tonnes.

Net imports of primary aluminium shrank to 3,300 tonnes, the lowest monthly figure so far this year, while exports of product accelerated to a new all-time high of 340,000 tonnes.

The latter is thought to reflect exporters rushing to beat an expected tightening of the tax rebates on several product categories. Net imports of both tin and nickel at 800 tonnes and 13,600 tonnes respectively marked a continuation of recent trends.

Net trade in lead remains broadly flat, while China continues to import zinc it doesn't need in what appears largely a function of "financial" arbitrage. More interesting this time around were some of the raw materials numbers.

NICKEL ORE SURGE

China's imports of nickel ore and concentrates surged to an all-time high of 4.19 million tonnes, far eclipsing the previous high of 2.85 million tonnes in September 2009. Booming imports, in excess of two million tonnes, from both Indonesia and the Philippines were the driver.