BEIJING, Dec 18 (Reuters) - China's imports of aluminium jumped 34.2% in November from a year earlier, customs data showed on Monday, as solid demand and expectations of lower domestic supply buying appetite strong.
The world's biggest consumer and producer of aluminium imported 343,109 metric tons of unwrought aluminium and products including primary metal and unwrought, alloyed aluminium last month, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.
The light metal is widely used in industries such as construction, transport and packaging.
Robust demand in China has drawn in more shipments, at a time of subdued orders in the United States and Europe, weighed down by high inflation and slow construction.
Supply concerns amid thin domestic inventories and news of plans to narrow output in the southwestern province of Yunnan province also boosted imports.
Authorities in Yunnan, China's fourth biggest producing region, asked producers last month to cut output as the hydropower-dependent region entered its dry season.
Analysts expected the move would lead to a drop in domestic output from December until the second quarter of next year.
Supply headwinds and demand support underpinned Chinese aluminium prices. The most-traded aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange posted a monthly gain of 4.4% in November.
The benchmark three-month aluminium contract on the London Metal Exchange lost 2.6%.
Higher prices in China thus spurred traders to book more shipments for profits.
November imports, however, were slightly lower than October's imports of 351,065 tons, a near two-year high.
In the first 11 months, China's imports of unwrought aluminium and products imports rose 28.3% to 2.74 million tons.
Imports of bauxite, a key raw material for aluminium, rose 2.1% on the year to 11.93 million tons last month, the data also showed.
Imports of bauxite over the period from January to November totalled 129.58 million tons, up 12.5% from a year earlier. (Reporting by Siyi Liu and Dominique Patton; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
