…these two, showing Chinese metals import (and and by implication export) figures…
…and are taken from this report by Andy Home of Reuters, who is must-read on the subject as always. So go read him now.
By the way, I remember reading a report out of Goldman Sachs in 2006, which talked in part about China’s ImpEx mix for industrial metals had the same type of chart as the top one of these two. The impressive thing is noting just how little the ratio for copper has moved, which says one clear thing: China’s never going to have enough copper on its home soil and is always going to have to look abroad for the raw material.