China's unwrought nickel exports in August stood at 363 mt, which was as harp fall of 75.2% from a year ago, and a 52.7% decrease compared with the 767 mt exported in July, the latest figures from the General Administration of Customs of China showed.

    Nickel exports over January-August 2008 totaled 4,276 mt, down 70.5% from 14,503 mt exported in the same period of 2007.

    In August 2008, China imported 6,748 mt of unwrought nickel, down 4.4% from 7,058 mt imported in August 2007, and also down 30.5% from the 9,703 mt imported in July 2008. Total unwrought nickel imported in the first eight months was 82,050 mt, up 17.9% from 69,586 mt imported a year earlier.

    The country also exported 692,498 kg of molybdenum powder in August, up88.3% from the 367,733 kg exported a year ago, but down 11.8% up from the7 85,227 kg exported in July 2008. Total moly powder exported in the eight-month period was 5.29 million kg, up significantly from the 2.89 million kg exported in January-August 2007.

    Moly powder imports in August reached 24,329 kg, up from 20,960 kg imported a year before, but down from 29,588 kg imported in the previous month. Total imports in the first eight months of 2008 were 171,179 kg, which was a 30% rise from the 131,632 kg imported a year ago.

    Meanwhile, platinum exports in August reached 16,052 g, a sharp 64.6% jump from the 9,754 g exported in July 2008. There were no exports recorded for the same month in 2007. In January-August 2008, China exported 214,123 gof platinum, which was higher than the 175,500 g exported in the same period 2007.

    The country imported 5.37 million g of platinum in August 2008, which was a drop of 24.5% from the 7.11 million g imported a year ago, and also a significant decrease of 30.4% from the 7.71 million g imported in July. Total platinum imports in the first eight months of 2008 were 44.4 million g, compared with the 37.1 million g imported a year earlier.