China's imports of copper and the metal's products in July dropped for the first time in six months, declining from a record, after stockpiles increased in the world's largest consumer.

Imports slumped to 406,612 metric tons in July, the Beijing-based customs office said today. That's 15 percent down from a record 477,217 tons in June, according to data on the Bloomberg.

Copper, used in homes and power cables, doubled in London this year as China boosted purchases to a record because of demand spurred by the government's 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus program and state stockpiling.

"It's a long-anticipated drop and nothing really surprising," Pang Jie, an analyst at Zhejiang Zhongda Futures Co., said by phone today. "We expect further declines over the rest of this year."

Importing copper began incurring losses from late May, as overseas prices climbed faster than those in China, Pang said, adding record shipments in June were orders made earlier in the year. Inbound shipments result in losses of about 800 yuan a ton, after a 17 percent value-added tax, according to Bloomberg calculations.

China's scrap copper imports were 450,000 tons in July, customs said. That compares with 278,922 tons in June and is 16 percent less than a year ago, according to Bloomberg data.

The country may have stockpiled as much as 400,000 tons of copper in the first half because of sizeable imports and a seasonal slowdown in demand, Macquarie Group Ltd. said July 6. Reported inventory by the Shanghai Futures Exchange has jumped fourfold this year to 63,434 tons from the end of 2008.

Strategic Reserves

Caijing magazine reported in June that China has bought 235,000 tons of copper for strategic reserves this year, citing Yu Dongming, a Chinese government official. The country has also bought aluminum, zinc and some rare metals for reserves.

China may not continue purchases of industrial metals for strategic reserves after prices rebounded, the magazine cited Yu as saying.

Imports of aluminum and products were 222,858 tons last month, 37 percent less than June, customs data showed.

The decline "was expected due to changing prices," Wan Ling, an analyst at CRU International Ltd. said from Beijing.