OREANDA-NEWS. February 10, 2015. London copper steadied on Monday, as jitters subsided following surprisingly weak Chinese import data at the weekend that fueled worries over fragile economic growth in China.

China's trade performance slumped in January, with exports falling 3.3 percent from year-ago levels while imports tumbled 19.9 percent, far worse than analysts had expected and highlighting deepening weakness in the Chinese economy.

Global price moves and the impact of holidays may have overstated the extent of the downturn.

Still, the slowdown in seaborne trade of commodities such as iron ore and coal was disappointing, along with the drop in copper imports despite cheaper prices, said Daniel Morgan of UBS in Sydney.

"I would have expected a lift in copper, and some price sensitive buying, so in that context, the import figures are a little soft..(but) it's not until after Chinese New Year that we're going to get a clearer picture of what's going on."

China's imports of copper fell 2.4 percent from a month earlier to 410,000 tonnes in January, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange firmed 0.2 percent to \\$5,662 a tonne by 0717 GMT, after booking a 1.2 percent loss in the previous session.

Prices recovered by 2.8 percent last week, the biggest weekly gain since August, in part as short holders covered positions, but are still down by more than 10 percent this year.

Hedge funds and money managers trimmed their net short in copper futures and options during the week to Feb. 3, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data showed on Friday.

The most-traded April copper contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slipped by 0.2 percent to 41,260 yuan (\\$6,603) a tonne.

Chinese new year begins on Feb. 19.

In other metals, China exported 430,000 tonnes of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products, including primary, alloy and semi-finished aluminium products, in January, down from December's 540,000 tonnes.

Seepage of China aluminium products into Asia has helped ease a shortage in the region, dousing a record run in premiums, or surcharges to obtain physical metal, in recent months.

"Strong exports are likely to continue, driven by an expected second consecutive year of smelter capacity additions above four million tonnes," said Citi in a note.

"We also believe that Q1 demand is likely to be weak as late stage housing construction increasingly reflects the real estate slowdown. Low Chinese prices will be needed to curb smelter capacity and a strong export arbitrage to incentivize exports in the face of rising domestic oversupply."