Japanese commodities trader Mitsubishi will boost its holding in the Quellaveco copper mining project in Peru to 30% from 18%, Bloomberg reports. Part of the motivation is to secure long-term supplies in the metal, where growth in usage is anticipated in particular due to production of electric vehicles. Ownership-secured supplies is an increasingly common supply-chain strategy for battery manufacturers and users as outlined in Panjiva research of February 21 in the case of Apple, Tesla and Toyota among others.

Panjiva data shows that Peru’s exports of copper, led by basic refined metal and alloys, have resumed growth recently with a 17.1% increase on a year earlier in the three months to January 31. That growth has proved inconsistent though, with an increase of just 2.6% for the past 12 months as a whole.

Chart shows Peru’s exports of all copper types (HS 74). Lower panel shows change for the month on a year earlier. Source: Panjiva

As has been the case for cobalt and lithium, China has been the largest, and fastest growing, buyer with a 23.4% growth rate in the past 12 months to reach 50.5% of the total.

Chart segments Peru’s exports of all copper types (HS 74) by destination market. Source: Panjiva

Peru has only been a small part of Chinese supplies though. In aggregate Chinese imports of refined copper increased 13.9% in dollar terms in 2017, with Peru only the fifth largest supplier nation at 4.9% of the total. The largest was Chile at 33.4% of the $20.6 billion of total imports.

Chart segments China’s imports of refined copper (HS 7403) by country of origin. Source: Panjiva