By Bloomberg News Dec. 11 (Bloomberg) -- China’s copper imports rebounded from a nine-month low and domestic output of the metal jumped to a record as producers in the world’s largest consumer anticipate rising demand amid a strengthening economic recovery. Imports of copper and products increased to 290,158 metric tons in November, the customs office said today. That’s 10 percent more than October’s level, which was the lowest since January, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Copper gained to the highest price since September 2008 on the London Metal Exchange this month as manufacturing in China expanded at the fastest pace in five years. China’s $586 billion stimulus spending, state stockpiling and a lack of scrap material had boosted imports to a record, helping drive the after-tax Chinese prices below London’s since at least July. “Traders could be buying in anticipation of demand for the coming spring,” Wu Xiaoqi, analyst at Minmetals Haiqin Futures Co., said today. Still, “the rebound came as a surprise as it’s been money-losing to import.” China’s domestic production of copper gained 6 percent to 421,000 tons in November, data from the statistics bureau showed today. That’s the highest ever, according to Minmetals Haiqin. “Smelters might have boosted utilization rates to meet full-year targets,” Cheng Xiongfei, an analyst at metals trader Shenzhen Rongtop Trading Co., said today. Recent improvement in scrap supplies contributed to the output gain, Minmetals Haiqin’s Wu said. China’s scrap copper imports were 300,000 tons in November, customs said. That compares with 262,424 tons in October, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Output Gains China’s purchases of copper and products jumped 67 percent to 3.9 million tons in the first 11 months, customs said. The country’s production of the metal rose 8 percent to 3.9 million tons in the same period, the statistics bureau said. The country’s shipments of aluminum and the metal’s products gained by 39 percent to 120,674 tons in November after slumping 56 percent the previous month, according to customs data today. Copper, lead, and zinc demand will rise in 2010 as the global economy recovers and the dollar loses more of its value, Calyon and Citigroup Inc. said last month. China’s industrial production in November climbed 19.2 percent from a year earlier, the statistics bureau said today, more than the 18.2 percent median estimate of economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Copper for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange gained for the first time in seven days, adding 1.1 percent to $6,886 a ton at 4:44 p.m. in Shanghai. It advanced to $7,170 on Dec. 2, the highest since September 2008. --Li Xiaowei. Editors: Matthew Oakley, Wendy Pugh. To contact the Bloomberg News staff on this story: Li Xiaowei in Shanghai at Xli12@bloomberg.net

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