That great sucking sound you hear is China taking in copper:

China is once again exerting a powerful gravitational pull on the global copper market.

Imports of unwrought copper hit a fresh record high last month, while those of copper concentrate maintained their recent surge.

The strength of the preliminary figures out last week surprised analysts. [Analysts are always being surprised! So much for their ability to really know what is going on.]

It's entirely possible that imports were inflated by the timing of the Lunar New Year holidays at the start of February. It's also a highly moot point as to whether China's renewed hunger for copper is being driven by manufacturing demand or financing demand.

What's not in doubt, though, is that this accelerated flow of metal into the country is sucking the rest of the world dry.

China's imports of copper in refined, anode, alloy and products form boomed to 536,000 tonnes last month, up 21 percent from December and up 53 percent from January last year.

Open tonnage, the true liquidity base of the LME contract, remains desperately low at just 125,225 tonnes.

--http://uk.reuters.com/article/2014/02/17/column-home-china-copper-idUKL6N0LM1QQ20140217