(Updating with more details throughout)
BEIJING, Jan 13 (Reuters) - China imported 490,000 tonnes of unwrought copper in December, up almost 30 percent from a month earlier, customs said on Friday, as fabricators and traders boosted purchases due to a weaker yuan and a favourable Shanghai-London arbitrage.
The buying from the world's top consumer of industrial metals brought the total for 2016 to a record 4.95 million tonnes, up 2.9 percent from a year earlier, the data from the General Administration of Customs showed.
Arrivals of anode, refined copper, alloys and semi-finished copper products in December compare with 380,000 tonnes in November and 530,000 tonnes in December 2015, one of the highest figures on record.
Copper concentrate and ore imports eased 5 percent to 1.67 million tonnes from November's all-time high, but was still the second-highest on record. It was up 13 percent from December last year.
Shipments of copper concentrate and ore imports last year also hit a record, up 28 percent at 16.96 million tonnes.
The country exported 390,000 tonnes of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products, including primary, alloy and semi-finished aluminium products, in December, up from November's 380,000 tonnes and down from 430,000 tonnes in December 2015.
For the full year, aluminium exports were down 3.7 percent at 4.58 million tonnes.
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