China refined copper imports drop 25 pct in August

* China's Aug refined copper imports fall 24.8 pct m-o-m * Primary aluminium imports fall 11 pct to 117,213 tonnes * Nickel imports drop to 52.5 pct from July's record By Polly Yam HONG KONG, Sept 22 (Reuters) - China's imports of refined copper in August fell by one-quarter versus the month before, as expected, a second consecutive monthly decline as rising domestic stocks and weak prices brought a halt to record buying. Imports to China, the world's top consumer of most base metals and the primary catalyst for this year's doubling in world copper price, dropped to 219,731 tonnes last month versus July's 292,226 tonnes, the latest data from the General Administration of Customs showed on Tuesday. The August inflow was 42 percent off from June's record but still 152 percent up from a year earlier. Imports were in line with traders' expectations, at 200,000-250,000 tonnes. "Price ratios stayed unfavorable for imports throughout the month," said Zhu Yanzhong, analyst at Jinrui Futures which is a subsidiary of top copper producer Jiangxi Copper. The imports were still relatively high compared to a year before because of arrivals of term copper, he added. Zhu said he expected September's imports to continue the downward trend, even though demand was picking up from the power cable makers. Record production of refined copper in August also increased supplies in the Chinese market, reducing demand for spot imports, even though consumption of the metal by fabricators rose. China's copper fabricators, the endusers of the metal, produced 8.3 percent more copper products last month than the previous month. "Our orders for September have risen 60 percent from a year before. We expect good orders in October too," a manager at a large copper tubes producer said. "The production at cable producers has also recovered fast," he added. China's primary aluminium imports continued a downward trend in August, weighed by more than half a million tonnes of private stocks of the metal from record imports in previous few months. Imports came to 117,213 tonnes, down from July's 131,724 tonnes and just a third of April's record inflow. Nickel imports to China, which consumes about a fifth of the world's nickel, fell 52.5 percent on the month to 22,703 tonnes in August versus July's record inflow of 47,754 tonnes. About 130,000 tonnes of nickel, nearly a third of the country's consumption this year, was estimated at private and public warehouses. Overseas suppliers who were storing unsold nickel in bonded warehouses in Shanghai to wait for Chinese ah hoc orders had reduced shipments to China last month, a trader in Shanghai said, who had expected August's imports around 28,000 tonnes.