BEIJING -

* China's aluminium imports in June rose 30% from the prior month, data released by the General Administration of Customs showed on Sunday.

* Imports of unwrought aluminium and products - which include primary metal and unwrought, alloyed aluminium - were 294,081 tonnes last month, up from 225,458 tonnes in May and up 1.8% year-on-year. 

* January-June imports totalled 1.46 million tonnes, customs said, up 79.2% on the year.

* Top aluminium maker China started importing much higher-than-usual volumes of the metal from mid-2020 as strong demand saw Shanghai prices far exceed London prices, opening an arbitrage window for cheaper material from overseas.

* The Shanghai-London spread in May hit its widest since July last year, paving the way for the arrival of more inbound arbitrage flows last month.

* Imports of bauxite, the main aluminium ore source, were down 3% year-on-year at 10.14 million tonnes in June, which was also up 11.3% from 9.11 million tonnes in May; first-half imports fell 5.5% on the year to 55.14 million tonnes.

(Reporting by Muyu Xu and Tom Daly; editing by David Evans and Kim Coghill) ((tom.daly@thomsonreuters.com; +86 10 5669 2119;))