* China copper imports fall 13.7 percent in April to 262,676 T
* Aluminium cash trades at premium against three-months
* COMING UP: U.S. March wholesale inventories at 1400 GMT
(Adds details, updates with official prices)
By Melanie Burton
LONDON, May 10 (Reuters) - Copper climbed on Tuesday, as robust China trade figures burnished risk appetite and investor demand for the metal used in power and construction, offsetting news that headline imports in April fell.
Benchmark copper on the London Metal Exchange traded at $8,960 a tonne in official rings, versus $8,890 a tonne on Monday's close.
The metal fell to its lowest since early December at $8,657.50 a tonne last week.
China posted its biggest trade surplus in four months in April, swinging from a trade deficit in the first quarter, as exports hit a record on stronger global demand despite initial signs of a pinch from Japan's earthquake and nuclear crisis.
The figures in general boosted risk appetite, and even a drop in headline copper imports could be read as bullish for demand in the world's top consumer of base metals, which has helped underpin prices, said analyst Daniel Briesemann of Commerzbank.
"Some players think that the lower imports dynamics mean that China is currently now using local stockpiles to make up for demand," he said.
"This could already be seen over the last couple of weeks as Shanghai copper inventories have been falling."
China's imports of copper fell 13.7 percent to 262,676 tonnes in April from 304,299 tonnes in the previous month, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.
However, copper stocks held in warehouses monitored by the Shanghai Futures Exchange have dropped by 30 percent since mid-March.
There are signs also that the influx of copper into East Asian warehouses monitored by the LME this year is slowing.
LME copper stocks fell by a small 275 tonnes, the latest data showed, with a dearth of stocks into Asia.
However, total LME stockpiles at 468,325 tonnes are still close to their highest levels since June 2010.
Analysts said an exodus of investors from the copper market could see prices slip to the $8,000 a tonne mark before heading back towards record highs later this year as stronger demand from China and Japan becomes visible.
ALUMINIUM NEARBY
China imported 76,724 tonnes of unwrought aluminium, including primary, alloy and semi-finished aluminium products, in April, down from March's 87,729 tonnes, the data showed.
Reflecting a lack of available metal in May, cash aluminium traded at a small $1.50 premium against the three-months contract from a $31 discount one month ago.
This may put pressure on short position holders to deliver metal when the May contract becomes prompt next week, a London trader said .
"Last time there was a bit of tightness we saw 100,000 tonnes delivered into Vlissingen. This time I think it's probably going to run right to the wire and we'll find out on Monday."
LME aluminium changed hands at $2,650 a tonne from $2,612 on Monday.
In other metals, headline nickel stocks fell by 312 tonnes to 115,560 tonnes, their lowest levels since August 2009, as still soft demand eats away at constrained supply.
"It is still connected to the various outages we saw earlier in the year... also LME is cheapest supply of nickel if you are a merchant," an LME nickel trader said.
Brazilian miner Vale said in February it will lose around 5 percent of its total 2011 nickel production due to a 16-week shutdown of a smelter furnace in Canada.
Nickel was at $24,800 from $24,375.
Tin was untraded but bid at $30,000/30,050 from $29,795 while zinc, used in galvanizing was also bid at $2,178/2,179 from $2,164 on Monday's close.
Battery material lead was at $2,339 from $2,300 Metal Prices at 1307 GMT Comex copper in cents/lb, LME prices in $/T and SHFE prices in yuan/T Metal Last Change Percent Move End 2009 Ytd Percent
move COMEX Cu 405.50 4.60 +1.15 334.65 21.17 LME Alum 2649.00 37.00 +1.42 2230.00 18.79 LME Cu 8964.00 74.00 +0.83 7375.00 21.55 LME Lead 2338.00 38.00 +1.65 2432.00 -3.87 LME Nickel 24800.00 425.00 +1.74 18525.00 33.87 LME Tin 30000.00 205.00 +0.69 16950.00 76.99 LME Zinc 2178.00 14.00 +0.65 2560.00 -14.92 SHFE Alu 16700.00 10.00 +0.06 17160.00 -2.68 SHFE Cu* 67100.00 120.00 +0.18 59900.00 12.02 SHFE Zin 16835.00 115.00 +0.69 21195.00 -20.57 ** Benchmark month for COMEX copper * 3rd contract month for SHFE AL, CU and ZN SHFE ZN began trading on 26/3/07 (Reporting by Melanie Burton; editing by Alison Birrane)