Jun 04, 2009. /Lesprom Network/. It was well known that Chinese pulp customers bought big again in April, and the import statistics now available from the China Customs Bureau supply the raw data: 1,186,104 tonnes, a new record, as reported by Forestweb. The April imports surpassed the February record of 1,181,763 million tonnes. March wasn't far behind, at 1,090,462 tonnes. All three months mark the first time the monthly figures have ever been above 1 million tonnes, and a number of sources believe the strong May demand will also result in a figure in that range. The April import figure was 8.8% ahead of March 2009 and 25.7% ahead of April 2008. January-through-April imports reached 4,276,858 million tonnes, up 27.2% from the year-ago period. In contrast, the 4-million-tonne mark in 2008 was not reached until May. Bleached softwood kraft pulp (BSKP) imports in April 2009 totalled 375,395 tonnes, up 12.3% year-over-year and down 12.1% month-over-month. For the first four months of 2009, they grew to 1,543,098 tonnes, for a year-over-year increase of 23.3%. The April imports of Canadian BSKP, or northern bleached softwood kraft, grew by 4.7% year-over-year, to 89,446 tonnes, but fell by 38.9% month-over-month. They totalled 488,771 tonnes from January through April, rising by 27.2% from the year-ago period. Bleached hardwood kraft pulp (BHKP) imports in April totalled 555,157 tonnes, increasing by 41.4% from April 2008 and by 18.1% from March 2009. So far this year, they have soared by 54.3%, to 1,951,168 tonnes. Chinese customers imported 227,507 tonnes of Brazilian bleached eucalyptus kraft (BEK) pulp in April, up 51.7% year-over-year and up 32.5% month-over-month. Cumulatively this year, the figure is 677,972 tonnes, growing by 44.6%. Unbleached softwood kraft (UKP) imports in April amounted to 67,831 tonnes, higher by 29.1% from April 2008 and by 48.9% from March 2009. The year-over-year total was 177,053 tonnes, falling by 12.2%, the only negative among the different kinds of kraft pulp. April imports of mechanical and semi-chemical pulp, also known as high yield pulp or bleached chemi-thermomechanical pulp (BCTMP), totalled 109,272 tonnes, increasing by 6.2% year-over-year and by 11.1% month-over-month. The January-through-April total was 369,440 tonnes, down 15.9%. The Chinese pulp imports data also includes sulfite grades and dissolving pulps.