China to Implement Stricter Standards to Regulate Scrap Metal Imports

The Chinese administration plans to impose stricter standards for scrap metal imports into the country. As per unofficial reports, which are yet to be confirmed by authorities, the country plans to reclassify high purity scrap metal, in order to promote its domestic scrap recycling market. The country had recently set quotas on import of scrap metals.

 

As per reports, the plan proposes to further increase the content of aluminium and copper in the imported scrap. Simultaneously, levels of permitted impurities will be lowered. In order to ensure that the imported scrap adheres to the new standards, the authorities plan to implement a complex testing and approval mechanism.

 

The new requirements are expected to increase the price for imported scrap. Additionally, the country aims to kick-start the domestic recycling sector. Meantime, the scrap that meets the newly specified standards will be reclassified as raw materials, thus leading to fewer import restrictions.

 

The new standards were proposed by the Chinese national non-ferrous metals standardisation technical committee. The internal conference of the committee held on October 10th held discussions on the final version of the policy, which is expected to be announced by the end of 2019. The committee noted that the country’s manufacturing industry offers high-quality raw materials to contribute to sustainable supply of non-ferrous metal resources.