Chinese authorities issued the tenth batch of metal scrap import quotas on Friday, approving a total of 15,190mt of metal scrap imports into the country.
China’s Solid Waste and Chemical Management Bureau approved 10,110mt of copper scrap imports, providing licenses to 20 processors to import the raw material. The largest quotas were licensed to Taizhou Qihetiandi Metal, Anhui Chujiang Technology New Material and Huangshan Longyue Copper Industry of 1970mt, 1830mt and 1420mt, respectively.
In the second batch of the second half of the year, China approved 1,110mt of aluminium scrap imports, providing licenses to five processors – the largest quota of 480mt licensed to Zhejiang Jinyun Renewable Resources to import the raw material at Beilun and Ningbo ports.The remaining 3,970mt of quotas were approved for steel scrap imports.
In June, China imported 68,745mt of copper scrap, primarily from Malaysia, Japan and the US – 12,879mt, 9,949mt and 8,121mt, respectively. China’s June imports of copper scrap were down by 60pc from the prior year period and marginally lower by 1pc from May 2020.
China also imported 61,067mt of aluminium scrap in June, primarily from the US, the UK and Malaysia – 16,549mt, 6,786mt and 5,491mt, respectively. China’s aluminium scrap imports in June were down by 66.6pc from the prior year period, and up by 6.6pc from the previous month. China’s primary aluminium imports, however, jumped to 123,464mt in June from 2,962mt in the prior-year period.