China will introduce new standards for recycled materials imports, including brass, copper, and cast aluminium alloy, on July 1, according to the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR).
Under this policy, any material considered scrap cannot be imported into China as December 31, 2020. Moreover, on May 18, the seventh batch of import quotas had 10,423mt of copper scrap, 1,480mt of aluminium scrap, and the total annual import totals of of both metals were 540,184mt and 478,159mt, respectively. However, China has not officially release a statement in English specifying the policy or how it could affect CCID inspections, BIR said in a statement.
At the Non-ferrous metal commodity session of the BIR forum on June 3rd, it was noted that metal prices could drop because of COVID-19’s impact on the market. However, China’s new recycled material policy could benefit non-ferrous scrap metal trading worldwide.
India is expected to lose 25-40pc of its GDP in first quarter of FY 2020, as per a statement from Metco Marketing. Indian importers were forced to pay demurrage charges for cargoes they couldn’t release because of disruptions to banking services during the country’s lockdown.
In North America, scrap yards seen slow movement because of safety restrictions pertaining to the pandemic. Imports into to the US and Mexico have dropped 35-70pc, while Canadian scrap imports fell by 60pc, Shapiro Metals said at the BIR forum.
During the lockdown period, the EU had tight copper and copper alloy scrap supply. According to European Metal Recycling, metal scrap availability in Sweden was 80pc of normal levels, while Italy and Spain saw 50pc of their usual scrap levels.