India has restricted the import of zinc dross, effective Jan 1, 2020.
The Directorate General of Foreign trade released Notification No. 38, stating that “zinc dross is restricted for India to import”. However, import of zinc ash and zinc skimmings is permitted. Lead dross is also categorised under restricted imports.
Market participants in India expressed concerns over the zinc import ban and will request the government to revise the policy.
Several contracts/deals which were made before are now on hold.
India imports large quantities of zinc dross from US. The ban will cause an imbalance in the US markets, with dross prices in India seeing a sharp rise in the near term. India imported a total of 162,315.36mt of zinc scrap in 2018-19 and 89,688.16mt in 2019-2020 (till Nov), according to official data.