n° 161 – July 2019

China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) approved scrap import quotas totalling 10.719 million tons in the first 10 batches of 2019.

From July 1 this year, eight additional forms of solid waste - including copper scrap and aluminium scrap - were transferred to the catalogue of solid wastes that are restricted to import as a raw material and for which an import licensing system has been implemented.

Approved by the MEE at the beginning of July, the ninth batch of import quotas incorporated: 240,429 tons of copper scrap, involving 51 companies; 54,256 tons of aluminium scrap, involving 16 companies; and 14,968 tons of iron & steel scrap, involving 10 companies.

The tenth batch was then approved by the MEE several days later and covered quotas of: 124,450 tons of copper scrap, involving 49 companies; 306,930 tons of aluminium scrap, involving 35 companies; and 5,550 tons of iron & steel scrap, involving four companies.

Scrap metal companies in other provinces such as Jiangsu and Shandong are expected to be listed in coming quota batches.

In 2018, China imported a total of 22.414 million tons of solid waste, down 47% when compared to 2017. The total comprised 17.03 million tons of scrap paper, 2.61 million tons of scrap copper, 1.56 million tons of scrap aluminium and 1.21 million tons of scrap iron and steel, according to China customs data.

MEE-approved waste/scrap import quotas up to mid-July 2019