China grants 240,000 tonnes of import quotas for soon-to-be-restricted copper scrap

BEIJING: The Chinese environment ministry has granted 123 companies quotas to import types of scrap metal that will otherwise be off-limits from July 1, including around 240,000 tonnes of copper scrap.

China, which had already banned imports of low-grade copper scrap known as Category 7 from the start of 2019, announced in December it would restrict imports of higher-grade material from July 1, potentially causing a massive disruption in the copper supply chain for the world's biggest consumer of the metal.

On a copper contained basis, China's scrap copper imports accounted for almost 10% of the country's total copper consumption last year.

Quotas for a total of 240,429 tonnes of copper scrap imports - about one-tenth of last year's total imports -- as well as 54,256 tonnes of aluminium scrap and 14,968 tonnes of steel scrap, were published in a June 20 document from the China Solid Waste and Chemicals Management Bureau, part of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

Many of the quotas were awarded to firms in the city of Ningbo, one of China's main metal recycling centres in the eastern coastal province of Zhejiang, but there was no mention of the other key scrap processing region, Guangdong in the south.

No timeframe was specified for the quotas and it was unclear if further lists of quotas would be released.

China imported 2.41 million tonnes of copper scrap in 2018 and 170,000 tonnes of copper scrap in April, which was up 70% from March as buyers looked to take delivery of their material well before the new restrictions kick in.

China's May scrap metal import numbers are due to be released on Sunday.