China's imports of scrap metal in October fell 42.9% from the previous month to 160,000 tonnes, data released by the General Administration of Customs showed on Saturday.
China tightened curbs on scrap imports from July as part of an environmental crackdown but will reclassify high-grade copper and aluminium scrap from waste to raw material early next year, according to China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association's recycling arm, possibly easing supply constraints.
The country's total copper scrap imports stood at 90,000 tonnes in October, down 40% from 150,000 tonnes in September. China has issued quotas for around 550,000 tonnes of copper scrap imports and more than 460,000 tonnes of aluminium scrap imports since late June.
Aluminium scrap imports last month came in at 60,000 tonnes, down 45.5% from 110,000 tonnes in September.
Meanwhile, China's alumina imports came in at 240,000 tonnes in October, the customs data showed, up 60% from 150,000 tonnes in September.
Exports of alumina, the material smelted into aluminium, stood at 4,239 tonnes last month, after an unusually high figure of 34,345 tonnes in September.