China published the 13th batch of waste import quotas for 2020 including 5,980mt of high-grade copper scrap imports.
The quotas were issued by the Solid Waste and Chemicals Management Centre (SCC) of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment in a notification on Monday.
Under the 13th batch, China issued 19 copper scrap quotas. The country has announced a single import quota for 340 mt of aluminium scrap and 1,340mt of four quotas combined for steel scrap.
China plans to ban solid waste imports in 2020. Metal scrap is categorised as solid waste in China, but it plans to allow high-grade copper and aluminium scrap in 2021, the standards for such imports are awaited. China is expected to release new standards for steel scrap before the year-end.
In the 12th batch China approved 136,335mt of copper scrap and 121,285mt of aluminium scrap and 2,610mt of ferrous scrap to be imported by Chinese companies.
Till date, the Chinese bureau has approved 885,455mt of copper scrap, 819,004mt of aluminium scrap and 24,450mt of ferrous scrap.