Indonesia is expected to lift its Nov 22 ban on the transshipment of containerized scrap and resume inspections following a Dec 10 meeting between government officials and market participants.
Davis Index received a final draft revision of the meeting’s results which reveals that the government will allow transshipment of containers if the seal number of the surveyor, the shipping seal number and the container number stated in the surveyor’s report, have not been changed during the transshipment.
Exporters will need to be registered in the country of origin and for contracts signed before the Nov 22 regulation the government will permit inspections to commence.
The government will permit a maximum of 2pc impurity in scrap imports but will not issue it as a formal rule given its commitments to the Basel Convention.
The country will not allow mixed material shipments which means no mix of paper and plastic, electronic waste and other items specified in an appendix to its trade ministry’s Regulation No 84.
The reversal on the ban on transshipment of containerized scrap came after significant industry backlash to the infeasibility of the rule and the significant prices increases it would trigger for Indonesian industries.
Scrap trade to Indonesia ground to a halt and suppliers are now hopeful that trade will resume into a country that has become an important destination for ferrous scrap.
The Dec 20 meeting was organized by the country’s trade ministry and was attended by representatives of the cabinet secretary, trade and industry ministries, Customs and Excise, KSO inspection agency and industries impacted by the rule.