The China Certification and Inspection Committee (CCIC) have revised the terms and conditions for Chinese traders to import scrap metal to China. Traders should attend a training session to understand the new trade rules of the Chinese authorities. Traders are waiting for import guidance as China’s embargo approaches. China has preplanned this ban since June 2017. Accordingly, China Certification and Inspection Group (CCIC) have implemented a complete ban on scrap imports after 31 December 2020
Zero Scrap Imports to China
Ma Hongchang, an expert from China, who has close ties to the World Recycling Organization, reminded members that scrap imports will be licensed later in the year, but they will be mitigated to achieve zero scrap imports. The Environment Ministry says that China would reach its "zero solid waste import" target by the end of this year(2020) . Beijing plans to restructure the domestic recycling industry, "by transforming domestic recyclers from small and scattered to high-quality companies".
Imports of Copper, Brass and Aluminum scrap
The Ministry of Environment continue to monitor the imports of copper, brass and aluminum scrap that do not meet the new standards through the quota system which came into effect from July 1 last year. Although China has enacted new national standards for the importation of recycled brass, copper and cast aluminum alloys, no announcement has yet been made as to the customs codes or import procedures for these three raw materials at the time of writing.
Automobile Industry in India
The automotive and mechanical industries have been hit hardest by the crisis in the steel industry. Car manufacturing has already seen a shift to electric vehicles and government policies to reduce passenger traffic density in cities. Shen Dong of Omnisource told the China Automobile Manufacturers Association that car sales will fall by 23% to 7.9 million units in the first five months from 2020 and vehicle sales in June were at around 50% of last year’s level
Actions Taken by Indian Government
The Indian government has already taken a safeguard action on this steel consumption by investing in major rural area projects such as Railways, Road Transport, Highways, and Power, etc. India is the second-largest steel producer which has the huge capacities of steel making. China is considered to be the India’s large steel consumer market. India has equipped with150 million tones (MT) of steelmaking capacity which can give a steel production of 110 MT and soon to procure 150 MT of Steel.
This move of the government will definitely give hope to Indian Steel consumption where the steel industry needs not to search for new markets in the nearby future.
USA and China
The Omni source Corporation in the US has made its point, due to the pandemic; there is a major disruption in the global supply chain of china. USA is one of the main resources and is a significant exporter of high quality scrap products to industrial consumers in China. In 2017, the U.S. was valued at $ 5.6 billion. China imports 31% of its scrap products. Over the past decade, China's plastic and paper scrap consumption has increased by 50% and 70%, respectively. The U.S. Manufacturing Index for June shows production activity expanding for the first time since February.
The demand for scrap is rapidly recovering as the shortage of industrial production and very low pedestrian traffic have reduced the load on the yard, ” Rick Dobkin of Shapiro Metals says. "Industrial levels fell by 40-75% in April and May, and many are now only 25% above their normal levels."