China's Ministry of ecology and environment on Monday issued a quota of less than 550000 tons of metal waste for 2020. This is part of Beijing's efforts to reduce imported waste to zero.
The technical center for solid waste and chemical management of the Ministry of ecological environment issued the first batch of quotas in 2020, approving the import of 270885 tons of high-grade copper and 275465 tons of aluminum waste.
China aims to reduce imports of scrap metals classified as solid waste to zero by the end of 2020.
Traders have closely followed the quotas, fearing that the biggest consumer of metals could lose a major source of supply as China tightened import restrictions on scrap metals in July for environmental reasons.
China currently classifies scrap metals as solid waste, but will make adjustments by the second quarter of 2020 at the latest, when high-grade copper and aluminum scrap that meet the new standards will no longer be classified as waste, thus allowing unlimited imports.
But now companies will need quotas from the Ministry of ecology and environment to import waste.
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