Details of the secondary copper (brass) import regulations announced

SHANGHAI, Nov 3 (SMM) — China Customs have eased the restrictions for secondary copper imports, allowing more copper scrap to be imported into the country from November onwards,

On November 2, Nanning Customs took the lead in announcing the supervision conditions of secondary copper (brass), and made clear that the raw materials of secondary brass, secondary copper and secondary cast aluminum alloy that meet the standards are supervised according to general goods, and no import license is required for solid waste, and the import port is not limited.

The easing of secondary copper import restrictions came shortly after a notice on customs codes of secondary copper (brass) issued by China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment on October 19. According to the notice, standard high-quality raw materials will be allowed to be imported freely into China. 

Comparison of customs supervision conditions between six kinds of copper scrap and secondary brass

According to the new regulations, the import of secondary copper (brass) no longer needs the domestic consignee certificate and solid waste import license, which means that traders without relevant copper scrap processing and utilization enterprises in China can also participate in the import business, which basically liberalizes the import qualification control.

Copper scrap imports unlikely to soar in November 

According to an SMM survey, the new regulation has driven more domestic enterprises to import copper scrap. It was heard from market participants that copper scrap supply in Malaysia has been reduced, and the exporter is ready to export the material to China in November, after knowing the detailed import requirements of China. Some of the domestic enterprises have transported dismantling facilities to the US and other regions, and are ready to dismantle seven types of scrap copper and send them back to China. 

However, many enterprises still hold on to a wait-and-see stance towards the inspection of secondary copper (brass). Thus it is unlikely that a large number of imports will be made immediately in November.