China’s copper scrap imports grow 18 percent in first seven months
China’s imports of copper scrap in the first seven months grew steadily to 2.99 million tons, up 17.7 percent on the same period last year, the General Administration of Customs said on Thursday.
The imports were valued at 3.09 billion U.S. dollars, soaring 86.8 percent, or 1,033 U.S. dollars per ton on average, up 58.7 percent, greatly squeezing profits of domestic copper processing enterprises.
Since copper prices began to surge in 2003, copper scrap, a relatively cheap secondary raw material, has become increasingly important to China, which is becoming the global processing center.
The fact that the nation lacks a sound copper scrap recycling system added to the short supply of copper domestically, according to the customs.
The nation cancelled import tariffs on copper scrap from the beginning of this year, a move to encourage copper scrap imports and ease the material shortage of domestic copper processing enterprises.
The GAC has recommended the government should establish a scrap copper recovery system to help the processing industry to develop healthily. The industry should also update techniques to prevent environmental hazards involved in copper processing.
