July 28 (LTIT) –The Chinese environmental authorities issued tenth batch of scrap metal import quotas for the current year. The quotas granted additional quantities of copper, aluminum and steel scrap to be imported during the current year.

According to the latest press release by the China Solid Waste and Chemicals Management Bureau under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the latest batch of quota allows for entry of 10,110 mt of copper scrap, 3,970 mt of steel scrap and 1,110 mt of aluminum scrap into the country. The latest batch of quota was significantly lower when compared with the prior batch, which had granted imports of 176,746 mt of copper scrap, 209,660 mt of aluminum scrap and 4,990 mt of steel scrap.

The data compiled by the Chinese Customs indicates that the country imported 68,745 mt of scrap copper in the month of June this year. This is marginally lower from the prior month. The imports were down sharply by almost 60% when matched with the same month a year before. The cumulative imports during the initial six-month period of the year totalled 430,618 mt, down significantly by over 50% from the corresponding half-yearly period last year.