China issues seventh batch of aluminium scrap import quotas for 2020 allowing additional 1480 tonnes

According to Shanghai Metals Market report, China’s environmental authorities on Monday, May 18, issued the seventh batch of import quotas for metal scrap, including aluminium.

The authorities confirmed that the seventh batch of import quotas for 2020 would allow additional 1,480 tonnes of high-grade aluminium scrap to enter China, compared to 1,030 tonnes of scrap permitted under the sixth batch of quotas. This means the allowance for aluminium scrap import to China expanded by 450 tonnes in the seventh batch.

The cumulative quotas for this year reached 478,159 tonnes, showed Shanghai Metals Market.

But while the import quotas are increasing for this year, the supply in the market is displaying a bearish trend due to disruptions amidst the worldwide spread of COVID-19.

China, in the first two months of 2020, imported 122,000 tonnes of aluminium scrap in total, down 40.7 per cent from a year earlier, according to customs data. In March, although the imports increased month-on-month by 29.8 per cent to 77,000 tonnes yet remained lower by 39.1 per cent year-on-year.

China’s total aluminium scrap imports during January-March stood at 199,000 tonnes, down 4.01 per cent from the same period last year.