A series of Chinese policies aimed at restricting imports of copper scrap is not expected to significantly alter the supply/demand balance in the world's largest copper consuming country, industry executives said during a panel discussion at Asia Copper Week in Shanghai.
"Despite the restriction of category-7 copper scrap imports this year, we have seen limited impact on the industry this year," Qi Zhigang, executive vice president of major Chinese copper smelter Shandong Xiangguang, told conference attendees on Wednesday November 14. "Instead, the quality of copper scrap imported into China has gone up considerably. Many low-quality scrap cargoes were sent to countries like Malaysia and Indonesia for dismantling and [then] they arrived in China as category-6 copper scrap," Qi said. This year, the number of import licenses and inbound shipments of category-7 copper scrap, including cable, wire and motors, have fallen dramatically in China. In April, the Chinese government announced a complete ban on imports of category-7 copper scrap by the end of 2018.In addition to...