Imports of non-ferrous and ferrous scrap in Malaysia will be effectively banned from November under a new policy that sets stricter impurity thresholds than those applied by other Asian countries, a major industry body has told Fastmarkets.
Despite industry opposition, the Malaysian government has decided to set a 0% impurity threshold for three major scrap import products into the country, including "ferrous waste and scrap; remelting scrap ingots of iron or steel" (HS Code 7204), copper waste and scrap (HS Code 7404) and "aluminium waste or scrap" (HS Code 7602). The new policy comes into force on October 31.The industry at stake is huge. In 2020, $578 million-worth of copper scrap, $594 million-worth of aluminium scrap, and $984 million-worth...