US scrap exporters are enjoying short-term relief from the restart of China's North American customs inspections division, but longer-term fears are emerging about stricter guidelines complicating future shipments and trade with that nation.
The inspection operations of the Chinese Certification and Inspection Group (CCIC) North America will officially resume on Friday June 8."Due to the need for system adjustments, our company will start accepting inspection applications on June 8," CCIC North America said on June 1.While the announcement did not directly address the thousands of containers on the water that have not yet been issued the final certificate required to clear Chinese customs, sources said shippers are in the process of obtaining that approval."CCIC can now issue the certificate for material on the water if the pre-shipment inspection was properly done. Today we have already collected certificates," one exporter told American Metal Market.Other exporters said they were actively working to obtain the final certificate but noted that a bottleneck of material awaiting certification may delay the issuance of the necessary paperwork."We are working on the certificates now. The backlog must be by the thousands....