China imported 31,496 tonnes of steel scrap in March of 2021, with 20,493 tonnes, or 65.1% coming from Japan, according to the country's General Administration of Customs.
South Korea was the second-largest scrap supplier to China in March, supplying 6,290 tonnes, about 20% of China's ferrous scrap imports in the month, with Hong Kong (6.9% of the total) and Malaysia (3.9%) the other significant sources.
China imported 38,602 tonnes of ferrous scrap in the first quarter of 2021, a 1,047% increase on the same period in 2020.
The breakdown of imports in March 2021, according to the Harmonized System (HS) codes, are as follows:
Cast iron scrap (HS 72041000): 399 tonnesOther alloy steel scrap (HS 72042900): 10,336 tonnesOther steel scrap (HS 72044900): 20,761 tonnes
China also imported 14,068 tonnes of stainless steel scrap (HS 72042100) in March, with most of that (96%) coming from Malaysia and Japan.
China did not import any tin-coated steel scrap (HS 72043000) or scrap ingot for remelting (HS 72045000) in March.