China Approves First List of Suppliers

China has approved 2,046 overseas suppliers for scrap recyclables. The list comes out of a total of 3,500 applications that were filed by companies seeking to ship recyclables to China.

The country’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine approved the first list of suppliers on its Website, Reuter reported.

It did not say when it would approve other overseas suppliers. Japan is the largest supplier of copper scraps to China, followed by the US, which is also the largest supplier of aluminum scrap.

Unapproved suppliers will not be allowed to sell scrap to China from January 1 next year, the authority said.

The quarantine authority had said that it would stop processing cargoes from unregistered suppliers from November 1.

China’s strong demand for scrap to feed its fast-growing metal production has been sucking up world supply since last year, forcing the quarantine authority to impose measures to keep out hazardous materials.

In the first nine months of this year, China imported 2.8 million metric tons of copper scrap, up 15 per cent from the same period of last year.

Imports of aluminum scrap surged 57.8 per cent to 749,820 metric tons over the same period.