China Releases First List of Permits for Recovered Fiber Imports

The permits for imports have recorded steady decline ever since China started imposing stricter controls on imports of recycled commodities.

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Chinese administration has published a permit list for imports of recovered fiber. This is the first list for 2020. The approved volume of imports continued to decline, very much in line with the trend during recent years.

The list approves imports of 2.8 million metric tons of recovered fiber. This is substantially down from the approved volume of around 5 million metric tons in the first permit list published in 2019.

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The permits for imports have recorded steady decline ever since China started imposing stricter controls on imports of recycled commodities. The approved volume of imports of recovered paper had totalled 28.1 million metric tons in 2017. The overall weight approved for import dropped significantly to 18.7 million metric tons in 2018. In 2019, the weight declined further to 10.9 million metric tons.

The recent actions by the Chinese authorities indicate that the country will most likely impose a complete ban on imports of OCC and several other fiber grades in 2021. The strategy is to continue reducing import permits this year and to completely eliminate import permits next year. Although it is too early to conclude, the first permit of 2020 aligns with the country’s stated policy to reduce imports of recycled commodities.

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