Chinese Scrap Metal Ban Badly Impacted U.S. Exporters

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The proposed ban on scrap metal imports by Chinese authorities has badly impacted the U.S. scrap exporters. The Asian country had announced earlier that it intends to ban imports of all recycled materials including scrap metal by 2020, saying that it does not want to be a global dump. The country has been restricting imports from foreign countries by imposing stricter purity standards.

According to Babak Hafezi, partner at Hafezi Capital International Consulting and Investment, the country has already started imposing import quotas on high-grade copper and aluminum scrap. In addition, it has also banned imports of materials such as low-grade copper scrap. The country has restricted the ports that are permitted to accept imports to as low as 18.

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The proposed ban by China has not eliminated global demand for scrap metal. Rather, there has been a shift in demand to other countries in the region and also to other regions of the world. The potential markets that are likely to benefit from this shift are Vietnam, India, Malaysia, Mongolia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. The U.S companies are likely to be impacted by the Chinese ban the most, as they may have to look for new markets for their scrap metal inventory.