It's no coincidence that this scrap surge is happening just as China's appetite for refined copper wanes. Shipments of 172,000 tonnes last year accounted for almost a fifth of China's total imports.įlows have accelerated again this year, up 73% at 178,000 tonnes in January-July, part of a broader 92% resurgence in total copper scrap imports. Malaysia has been China's top copper scrap supplier ever since. The transformation was down to the partial off-shoring of China's domestic dismantling and processing capacity. Malaysian imports that year amounted to 154,000 tonnes with a low implied copper content of around 30-35%.Ĭhina's ban on lower-grade scrap at the start of 2019 saw Malaysian imports mushroom to 267,000 tonnes with an implied content of 85-90% that year. Malaysia was China's ninth largest supplier of copper scrap back in 2017, when Beijing first revealed its intention to phase out imports of what it classified as 'solid waste'. That in turn has consequences for China, which has become reliant on Malaysia as a key supplier of higher-grade recyclable copper.Ĭhina's copper scrap imports by major supplier in 2020 Even if watered down, it's hard to see how they're not going to have a negative impact on flows of the very material Malaysia has become specialised in processing. Taken together, SIRIM's proposed standards risk halting imports of all but the highest-purity copper scrap. Malaysia's minimum purity level is also higher than that now permitted by China for imports of brass. Indonesia, which has also been tightening its scrap import standards, dropped a proposed 0.5% impurity threshold and settled for 2% after concerted push-back from international recycling organisations such as ISRI and BIR. Its 1% impurity threshold was controversial enough when first proposed. They not only stipulate a minimum metal content of 94.75% but also zero impurities, including the copper dust that naturally forms through oxidization.Įven China didn't try for zero tolerance. The proposed guidelines, issued by state standards agency SIRIM, would represent some of the strictest purity rules in the world. The Malaysia Non-ferrous Metals Association (MNMA) has warned that the current proposals risk killing off the country's growing scrap dismantling and processing sector. Malaysia's new import purity thresholds are due to come in at the end of this month.

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