Although scrap imports increased in China, they failed to meet expectations

The increase first started after the import of raw materials for secondary steel was liberalized on January 1, 2021 and has continued to increase steadily to the present day. Although this increase continues, scrap imports in China are still low as the number of customs commodity codes corresponding to the types of scrap that can be imported is only five.

Because scraps are of different quality, they are mixed before being imported, making it very difficult for international scrap types to enter the Chinese market. This situation has severely limited the volume of imported scrap in China.

In 2020, the import volume of semi-finished products such as iron and billet increased due to the inability to import scrap.

Looking at the previous years based on customs data, China imported 3,458 million mt of directly reduced iron in 2020, up  153,3 percent year on year; It imported 18,335 million mt of billet, up 499,9 percent year on year. This changed imports of directly reduced iron falling 54.9 percent year on year to 1,3 million mtdue to the liberalization of secondary steel raw material imports in 2021.