China seeks comment on imported steel scrap standards

Market: Metals
03/11/20

China's State Administration for Market Regulation has released a document seeking market participants' feedback on proposed ferrous and stainless scrap import standards, as the country aims to set out new definitions and requirements by the end of this year.

The new standards will categorise scrap into six groups — heavy recycling steel material, medium recycling steel material, small recycling material, shredded recycling steel material, bundled recycling steel material and stainless recycling steel material. Each group is subdivided into two to four classifications according to physical specifications and processing methods (see table).

This means that any unprocessed scrap will not be permitted for import.

Physical specifications in the new standards do not entirely follow the Chinese domestic market standards set by the State Administration for Market Regulation. For example, the new import standards will allow some scrap with length no longer than 1.5m while the Chinese domestic market standards require length no longer than 1m. The guidelines that typically govern the Turkish deep-sea import market, which are set by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), require HMS 1/2 to not exceed 60 x 24 inches (152.4cm x 60.96cm).

This feedback procedure is one of the final and most significant steps before China issues custom codes and allows imports of ferrous and stainless scrap that falls within the new standards. If the timeline for the ferrous standards mirrors that taken between the time it took China to reclassify non-ferrous scrap as recycling material and launch the new import policy, then China would potentially allow ferrous scrap imports in the final quarter of 2021.

But the swiftness with which the scrap standard development has progressed in the past month has created the potential for a faster roll-out of new specifications, particularly now that the non-ferrous standards are already in place.

By Chi Hin Ling

China's new imported scrap standards
Classification	Code	Physical specifications	Typical sources	Processing method

Heavy recycling steel materials	HRS101	Solid body with thickness ≥ 6mm or diameter ≥10mm; length<1,500mm; width<600mm; unit weight ≤1,500kg	Large equipments, railway equipments and materials, large steel structure parts and scrapped large ships, etc.	Dismantling, cutting
	HRS102		From steel production or processing such as cut heads and tails, defective products, substandard steel products and other residual or tailings from steel processing	Cutting
Medium recycling steel materials	MRS 201	Solid body with thickness ≥ 4mm or diameter ≥8mm; length<1,500mm; width<600mm; unit weight ≤1,500kg	Small and medium-sized equipment, medium-sized steel structural parts and small and medium-sized ships	Dismantling, cutting
	MRS 202		From steel production or processing	Cutting
Light recycling steel materials	LRS 301	Thickness ≥ 2mm; length<1,500mm; width<600mm; unit weight ≤1,500kg	Small equipment, small car frame	Dismantling, cutting
	LRS 302		From steel production or processing	Cutting
Shredded recycling steel materials	SRS 401	Bulk density of 0.8-1.8t/m³	From car dismantling	Dismantling, shredding
	SRS402		From other small or thickness <2mm recycling steel materials such as white goods or machine parts	Shredding
	SRS403		From industrial processing	Shredding
	SRS404		From small machine or civil construction	Shredding
Bundled recycling steel materials	BRS501	Length≤1,500mm, width≤1,000mm; height≤1,000mm; unit weight≤2,000kg	From car plates or other residual and tailings (sole grade, not mixed)	Bundling
	BRS502		Old steel bars (rebar, wire, etc.)	Bundling
	BRS503		Steel shavings from manufacturing process	Bundling
Stainless recycling steel materials	Stainles s-RS601	Length ≤1,500mm, width ≤1,000mm; thickness 300-700mm; unit weight ≤1,500kg	Ni-Cr stainless steel parts or processing residual with Ni content ≥6pc	Cutting, bundling
	Stainles s-RS602		Cr stainless steel parts or processing residual with Cr content ≥10pc	Cutting, bundling
— State Administration for Market Regulation

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