China seeks comment on imported steel scrap standards
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.
| 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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