Despite an 11.5 per cent increase in general imports over the last six months, the amount of recovered material imported by China has seen significant year-on-year declines.
Earlier today China’s General Administration of Customs said that in June 2018 scrap metal imports fell 44.5 per cent year-on-year to 400,000 tonnes.
Recovered aluminium imports were down by 41.1 per cent by comparison to June 2017 at 110,000 tonnes while scrap copper imports fell by 39.8 per cent to 200,000 tonnes.
Waste paper imports fell by 53 per cent to 1.12 million tonnes when compared to June 2017. In line with National Sword, the figure given for scrap plastic was zero.
This trend is not replicated across the wider importing landscape.
According to China Customs Statistics, in the first half of 2018, the value of China’s imports and exports in goods stood at RMB14.12 trillion, an increase of 7.9 per cent year-on-year. Exports increased by 4.9 per cent to RMB7.51 trillion and imports grew by 11.5 per cent to RMB6.61 trillion.
Over the six-month period, China’s trade value with the EU grew by 5.3 per cent, although this was lower than the 6.8 per cent increase in trade with Central and Eastern European Countries.
The data also showed an increase in the activity of private enterprises, up by 11.2 per cent and accounting for 39.1 per cent of the national total. Imports by private enterprises were up 18.4 per cent.
The most active areas in the first six months of the year were central and western China and north eastern China.
