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NEWSBREAK: China stopping inspections on 5 grades of ferrous scrap

Five grades of steel scrap will no longer need to undergo customs inspections at ports in China when they are imported into the country, beginning on June 10.

June 3, 2021
By Tianran Zhao
China Ferrous scrap Steel raw materials

But five other grades of the steelmaking raw material will undergo such inspections from the same date.

China’s General Administration of Customs said on Thursday June 3 that it would no longer carry out imported commodity inspections on a list of 10-digit Harmonized System (HS) codes comprising mechanical and electrical products, metal materials, chemicals and artificial ornaments.

Among the 234 HS codes listed are five types of recycled steel materials.

The specification of the products, according to the HS codes, are as follows:

  • 7204300000 Waste and scrap of canned iron or steel
  • 7204490010 Compressed auto body
  • 7204490020 Waste hardware and electric appliance mainly for recycling steel and iron
  • 7204490090 Shredded scrap, not specified or included elsewhere
  • 7204500000 Re-melting scrap ingots of iron steel

Conversely, the customs authority said it would start to implement imported commodity inspections on eight HS codes involving imported recycled raw materials, of which five are recycled steel materials.

The specification of the products, according to the HS codes, are as follows:

  • 7204100010 Recycled steel raw materials that meet the requirements of GB/T 39733-2020, China’s national standards for ferrous scrap
  • 7204210010 Other recycled steel raw materials that meet the requirements of GB/T 39733-2020
  • 7204290010 Other recycled steel raw materials that meet the requirements of GB/T 39733-2020
  • 7204410010 Recycled steel raw materials produced in mechanical processing that meet the requirements of the GB/T 39733-2020 (mechanical processing refers to turning, planing, milling, grinding, sawing, filing, shearing, punching)
  • 7204490030 Unlisted recycled steel raw materials that meet the requirements of GB/T 39733-2020

Fastmarkets’ daily price assessment for steel scrap, heavy recycled steel materials, cfr China, which takes into account prices at ports in eastern China, was $500-515 per tonne on Wednesday June 2, widening upward by $5 per tonne from $500-510 per tonne on Tuesday.

The country’s customs authority will also conduct export commodity inspections on billet and pig iron from June 10.

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