Beijing rolls out a new set of numbers and ups its recycling goals

Nov 11, 2005 | 08:10 AM | Kevin Foster

China is planning reforms of its secondary metals sector that could double domestic production during the next five years. But imports are likely to remain a key part of the mix for years to come.

Few details of the legislation are known, but lifting the output of secondary copper and aluminum is crucial to Beijing's plan to reduce energy use and pollution, government and industry officials said at a secondary metals forum in Guangzhou, southern China, last week.

The new legislation looks set to benefit China's scrap industry leaders, Ningbo Jintian Copper Group Co. Ltd. and Shanghai Sigma Metals Inc., but Beijing's desire to increase the recycling of metal also means that imports will play an important role for years to come.

"We have agreed to speed up the legislation process (and) we are focusing on industries with a high consumption of energy and water," Sun Youhai, a director at the environment and resources protection commission at the People's Congress, China's top legislative body, said. Laws should be passed within "a few years," he added.

The government plans to increase domestic production of secondary copper by 33 percent to 560,000 tonnes in 2010 from an expected 420,000 tonnes this year, Wang Gongmin, vice president of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIA), said.....