CMRA ASEAN Conference: Building bridges in rough weather

Members of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association Recycling Metal Branch (CMRA) and regular attendees of its conferences have seen numerous changes to the regulatory landscape for metals trading in the past 12 years.

Several panelists and speakers at a CMRA conference held in mid-June in Bangkok stated that, nonetheless, recycled metal from around the world is finding its way to China to metals producers who are eager to purchase it.

CMRA Deputy Secretary General Wang Jiwei described China as having the top global position for 14 years in its production of recycled-content nonferrous metals. Wang also said the recycled content of aluminum and copper made in China “has been increasing.”

The CMRA officer said the 2024 conference in Bangkok was part of an “overseas cooperation” effort that is important to the group. Wang said China’s government will continue to enforce its environmental standards, but the CMRA is “trying to reduce customs fees” while maintaining and increasing the quality of inbound metals for recycling.

Wang Min, who works from Beijing for London-based CRU, told CMRA attendees the increasing recycled metals content in China is part of a wider global trend.

She said postconsumer scrap will grow as a percentage in the production of aluminum beverage cans and automotive components and in copper and brass products. CRU predicts scrap used in copper production will grow by 3.6 percent per year from 2024 through 2050, said Wang.

Robin Cai of United States-based Alter Trading, one of four panelists in a discussion on nonferrous sector developments beyond China and Southeast Asia, said U.S. consumption of aluminum and copper scrap is poised to grow domestically thanks to large-capacity melt shop investments there. She also said India had emerged as a "vibrant, energetic market” for U.S. aluminum and copper scrap grades.

Michel Dubois of the France-based Derichebourg Group sees similar development occurring in Europe, where new sorting and melt shop technology is being installed. “This will change the game,” he said.

In the Middle East, new recycled-content nonferrous melt shop capacity also is a factor, said Muzammil Haji Amin of the United Arab Emirates-based Ala Group. He said traditional primary aluminum producer ALBA, based in Bahrain, is among the companies boosting their use of scrap in melt shops in his home region.

Nonetheless, the panelists indicated they see global trade in nonferrous recycled metals remaining viable. Li Shunrong of Germany-based Nord-Schrott GmbH said that firm’s 267-acre processing and export facility in northern Germany “represents the industry’s future.”

Dubois described metals recyclers as “sitting on a gold mine,” and said no matter how high aluminum and copper scrap collection rates rise, “there will never be enough” to feed furnaces in Europe, Asia and beyond.

Cai said “clearly the future is bright” for nonferrous recycling, while Haji Amin characterized the Middle East as an established supplier of high-quality nonferrous shipments with “good freight connections” to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region where the conference was held.

The CMRA 2024 ASEAN Recycling Metals International Conference took place at the Shangri-La Bangkok from June 17-19.