BEIJING, May 17 (Reuters) - The government-backed
China Iron and Steel Association (CISA) on Tuesday debated how to speed up the
revision of standards for steel scrap to boost imports, the industry
association said on its WeChat account on Wednesday.
China has said it will
increase steel scrap use in steelmaking to try to reduce reliance on iron ore
imports and also cut carbon dioxide emissions.
The world's largest steel producer, with more than 70% of iron ore supply from
abroad, has a target to reach peak carbon emissions by 2030 and carbon
neutrality by 2060.
To help achieve those
goals, Beijing aims to increase the share of steel from electric-arc furnace
(EAF) that produce metal from scrap to over 15% of the country's total by 2025,
according to a plan issued by state planners in 2022 when the EAF share was
9.7%.
Every tonne of scrap
used for steel production prevents the emission of 1.5 tonnes of carbon
dioxide, as well as the consumption of 1.4 tonnes of iron ore, 740 kg of coal
and 120 kg of limestone, a Worldsteel Association report said.
Expanding EAF-based
steelmaking, however, has been constrained by a shortage of domestic steel
scrap.
China lifted a ban on
steel scrap imports in 2021, but it can still only enter the country under five
customs codes.
Representatives from Dalian Commodity Exchange, China Association of Metal
Scrap Utilization (CAMU) and some of China's top steelmakers including China
Baowu Steel Group, Ansteel, Shagang Group and HBIS Group attended Tuesday's
meeting, the CISA said in the statement.
Steel enterprises
present ascribed the low import levels to stringent standards.
"Neighboring
Vietnam and India imported much higher volumes of steel scrap than China. And
we need to promptly revise the standards of steel scrap if we were to enlarge
imports," Luo Tiejun, the vice chairman of the CISA, said.
China imported around
550,000 tonnes of steel scrap in 2022, less than before the ban was introduced
in 2019, customs data showed.
The meeting also
discussed a draft steel scrap futures contract, the CISA said.