Feb 15 (LTIT) - An official of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association's Metals Recycling Branch said on Wednesday that despite the sharp decline in scrap metal imports in 2018, China's aluminum and copper recycle increased from a year earlier.

China recovered 5.1 million tons of scrap aluminum in 2018, an increase of 1% from 5.05 million tons in 2017; and 2.1 million tons of scrap copper in 2018, an increase of 5% from 2 million tons a year ago. China Customs data shows that after the government's policy of restricting the flow of solid industrial waste into China, China's aluminum scrap imports fell by about 30% year-on-year to around 1.5 million tons in 2018. China imports mainly from the United States and Europe. According to industry insiders, with the establishment of recycling systems, China will have sufficient local supply.

The association has not finalized data on zinc and lead recovery in 2018.