China imports of scrap copper unlikely to pick up

The mainland's imports of scrap copper, the feedstock for a third of its production of the metal, are unlikely to rebound from a 10-year low as US supplies remain tight, according to the world's largest listed metals and electronics recycler.

Industries that provided the bulk of recycled material in the United States, the biggest exporter of scrap metal to the mainland, had not yet recovered sufficiently to improve supply, Michael Lion, the chairman of Sims Metal Management Asia, said in Hong Kong on Friday.

Scrap copper imports by the mainland, which accounts for about half the world's copper consumption, fell to the least since 2004 last year as the economy expanded at the slowest pace since 1990.

"In addition to any demand being weaker has been the absence of availability of scrap," Lion said. "You haven't seen a compensation in generation of scrap in North America to offset still very weak activity, particularly in Europe."

Scrap copper imports fell 16 per cent to 306,466 tonnes in January from the previous month after sliding 11 per cent from 2013 to 3.9 million tonnes last year, customs data showed.

"Any growth in the generation of domestic scrap will not significantly [affect] the level of China's imports for the foreseeable future - for at least five years," Lion said. "China is still many, many years away from being self-sufficient in scrap supply."