China's recycle industry got hit from import plastic scrap ban

On 18 July 2017, the Chinese government sent official notification to the World Trade Organization (WTO) that the country will suspend the import of foreign garbage by end of 2017 to protect public health and the environment. Though the rules have been relaxed a little later to allowed the import of post-industrial grades of polyethylene, polystyrene and PVC; the number of plastics scrap import permission registration for the first two batches in 2018 fell drastically.

In the latest statement from the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection, the number of company applying to import waste plastics in the first two batches of 2018 down to only 8 compared to 424 in 2017. As the result, the quantity also drops to less than 10,000 tons as listed below from more than 5 million tons in the same period last year.

Such drastic changes in the import of plastics waste is expected to cast heavy shadow on the recycle industry in the near term, especially recycle PE businesses. The implication on the market is that as buyers continues searching for replacements, demand for prime grade cargoes might hold steady as a result.

Southeast Asian recyclers including those from Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia have been active in exporting cargoes to China since October 2017, according to the latest import statistics from Chinese Custom Department. Just yet, the quantity does not seem to be sufficient to meet all demand