What China buys, Germany restricts, including scrap.
Bloomberg reported that on September 1, during an event held by Siemens Energy in Berlin, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said that China is purchasing large amounts of scrap copper, leaving large copper smelters in Germany almost without raw materials. Habeck called on Europe to take action to stop the "large" flow of scrap copper to China, in order to support local copper smelters. She emphasized that Europe should develop a regional policy to ensure that China cannot simply rely on paying higher prices than European smelters to transport scrap metals out of Europe.
With the improvement of China's smelting technology and the rising price of mineral raw materials, China has significantly increased its purchase of scrap copper over the past five years. In the first seven months of this year, China imported about 204,000 tons of scrap copper from the EU, an increase of 3.5% compared to the same period last year, accounting for about 15% of China's total imports.
Amid global trade tensions, the supply of commodities is increasingly politicized, with Germany being particularly prominent. Habeck's proposal to stop China from importing scrap copper did not specify specific restrictive measures, but merely pointed out that this issue should be included in the broader framework of "European economic resilience." This indicates that Germany's move is purely politically motivated to hinder China, rather than to ensure the normal flow of commodity trade.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1842257194613851/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.