LONDON (Reuters) – Europe’s copper fabricating sector has called on EU policymakers to close what it called loopholes to curb the export of scrap material, especially to China.
Companies that use copper to produce a variety of semi-finished products such as wire, tubes and rods released a position paper appealing to the European Commission, the EU executive, to take action.
“We express our deep concern for the efficient supply of our industry with secondary raw materials, as we are already faced with serious implications related to a scrap shortage within the EU,” the paper said.
Secondary materials refers to recycled metal.
Copper scrap exports from the EU hit a record in 2023, the paper said, with 672,000 metric tons leaving the bloc, 45% of which went to China to supply its massive refining sector.
The companies – which include Germany’s Wieland, Greece’s ElvalHalcor and Spain’s La Farga – noted that the EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act aims to meet domestic consumption from at least 25% recycled material.
The group called on the EU to close what it called a loophole in the bloc’s Waste Shipment Regulation that it alleged allows China to evade the provisions of the law.
“We appeal to the European Commission to protect our urban mine which is going to generate more quantities in the future available for the European industry,” the paper said.
(Reporting by Eric Onstad; editing by Barbara Lewis)
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