CHINA: ZERO WASTE IMPORT TARGET BY THE END OF 2020

On June 24, 2018, the State Council issued the "Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Strengthening Environmental Protection and Anti-Pollution." and proposed "strengthening pollution prevention and solid waste control". It is a complete ban on foreign waste, preventing smuggling, drastically reducing the types and quantities of imported solid waste, and striving to achieve zero solid waste imports by the end of 2020。

According to the ban on the import of solid waste and external waste or zero import supervision, the quantity and quality limit of foreign waste imports will reach an unprecedented high, which will directly affect the development of the paper industry of China. Waste paper imports will fall from a low of 25.72 million tons in 2017 to a very low level, even O. By July 2018, China's waste paper imports were only 8.53 million tons. 49.8% over the same period last year. Import quotas will continue to shrink in the future.

At the same time, China's quality requirements for impurities will continue to increase. In the percentage of imported raw materials, which is allowed to be 0.5%, the policy of controlling 100% of raw material impurities from the US, the risk of re-export will increase greatly. Since the beginning of the year, the unified implementation of the General Department of Customs has organized an action group called lBue Blue 2018 to combat solid waste, and strictly investigate the criminal activities of smuggling solid waste by hiding, deceiving others, borrowing and reselling licenses of goods while sealing. Prevent the smuggling of snakes at sea and resolutely prevent all kinds of solid waste abroad. Currently, this action has achieved positive results. According to monitoring data from the Prospect Industrial Research Institute, there have been many incidents of US and Chinese waste that have re-exported since 2018, with a total scale of more than 6,000 tons.

Among them, on September 6, Hangzhou Customs under Huzhou Customs to make a batch of excess waste paper and 80 containers of more than 900 tons of substandard waste paper were transported from Zhejiang port. Jiang Huzhou returned to the United States. This is the 14th batch of waste paper re-exported by Hangzhou Customs last month. The total weight of 14 batches of waste paper is nearly 3,200 tons. According to the inspection of the relevant departments, these waste paper binding materials exceed the standard and do not meet the national solid waste control standards.

Domestic prices are steadily increasing, and the impact of the ban on solid waste imports on domestic waste paper prices will continue.

In China, the proportion of imported waste paper used in paper production is relatively high, and the change in imported waste paper has a greater impact on the domestic paper market. According to statistics of the Paper Industry Association, in 2017, China's pulp consumption accounted for 79.0% of domestic pulp consumption, while waste pulp consumption accounted for 21.0%, which is at a high level.

From the perspective of the proportion of imported pulp in China's pulp consumption, China's pulp consumption in 2017 was 63.02 million tons, of which 20.63 million tons came from imported pulp, with a dependency rate of 32.7%.

With the implementation of strict foreign waste import standards, the volume of imported waste paper will continue to shrink, domestic raw materials will be inadequately supplied, and the domestic waste paper gap will continue. expand. The demand for domestic waste has increased, pushing up the country's waste prices. The increase in the price of raw materials such as solid waste and wood pulp has increased the price of paper. 

According to the China Resource Recycling Association, waste paper prices in China have been rising since January 2017, especially in October 2017, reaching a record high of 1858.91, although it has declined and since 2000, China's waste paper prices continue to rise. On May 28, the price of waste paper reached 1840.63, which is relatively high. On September 18, 2018, China's waste paper price index was 1721.42. Affected by the restrictions on quantity and quality in the import of foreign waste, the shortage of waste paper market will push up the price of waste paper. The impact of import restrictions on waste paper on the price of domestic waste paper will continue.

~ According to China Institute of Industrial Prospects ~