Coronavirus Outbreak Dents Impact of China’s Scrap Metal Tax Relief

A worker moves aluminum pipes at the Qinghai Guoxin Aluminium Industry Incorporated Company workshop in Xining, Qinghai Province of China. Feng Li/Getty Images

BEIJING—China’s exemptions on import duties for U.S. copper and aluminum scrap will not massively increase shipments of the material as metal demand has dropped because of the effects of the coronavirus outbreak.

China on Feb. 18 granted tariff exemptions on duties of 25 percent tariffs on U.S. copper scrap and 50 percent on aluminum scrap. The taxes were in place since 2018 as part of its trade war with the United States.