Thai Customs submitted an urgent proposal to the Department of Foreign Trade on Wednesday 21 October 2026 seeking a ban on scrap-metal and rubber imports. The Bangkok Post published the newspaper account on 23 October. The stated reason is the concealment of electronic and other hazardous waste inside cargo declared as recyclable metal. The same week, Customs told the newspaper that every container declared as metal scrap is now being opened for a physical inspection.

The ban is a proposal. It has no published start date. Shanghai Metals Market, writing on 22 October, recorded the request against ferrous scrap (HS 7204), copper scrap (HS 7404), aluminium scrap (HS 7602) and rubber scrap (HS 4004). Until the Department of Foreign Trade adopts a measure, those streams can still move if they clear. Clearance is slower because the boxes are being emptied.

What Customs has already changed

Thai Customs said it confiscated 10,029 tonnes of illegally imported electronic waste in the fiscal year that ended on 30 September 2026. Of that, 5,290 tonnes had already been returned to the countries of origin. Thailand banned electronic-waste imports in 2020 and widened the list in 2025 to 463 types, including circuit boards, batteries and used mobile phones. The department told the Bangkok Post that metal-scrap and rubber declarations have been used to hide that stream.

Between January and September 2026 Thailand imported 2.76 million tonnes of steel, aluminium and copper scrap, worth 71.193 billion baht, or about 14,600 containers a month. Iron scrap was 2.12 million tonnes of that total. Customs said X-ray scanners struggle with densely packed scrap, so it has moved from risk-based checks to a physical inspection of every metal-scrap container, a volume it put at nearly 500 boxes a day.

The Basel Action Network flagged 720 containers in fiscal 2026 as possible illegal or hazardous movements. Customs said 440 of those boxes never entered Thailand. Of the rest, 187 were inspected and found not to hold Basel-listed hazardous waste, and 89 were found in breach; 75 of those had already been returned. The 22 October briefing also recorded a five-container metal-scrap shipment from Spain under review at Rayong, with no confirmation that it contained prohibited waste, and nine further Spanish containers totalling 223 tonnes held for inspection. Boxes of US origin were held in Prachin Buri on the same day.

The Government Public Relations Department carried a 22 October note from the Department of Foreign Trade. Ministry of Commerce rules already prohibit municipal waste, e-waste, plastic scraps, used tyres and rubber scraps. The department said it still facilitates the legal import of high-quality scrap metals for industry, while running joint inspections with Customs, the Pollution Control Department and the Department of Industrial Works against false declarations such as scrap metal mixed with e-waste.

What the proposed ban would do

Customs asked for a six-to-12-month transition so that 41 domestic metal smelting and processing plants that rely on imported feed are not cut off overnight. During that window, imports would be controlled rather than open. Permits would be issued only to factories that use the material in their own production, and only where domestic raw material is insufficient. Intermediaries would be excluded. Each shipment would need a pre-shipment inspection certificate. Importers would pay to return any box found to contain electronic waste.

Shanghai Metals Market noted that the effective date and the final conditions remain with the competent authorities. Yards should treat the proposal as a warning on documentation and cleanliness, not as a closed book this week.

This Thai import file is separate from the European Commission's draft list of non-OECD countries that may receive EU metal waste after 21 May 2027. See the draft waste-import list and OECD and non-OECD scrap shipments. A cargo can be lawful to load in the Union and still be delayed, returned or refused at Laem Chabang.

Who it affects among yards, traders, mills and processors

European yards and traders who book containerised HMS, shredded, copper or aluminium into Thailand are the first readers. Who buys European scrap metal still names Turkey as the main seaborne ferrous outlet. Thailand is a smaller book, but it is a working destination for prepared steel and for non-ferrous that feeds regional remelt. A physical inspection of every box means longer free time, higher demurrage risk and a higher chance that a mixed or dirty load is sent back at the importer's cost.

Processors and traders who have used Thai works as a buyer of copper scrap or aluminium scrap should expect the importer, not the yard, to hold the permit if the transition rules are adopted. A merchant booking for a third-country reseller would be the party the proposal tries to cut out.

Steel mills and remelters inside the EU are not the named target. They are affected only if Thai offtake for a grade they also buy disappears and that metal comes back onto the European or Turkish bid. Do not rewrite this week's domestic E3 or Taldon ticket on the strength of a proposal.

Exporters already used to Indian pre-shipment certificates will recognise the PSI line. India's DGFT still requires a valid inspection window for scrap imports; that file is India scrap imports: DGFT delists inspection agencies. A Thai PSI, if adopted, would be a second certificate, not a substitute for the Indian one.

How to name the lot

If the likely buyer is a Thai mill or remelter, write a single, prepared grade: HMS 1&2 80/20 or shredded (ISRI 211) for steel, Berry or Birch for copper wire, Taldon, Tata or Tense for aluminium. State tonnes, packing, load port, and that the box contains only that metal. Keep circuit boards, batteries, phones, cable with unknown fill, and mixed household fractions off the ticket. Say whether the material is waste or claimed as end-of-waste.

How to sell scrap metal is unchanged: ferrous and non-ferrous separated, mix declared. Verified companies can place the parcel on live lots or post a wanted enquiry. Request access if you need a member account.