The copper ribbons recovered from decommissioned PV modules may weigh little per panel, but they are a bottleneck in the economics of PV recycling. Under current scrap copper market dynamics, recycled copper ribbons from PV modules are facing the same hurdle: tax-invoiced material is snapped up, while material without an invoice finds no buyers.

Tax-invoiced material: hard to secure

Stricter enforcement of reverse invoicing has further limited the already scarce supply of compliant material;

Invoice quota limits, inconsistent enforcement standards across regions, and high invoice fees are all constraining supply;

Traders’ average inventories of new tax-invoiced material sell out within 1–2 days, indicating a marked increase in inventory turnover.

Material without tax invoices: hard to sell

Without compliant input tax deduction documents, recycling companies face the risk of having their input VAT invoices reversed;

Market demand has nearly disappeared, circulation has almost stalled, and the market has become “prices without transactions”;

Recycling companies are competing to buy tax-invoiced raw materials, keeping order volumes under control and purchasing as needed.

According to an article published on November 2 by the SMM Recycled Metals WeChat public account, the core issue on the scrap copper supply side remains the shortage of compliant material caused by stricter enforcement of reverse invoicing and more frequent inspections. Domestic material without tax invoices cannot provide compliant input tax deduction documents and is subject to inspection risks. As a result, market demand has nearly disappeared, circulation has almost stalled, and the market has become “prices without transactions.” To avoid tax risks and prevent input VAT invoices from being reversed, recycling companies are competing to buy tax-invoiced raw materials. However, tax-invoiced material is already in limited supply: invoice quota limits, inconsistent enforcement standards across regions, and high invoice fees are all constraining supply. Traders’ inventories of new tax-invoiced material sell out within an average of 1–2 days, indicating a marked increase in inventory turnover. When copper prices fall, traders hold back their stock; when prices recover, although high-priced inventory is available, the limited extent of the recovery means that trading volumes do not increase accordingly. Overall, supply remains relatively inelastic.