The Cab­i­net has ap­proved a one-year ex­ten­sion of all scrap met­al deal­er li­cences, al­low­ing op­er­a­tions to con­tin­ue un­til Oc­to­ber 14, 2026.

In a news re­lease from the Min­istry of Trade, In­vest­ment and Tourism (MT­TI), the min­istry said the de­ci­sion ap­plies to all li­cences pre­vi­ous­ly grant­ed un­der the Old Met­al and Ma­rine Stores Act, Chap. 84:07, pro­vid­ed that deal­ers have com­plied with Sec­tion 39 of the Scrap Met­al Act, 2022.

This marks the fifth ex­ten­sion since the in­dus­try was re­opened in Feb­ru­ary 2023, and is in­tend­ed to safe­guard the jobs and liveli­hoods of thou­sands of peo­ple di­rect­ly and in­di­rect­ly em­ployed in the sec­tor. Ac­cord­ing to the min­istry, the ex­ten­sion al­so gives deal­ers more time to meet the leg­isla­tive and op­er­a­tional re­quire­ments of the Scrap Met­al Act, which gov­erns li­cens­ing, ex­port, and com­pli­ance stan­dards for the in­dus­try.

The MT­TI stat­ed that it re­mains com­mit­ted to sup­port­ing the sec­tor through this tran­si­tion pe­ri­od, while en­sur­ing full com­pli­ance with the Act and its ac­com­pa­ny­ing reg­u­la­tions re­mains its ul­ti­mate goal.