India’s imported aluminium scrap market is witnessing positive trends due to the recovery seen in key commodity exchanges such as the London Metal Exchange (LME).
Trade channel exporters and importers foresee prices to continue rising amid tight scrap supply in the domestic market, better export realisations for aluminium alloy ingots, and an improved price gap between secondary and primary material.
However, a few sources shared that exporters are currently not aligned with the exchange market as overseas offers are higher in terms of stock availability.
Exporter sources said that lower availability of scrap in the European region along with a higher currency pushed scrap sellers to place higher bids to maintain the average scrap collection rate at their yards resulting from higher offers.
A buyer source shared that market participants are keeping a close track of the strengthening exchange market and are likely to resume buying after a couple of days upon receiving positive feedback from the exchanges.
“Sellers are quoting prices which are $20-30/t higher, although buyers are yet to accept these prices,” an indentor source told SteelMint.
There is shortage of raw materials in the European region, and healthy trade volumes have been reported.
Sources anticipate a further upswing in the market after the Chinese New Year break.
SteelMint’s assessment
- SteelMint’s assessment for US-origin aluminium talk scrap is at $4,595/t CFR Nhava Sheva, up $145/t w-o-w.
- Offers for aluminium extrusion scrap from the Middle East stood at $2,360/t, an increase of $40/t against last week.
- Aluminium tense prices from the US hovered at $1,870/t today CFR Nhava Sheva, up $60/t w-o-w.
- SteelMint’s price assessment for UK origin Zorba 95-5 stood at $2,050/t CFR Nhava Sheva, up $60/t w-o-w.
The price of ADC12 aluminium alloy ingot from Gujarat touched $2,470–2,480/t in recent trading, and current offers range between $2,500–2,510/t. However, trades at these price levels for CIF Japan have not yet been finalised.
LME trend
Three-month aluminium futures and spot prices on the LME surged $18/t yesterday against 18 January. Stocks were assessed at 375,950 t yesterday, down 19,200 t from 18 January.
Outlook
Market participants expect prices to increase. Suppliers are likely to quote higher prices due to limited supply of scrap.
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