India: Aluminium ADC12 ingot prices rebound by INR 2,000/t

Aluminium alloy ingot ADC12 prices rebounded by INR 2,000/t w-o-w following a hike in local prices owing to continuous tight supply in the market, especially for auto scrap, SteelMint assessment shows.

The disturbed supply chain of scrap in the domestic market resulted in higher offers and higher bids ultimately pushed tense scrap prices higher by INR 5,000/t w-o-w. Demand for other scrap grades like utensils and taint tabor is limited as prices have not witnessed a parallel hike. However, a few sellers are trying to hold back offers on hopes of further hike.

• Prices of tense grade scrap stood at INR 169,000-170,000/t exy Delhi, excluding GST, as per actual transactions, whereas sporadic offers were heard in the range of INR 167,000-168,000/t. But sellers were not ready to release material at this level.
• ADC12 ingot prices are assessed at INR 196,000/t, up INR 2,000/t d-o-d exw Faridabad (excluding GST).
• Currently, small and medium-scale manufacturers have a conversion spread from tense scrap to ADC12 in the regional market at around INR 30,000-32,000/t ($368-392/t).
• Aluminium tense prices from the US hovered at $1,870/t CFR Nhava Sheva till yesterday.
• SteelMint’s price assessment for UK-origin Zorba 95-5 stood at $2,050/t CFR Nhava Sheva on 24 January.

The price of ADC12 aluminium alloy ingot from Gujarat moved to $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 seen. Aluminium ingot exports to Japan improved m-o-m in December to 14,373 t compared to just 7,108 t in November.

Automotive industry 

India’s automobile production of passenger vehicles in December stood at 283,028 units, down by 60,477 units from 343,505 units in November’22.

Notably, India’s automobile production is expected to touch a four-year high of 26.50 million units (MU) in FY23, as per SIAM data. The expected increase is based on the premise that the semi-conductor issue which has been plaguing the auto industry for the past few years would be sorted out with Indian players setting up such units.