India: Import aluminium scrap market remains dull despite low inventory

India’s imported aluminium scrap market saw slightly weak sentiments prevailing despite inventory at one-month low levels at the registered warehouses of the London Metal Exchange (LME), the largest base metal futures exchange in the world, handling about five million tonnes yearly.

During the past couple of weeks, LME aluminium 3-month futures prices have dropped by over $50/t and stock levels shrank by around 11,400 t.

Market participants stated that price variations among buyers are as much as $50-70/t, whereas sellers’ offers are fluctuating in the range of $30-35/t, particularly offers from the Middle East.

A trader source based in Dubai said that offers are quite strong for extrusion clean briquette and clean wheels scrap.

However, extrusion clean scrap offers range from $2,120-2,150/t from Jebel-Ali port in the UAE, whereas offers from Dammam port in KSA are at $2,100-2,125/t CIF western Indian port.

Furthermore, regular extrusion grade buyers said that they may prefer to wait for a while amid volatile global sentiments and are looking to procure domestically.

“It’s interesting to note that China’s demand for aluminium scrap is slowly declining, and a few buyers warned that the lack of demand would cause bids to drop further,” a source said.

Recent deals

• UK-origin Zorba 95/5 or 94/4 was sold at $1940/t CIF Chennai and around 400 t of Taint Tabor cut sheared at $1,570/t CIF Mundra.
• 22 t of EU-origin TT with 3% attachment was traded at $1,890/t CIF Chennai.
• A total of 200 t of aluminium ingots of South American origin was sold at $2,020/t CIF Hong Kong/Klang.
• A couple of zinc die cast 5% attachment (+/-1%) offers were recorded at $2,110-2,120/t from Jebel-Ali port, whereas offers were heard at $2,100-2,125/t CIF western Indian port from Saudi Arabia.

SteelMint’s assessment

• Aluminium taint tabor of Middle East origin was offered at $1,810/t CFR Nhava Sheva, down $110/t w-o-w.
• US-origin aluminium tense scrap prices are assessed at $1,720/t CFR Nhava Sheva, down $50/t w-o-w.

LME trends

Three-month aluminium futures and spot prices on the LME decreased by $27/t w-o-w to $2,333/t yesterday from $2,360/t on 7 March. Aluminium stocks were estimated at 543,525 t, down from 557,925 t last week.