Aluminium import prices in Asia for most grades including 6063 extrusion, A35 wheels, Taint/Tabor, and Tense settled flat to low in sync with the drop in the three-month aluminium contract on LME. Trading of ADC 12 with China and Japan remained slow, and Indian manufactures did not hear new offers from these two countries’ buyers this week as Chinese participants are away for their Lunar New Year celebrations till Feb 12.
Demand for ADC 12, a raw material used by the auto alloy manufacturers, slowed down in the domestic market as well in the last quarter of 2020 . Coupled with weakness in the three-month aluminium contract on LME, it led to drop in aluminium scrap import prices. Importers are suffering from double whammy — vessel container shortage and escalated freight charges on several routes including Singapore-India and the US- India route.
The official three-month aluminium contract settled at $1,978.5/mt from $1,994.5/mt down by $16/mt.
The weekly Davis Index for Zorba 95/2 settled at $1,504/mt cfr India port, down by $16/mt and for Zorba 99/3, the index settled at $1,530/mt cif China port, down by $45/mt. Chinese bids have come down drastically and with the reclassification standards in place, only a few exporters are engaged with China. Exporters shared that scrap material en route Chinese is being reprocessed at Hong Kong and Malaysian ports.
The weekly Index for 6063 extrusion settled unchanged at $1,660/mt cfr India port and for Taint/Tabor dropped by $5/mt to settle at $1,525/mt cfr India port.
The weekly Davis Index A356 wheels dropped to $1,850/mt cfr India port by $31/mt. The Index for Tense settled at $1,515/mt, down by $2/mt.
The weekly Davis Index for Talk or Aluminium-Copper radiators settled at $3,736/mt cfr India port, down $133/mt driven by the drop in the three-month copper contract on LME. The official three-month copper contract settled at $7,783.5/mt on Jan 28, down by $276/mt since Jan 21.
The weekly Davis Index for ADC 12 settled at $1,825/mt cfr China port, down by $275/mt. Manufacturers are hopeful that Chinese bids will be revised after their New Year celebrations are over.
The weekly Davis Index for ADC 12 settled unchanged at $2,000/mt cfr Japan port. Indian manufacturers reported thinning of purchase orders from Japan.