Aluminium import prices in Asia for A35 wheels, Taint/Tabor, Tense, Zorba 95/2, Talk, and Tally remained volatile on the slight rise in the three-month aluminium contract on LME from the prior week. Scarcity of scrap continued as imports remained slow because of escalated freight prices. Only a few manufacturers heard ADC 12 bids from China and Japan, otherwise trades with these two countries remained slow.
Market participants remained watchful of the change in prices on LME, hoping scrap prices would fall following the slide in the global market. Importers continued to struggle with vessels and containers’ shortage, thereby avoiding bookings as downstream manufacturers shirked away from buying scrap at high prices due to high freight.
The official three-month aluminium contract rose to $2,181.5/mt from $2,177.5/mt, up by $4/mt from March 4 before dropping further by $21/mt to $2,156.5/mt on March 9. The participants remained wary of further fall on LME by 1.01pc to $2,157.5/mt around afternoon on March 12.
The weekly Davis Index for Zorba 95/2 settled at $1,708/mt cfr India port, up by $8/mt while the index for Zorba 99/3 settled unchanged at $1,700/mt cif China port. Zorba prices remained slightly up as three-month LME copper prices rose by $291/mt to settle at $9,048/mt on March 11 from $8,757/mt on March 4. Last week, the three-month copper prices dropped by $805.5/mt while in the week before that, it gained $931.5/m on Feb 25.
The weekly Davis Index for 6063 extrusion settled at $1,770/mt cfr India port, up by $7/mt. Some reported trades of 6063 extrusion at $1,800/mt cfr India port, but no all importers confirmed the escalation in the extrusion prices.
The weekly Davis Index for Taint/Tabor rose by $40/mt to settle at $1,650/mt cfr India port.
The weekly Indexes for A356 wheels rose to $1,978/mt by $3/mt cfr India port while for Tense, it settled at $1,603/mt, down by $30/mt.
The weekly Index for Talk, or aluminium-copper radiators, settled at $4,422/mt cfr India port, down by $9/mt cfr India port. Participants also reported prices hovering around $4,370–4,380/mt. Demand was muted as importers took a brief pause to analyse the future price direction.
The weekly Davis Index for ADC 12 cfr China slid by $6/mt to $2,190/mt. ADC 12 exporters reported few bids at $2,200/mt levels.
The weekly Index for ADC 12 cfr Japan was so down. It settled at $2,318/mt from the prior week, down by $57/mt. Chinese manufacturers heard bids from Japan at $2,450/mt level but Indian manufacturers heard bids at $2,240-2,280/mt level.