The weekly Davis Index for Indian domestic aluminium old sheet or Taint/Tabor declined by Rs3,667/mt ($51/mt) to Rs92,333/mt del Mumbai consumer on Tuesday. A glut of scrap and sluggish demand pressured its prices.
The weekly index for Indian domestic aluminium old cast or Tense remained unchanged at Rs85,500/mt del Delhi consumer on slow demand from alloy manufacturers. ADC12 alloy exports to China have declined by around 90pc from late January, after Chinese enterprises shutdown to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Though Chinese buyers have returned to the market, they are unwilling to meet offers by Indian exporters. Davis Index heard bids for ADC12 at $1520/mt cfr China, but Indian alloy makers refused to reduce their offers below $1570-1590/mt range. Producers are unsure about demand revival in seaborne markets in the near term and thus have cut alloy production to reduce losses.
Across India, silicon scarcity continues to hamper LM6 and LM24 alloys’ production which has impacted domestic Taint/Tabor markets.
The index for EC wire in Delhi remained unchanged at Rs130,000/mt del consumer and the index for Taint/Tabor rose to Rs94,000/mt del consumer from Rs92,500/mt in the prior week. The weekly index for aluminium utensils settled flat at Rs106,000/mt del Delhi consumer.
Market Update
Aluminium scrap shipments into India from US, East Europe, Singapore and Hongkong are currently arriving 8-15 days later than their scheduled arrival. Shipping companies faced difficulties finding empty containers resulting in these delays. Scrap importers told Davis Index that vessels scheduled to depart on Feb 18 from Singapore, could leave only on Feb 25.
This delay, however, is unlikely to impact aluminium domestic scrap prices amid subdued demand in Indian markets.
($1=Rs71.88)