The weekly indexes for most domestic brass scrap grades dropped in Delhi and Jamnagar despite the rise of $56.5/mt in the three-month LME copper contract from the prior week. The three-month contract rose by $56.5/mt to settle at $9,013/mt on March 23 from $8,965.5/mt March 16. Due to weak demand, traders preferred to lower bids in Delhi and Jamnagar to clear the book ahead of the financial year-end.
Demand was weak demand in Jamnagar and North India while imports remained slow. Cleaner imported scrap material remains unavailable because of the lockdowns in US and the UK due to COVID-19, while domestically available scrap with a greater percentage of attachment was easily available.
Slow trades were reported in Jamnagar with domestic buyers as well as Chinese bidders.
A few Chinese bids for brass billets were at $5,375-5,500/mt cfr China port, down from $5,600/mt last week. Jamnagar exports $2,000/mt of brass ingots to China per month. The exporters of brass billets shared that bids are low, and very few participants are interested in any deal given the volatility of the international market driven by the three-month LME copper contract.
The weekly Davis Index for imported Honey brass settled at Rs380,500/mt del Delhi consumer, down by Rs12,500/mt ($172.15/mt); and at Rs405,000/mt del Jamnagar consumer, down by Rs3,125/mt($43.05/mt).
The weekly Index for Honey domestic origin (Purja) settled at Rs368,500/mt del Delhi consumer, down by Rs11,500 ($158.42/mt). The weekly Index for Honey domestic origin (Vilayati) del Jamnagar consumer settled at Rs375,000/mt, down by Rs7,500/mt ($103.32/mt).
($1= Rs72.59)