The weekly indexes for most brass scrap grades rose in Delhi and Jamnagar on a surge in the three-month LME copper contract. Market participants in Delhi witnessed a revival of demand. But in Jamnagar, deals are still tepid on elevated price levels for imported scrap driven by advancement in LME and depreciation of the Indian currency.
Indian sellers of brass billets found Chinese bids below expectations amid the rise in brass scrap import prices. Demand in the East Asian country also remains low. Domestic units continued to run at partial production capacity due to weak demand.
The three-month LME copper contract gained $306.5/mt to settle at $9,558.5/mt on July 6 from $9,252/mt on June 29. Since June 7, the Indian rupee has depreciated against the US$ by 2.51pc to Rs74.63 on July 7, making imports expensive for Indian buyers.
The weekly Davis Index for imported Honey brass, Wednesday, settled at Rs429,500/mt del Delhi consumer, up by Rs12,000/mt ($160.76/mt) while in Jamnagar, the index settled at Rs436,667/mt del Jamnagar consumer, up by Rs1,042/mt ($13.95/mt).
Participants heard fresh bids for brass billets at $5,500/mt, up from $5,410/mt cfr China port. Deals at these levels, sellers say, are not workable for them amid rising scrap import prices.
The weekly Davis Index for Honey domestic origin (Purja) settled at Rs415,000/mt, up by Rs15,000($187.54/mt) del Delhi consumer. The weekly index for Honey domestic origin (Vilayati) del Jamnagar consumer settled at Rs407,625/mt del Jamnagar consumer up by Rs5,375/mt ($72,01/mt).
($1= Rs74.63)