The weekly indexes for most of the domestic brass scrap grades gained in Delhi and Jamnagar on the back of the gain of $184/mt in the three-month LME copper contract from the prior week and a persistent shortage of scrap.
The three-month contract settled at $8,979/mt on April 6 from $8,795/mt on March 30. Due to scarcity of scrap and low liquidity in the market, the offers rose in Delhi and Jamnagar. Appreciation of US dollar against the Indian Rupee by 0.35pc to Rs73.42 on April 7 from March 31 is also weighing heavy on importers’ pockets.
Market participants reported scarcity of scrap in Jamnagar and North India. Imports continue to remain slow. availability of cleaner imported scrap material continues to remain an issue because of the lockdowns in the US and the UK amid the resurgence of COVID-19 while domestically available scrap with a greater percentage of attachment was easily available.
This week too, Jamnagar traders experienced slow trades with domestic buyers and Chinese bidders. Traders continued to shrike away from booking orders, awaiting the LME three-month copper’s future direction.
Chinese bids for brass billets were at $5,387-$5,477/mt from $5,300-$5,400/mt cfr China port from the prior week. Jamnagar exports 2,000mt of brass ingots to China per month. Bids for brass billets have gone down.
The weekly Davis Index for imported Honey brass settled Rs425,000/mt from Rs391,000/mt del Delhi consumer prior week, up by Rs34,000/mt ($456.77/mt). The index for the same grade in Jamnagar settled at Rs423,667/mt del consumer, up by Rs16,167/mt ($217.19/mt).
The weekly Davis Index for Honey domestic origin (Purja) settled at Rs411,000/mt from Rs376,500/mt up by Rs34,500($463.55/mt) from the prior week. The weekly Davis Index for Honey domestic origin (Vilayati) del Jamnagar consumer settled at Rs407,000/mt del Jamnagar consumer, up by Rs23,500/mt ($315.66/mt).
($1= Rs73.42)