Traders kept offers at higher levels while buyers continued to lower bids amid a fall in global copper prices. Market participants reported thin trades as most buyers stepped back to gain clarity on price direction.
The three-month LME copper contract dropped by $282/mt falling for the third consecutive week to settle at $9,168.5/mt on Aug 18 from Aug 11. In the prior week, the three-month LME copper contract declined by $77/mt to settle at $9,450.5/mt on Aug 11 from $9,527.5/mt on Aug 4.
Offers for all copper scrap grades, including armature wire, sheet cutting, berry, heavy, turnings and utensils advanced between $73.95-389.91/mt in the Indian domestic market.
Scrap availability has improved in the last few weeks; however, secondary manufacturers are buying only for immediate requirements to limit losses in the advent of copper prices tumbling further.
Participants reported that despite a drop in the LME copper last week, the domestic scrap prices increased in response to the gain of $113/mt on the LME for two consecutive sessions on Aug 10 and 11. Considering the recent weakness in global copper prices, participants are expecting that prices may fall further.
The weekly index for berry copper dropped by Rs12,000/mt to settle at Rs689,000/mt del India consumer. The Davis Index for heavy copper was down by Rs13,167/mt and settled at Rs676,500/mt del India consumer from a week ago. The weekly Davis Index on Thursday for copper utensils settled at Rs642,667/mt del India consumer and lowered by Rs17,667/mt.
The weekly Davis Index for copper sheet cutting settled at Rs673,500/mt del India consumer dropped by Rs5,500/mt. The weekly Davis Index for copper turnings settled at Rs625,000/mt del India consumer, down by Rs17,667/mt from last week.
($1= Rs74.37)