In the week ending Nov 2, prices of zinc scrap including zinc dross and new zinc diecast dipped on the back of drop in LME zinc from the previous week. The official 3-three-month LME contract fell by 2pc on Friday and settled at $2,536.5/mt from a week ago.
The weekly Davis Index for zinc galvanizer’s dross in Delhi, Monday, settled flat to down at Rs168,375/mt ($2,261/mt) ex-works producer, marginally down by Rs42/mt. Prices remained stable in the city in the hopes of demand revival in the coming week. Some galvanizers are planning to raise offers by Rs1,000-2,000/mt in the coming week as demand from zinc oxide manufacturers is set to improve on the back of healthy auto sales in October.
The weekly Davis Index for zinc galvanizer’s dross in Mumbai settled at Rs164,890/mt, down by Rs277/mt. Demand for dross is projected to rise, said market participants as production of tyres speeds up.
Markets for dross in Delhi and Mumbai strengthened in terms of spreads. Spread for dross in Delhi narrowed by 0.86pc and in Mumbai by 0.68pc from the previous week. In the same week, LME zinc fell 2pc while the indexes for dross in Delhi and Mumbai remained flat. Demand for finished steel is slowly improving which will push galvanized steel’s demand in the coming months aiding zinc’s demand and production of dross.
The weekly index for secondary zinc ingot in Delhi, Monday, settled at Rs166,500 ex-works consumer, down by Rs3,500/mt due to weak demand from brass manufacturers. The Index for secondary zinc ingot in Mumbai also fell by Rs2,154/mt to Rs166,000/mt ex-works consumer. Brass manufacturers and some galvanizers — major consumers of secondary zinc ingot — had cut down consumption due to low demand for finished products and high raw-material cost, shared market participants.
The market for secondary zinc ingot weakened as spreads narrowed for the grade in Mumbai and Delhi by 0.30pc and 1.01pc, respectively with indexes dropping by approximately 2pc each from the previous week.
The weekly Index for new zinc diecast settled at $1,881/mt cfr India port, down by $182/mt as demand was severely hit along with secondary zinc ingots. Manufacturers of secondary zinc ingots preferred domestic scrap over imported due to vast price differences.
Zinc Alloy
The weekly Indexes for Zamak #3 settled at Rs220,260/mt del India consumer, up by Rs1,210/mt, and for Zamak #5 settled at Rs223,260/mt del India consumer, up by Rs1,210/mt. Demand for Zamak was healthy driven by revival in auto sector and very gradual pick-up in infrastructure and construction sectors.
Primary zinc ingot prices were reduced by approximately Rs2,000 to Rs214,000/mt as LME zinc prices fell in the same week but Zamak prices were firm in the week as demand is expected to rise further given that auto production will pick-up this festive season.
The market for Zamak #3 and Zamak #5 strengthened in India with spreads widening by 1.73pc and 1.75pc respectively. The Indexes also inched higher by 0.55pc and 0.54pc for Zamak #3 and Zamak #5, respectively in the week while LME zinc dipped 2pc.
($1=Rs74.44)