US buying spreads for mill and extrusion grade scrap tightened this week on declining LME Aluminium prices and buyer inactivity.
The official LME Aluminium cash price settled Tuesday at $2,424.50/mt ($1.10/lb), down by $53/mt from Jul 6.
Spreads of high purity grades like EC wire, 6063 extrusion, and Litho tightened, while those for MLC and siding weakened over the week. All the big mills have full inventory that is not being processed at optimum rates right now. Hence, spot deals are sparse and most are long-term deliveries. The cost of freight continues to affect almost all pricing and market participants see no real relief from this anytime soon.
The weekly Davis Index spread for 5052 clips tightened by 0.6¢/lb to 9.5¢/lb under Midwest while transaction prices for the grade rose by 1.2¢/lb to $1.305/lb delivered.
Meanwhile, the spread for mill-grade MLC widened by 0.4¢/lb to 55.8¢/lb under the Midwest transaction price. Outright prices for MLC stood at 84.2¢/lb delivered US consumer, down by 2.8¢/lb.
The spread for UBCs narrowed by 1.4/lb to 61.6¢/lb under Midwest. Deal prices settled at 78.4¢/lb delivered, down a penny from last week.