US buying spreads for mill and extrusion grade scrap widened for most grades on Tuesday on tepid demand from mills and converters at the current price level.
The official LME Aluminium cash price settled Tuesday at $2,633/mt ($1.194/lb), up by $54/mt from Aug 10.
This week, 1100, 3003, and 5052 clips traded within a 2¢/lb range of each other and their spreads tightened, as the supply of these high purity clips tightened amid low industrial production. However, spreads for mill grades such as Litho sheet, painted siding, and MLC widened on significantly weak demand.
Scrap availability and inventory remain healthy at most rolling mills, leading to a few spot deals. Buyers are now making deals for October delivery to buy at lower rates before winter when supply tightens acutely in the extreme weather.
The weekly Davis Index spread for 1100 & 3003 clips tightened by 2.5¢/lb to 13.9¢/lb under Midwest while transaction prices for the grade increased by 4¢/lb to $1.40/lb delivered. Meanwhile, the spread for 6063 new, bare scrap widened 1.2¢/lb to 13.6¢/lb under Midwest. Deal prices were heard at $1.405/lb delivered, up 1.3¢/lb from last week.
The spread for mill-grade MLC widened by 4.3¢/lb to 66.1¢/lb under the Midwest transaction price. Outright prices for MLC fell by 1.8¢/lb to 88¢/lb delivered US consumer. The spread for painted siding widened 4.4¢/lb to 69.2¢/lb under Midwest. Scrapyards noted an unusual price equalization among UBC-painted siding-MLC prices that have not been seen in the past year. Usually, siding trades two cents higher, and MLC, four.