US buying spreads for mill and extrusion grade scrap widened for most grades after the LME cash price found a new peak for 2021 in a subdued physical market.
The official LME Aluminium cash price settled Tuesday at $2,648/mt ($1.201/lb), up by $15/mt from Aug 17.
Outright prices for mist grades have corrected down by a penny over the past two weeks. However, used beverage cans (UBC) have defied this trend, with its spreads tightening since mid-August. Mills noted that traders have made higher offers, which were met due to competition with most mills raising their bids by at least 3¢/lb since the start of this month.
The weekly Davis Index spread for UBC tightened by 0.8¢/lb to 67.4¢/lb under the Midwest transaction price. Its outright prices increased by 1.3¢/lb to 87.2¢/lb delivered US consumer.
Meanwhile, spreads for 5052 clips widened by 2¢/lb to 15/lb under Midwest while the grade’s transaction prices fell by 0.4¢/lb to $1.396/lb delivered. The spread for mill-grade MLC also weakened by 3.1¢/lb to 69.4¢/lb under the Midwest transaction price. Outright prices for MLC declined by 2.8¢/lb to 85.2¢/lb delivered US consumer. The spread for painted sidings widened by 0.7¢/lb to 70.5¢/lb under Midwest.