Aluminium import prices in Asia for Extrusion, Zorba 95/2, Talk, Tally dropped while Wheels and Taint/Tabor gained, amid a lack of clarity in the price direction.
The three-month aluminium contract on LME rose by $45/mt to settle at $2,447.5/mt Thursday from $2,402.5/mt on June 3. Trading was thin as buyers lowered bids but traders were reluctant to lower offers just yet.
ADC 12 trades to Japan gained momentum from the prior week. Secondary manufacturers in India reported only a few deals as Chinese buyers were silent with their country facing rising number of COVID-19 cases.
The weekly Davis Indexes for Zorba 95/2 settled at $1,678/mt cfr India port, down by $55/mt; while for Zorba 99/3, it settled at $1,653/mt cif China port, down by $167/mt. Stringent checks at Chinese ports also kept exporters away. Some exporters are repacking Zorba at Hong Kong port after cleaning the material as per the purity norms set by Chinese customs department. This process is rather time consuming as getting empty containers in Hong Kong to transport cleaner scrap to China is becoming an issue.
The weekly indexes for 6063 extrusions settled at $2,030/mt cfr India port, down by $2/mt while for A356 wheels, it settled at $2,167/mt cfr India port, up by $34/mt. Participants heard trades of extrusion 95/5 at $1,920-1,980/mt cfr India port while trades for clean extrusion are taking place at $2,100-2,250/mt cfr India.
The weekly Index for Taint/Tabor was up by $28/mt to settle at $1,777/mt cfr India port and the index for Tense settled unchanged at $1,735/mt cfr India port. A few traders reported that market is waiting for clear price direction.
ADC 12 trades
The weekly Davis Index for ADC 12 cfr China settled at $2,275/mt from $2,345/mt cfr China port, down by $70/mt
The weekly Index for ADC 12 cfr Japan settled at $2,363/mt from $2,350/mt, up by $13/mt.