Domestic aluminium prices for EC wire, domestic Tense (old cast) and old sheet rose in Delhi driven by a shortage of scrap grades in India. Since the last two months, traders have been holding back purchases as import prices for most scrap grades rose in sync with LME.
LME three-month official contract for aluminium rose by 3.71pc to settle at $2,068/mt on Jan 6, 2021, from $1,994/mt on Nov 18, 2020, up by $94/mt. LME three-month settled at $1,984/mt on Jan 18, down by $84/mt from the highest jump in the LME-three-month official aluminium contract since Nov 18.
Manufacturers across India witnessed slowed demand from the domestic auto sector and a drop in the export orders to China where many industrial units will be closed on account of the Chinese New Year holidays from Jan 23 to Feb 12.
Due to weakness in the demand, the price of ADC 12 dropped by Rs3,333/mt to settle at Rs163,500/mt ex-Mumbai producer from the prior week. Amid the shortage, a drop in the price of raw material was not as much as the drop in auto alloy prices from the prior week.
In Delhi, the weekly Davis Index for the domestic old cast (Purja/Tense) Tuesday settled at Rs120,500/mt del consumer, up by Rs125/mt ($1.71/mt) while in Mumbai, the index settled at Rs119,500/mt del consumer, down by Rs500/mt. Delhi and Mumbai continue to face the severe shortage of scrap grades. Alloy makers in Mumbai said prices have dropped in line with the LME but several scrap grades are not available in the market.
The weekly Davis Index for domestic Taint/Tabor (old sheet) settled at Rs119,333/mt del Delhi consumer, up by Rs333/mt while in Mumbai, it settled at Rs123,000/mt del consumer, up by Rs2,000/mt. Some participants paid even Rs127,000/mt for purchasing a cleaner Taint/Tabor material.
The weekly index for domestic EC wire settled at Rs155,000/mt del Delhi consumer, up by Rs667/mt while the index in Mumbai remained unchanged at Rs155,000/mt del consumer.
The weekly Index for aluminium utensil remained unchanged at Rs128,000/mt del Delhi consumer but was up in Mumbai by Rs3,500/mt to settle at Rs128,500/mt del consumer.
($1=Rs73.13/mt)