India’s weekly imported copper scrap prices plunged by 12-15pc after the official three-month LME copper contract crashed by $681/mt on Wednesday. Market participants are wary of confirming bookings amid logistical issues caused by COVID-19 related shutdowns in many global markets. Fears of an impending recession also affected trades.
The weekly Davis Index for Berry settled at $4,799/mt cfr India port, Thursday, down by $665/mt and the index for Berry/Candy settled at $4,685/mt cfr India port, down by $654/mt. The index for Birch/Cliff settled at $4,295/mt cfr India port, down by $599/mt. Copper mills did not receive offers from scrap sellers due to a steep decline in LME copper.
The weekly Davis Index for imported Elmo settled at $613/mt cfr India port, down by $79/mt and the index for imported Elmo cfr Pakistan port settled at $590/mt, down by $77/mt as imported ferrous scrap prices also dropped by $10-15/mt in the past week. Market sentiment was negative as the Indian rupee continued to depreciate and fell by Rs0.93 to Rs75.13 against US$1 from Rs74.2 on March 12.
The weekly Davis Index for copper ingots settled at $4,677/mt cif China port, Thursday, down by $653/mt. A few copper ingot manufacturers from South Asia stopped selling to China due to price uncertainty and now wait for markets to stabilize.
The official three-month LME copper contract settled at $4,881/mt, Wednesday, down by 12.2pc from a week ago, hitting its lowest in 2020 and also registering the highest single-session drop of $337/mt in 2020 in the session closing Wednesday.