India’s weekly imported copper scrap prices rose by $20-50/mt Thursday on a $29/mt increase in the official three-month LME copper contract from a week ago and a shortage of supply.
The weekly Davis Index for Berry settled at $5,668/mt cfr India port Thursday, up by $19/mt from a week ago, while the index for Berry/Candy settled at $5,533/mt cfr India port, up by $56/mt. The index for Birch/Cliff settled at $5,072/mt cfr India port Thursday, up by $54/mt from a week ago.
Sellers have been facing a margin squeeze since copper prices fell on the LME after the coronavirus outbreak in China. Yards have thus reduced their discounts to maintain their profit margin. This, coupled with a tightened supply, drove outright copper scrap prices up.
Domestic demand for copper rods, bars and tubes continued to be strong.
The weekly index for imported Elmo settled at $705/mt cfr India port Thursday, up by $15/mt from a week ago, while the index for imported Elmo settled at $700/mt cfr Pakistan port, up by $35/mt from a week ago. Elmo buyers in Pakistan struggled to match seller offers.
Market sentiments are positive as Chinese markets have slowly started opening and exporters of copper ingots and brass billets to China have begun receiving new bookings.
The Davis Index for copper ingots settled at $5,475/mt cfr China port, down by $11/mt from a week ago, while the index for brass billets settled at $3,925/mt cfr China port, down by $115/mt from a week ago, as three-month LME zinc dropped by $67/mt. The official three-month LME copper contract settled at $5,764/mt, up by 0.5pc from $5,735/mt a week ago.