India: Aluminium zorba scrap imports hit 8-month high in May'23

India has imported 159,855 tonnes (t) of aluminium scrap in May 2023, up 13% m-o-m from 141,894 t in April, out of which zorba was the maximum imported grade. Notably, India's imports of zorba grade scrap hit an eight-month high in May of 49,784 t, as per provisional data maintained with SteelMint.

India's overall imports of scrap, semi-finished and finished products combined, stood at 1.01 million tonnes (mnt) during January-May 2023, up 8% from 0.94 mnt in the corresponding period of last year (CPLY).

Similarly, in May imports stood at 222,233 t, up 11% m-o-m from 199,696 t in April. On y-o-y basis, imports increased by 15% from 193,898 t in May 2022.

The rise in imports from January to May this year can be attributed to increased domestic consumption driven by growing demand in various sectors. Additionally, the establishment of numerous small- and medium-scale industries across the country in the past four to five months contributed to the increase in imports.

Furthermore, primary players' commitment to reducing carbon emissions by utilizing scrap for production has also played a significant role in driving up imports through importers cum traders.

Commodity-wise imports

• Aluminium scrap
  
  

Aluminium scrap imports rose 7% during January-May'23 to 728,679 t as against 680,590 t in CPLY.

Zorba was the highest imported scrap grade in May. India imported 49,784 t in the month under review, up 35% m-o-m from 36,808 t in April. Imports rose by 7% from 46,450 t in May'22. Similarly, imports during Jan-May'23 totalled 203,289 t, an increase of 4% from 194,690 t during CPLY.

During January-May, other scrap grades like taint tabor (153,988 t), extrusion (108,398 t) and tense (93,774 t) made up the lion's share of total imports. These grades are mainly used in producing automobile alloys. Taint tabor is used largely in manufacturing of flat aluminium products. It is used to make automobile alloys as well.

In May, the northern region (69,878 t) imported the majority of the scrap followed by the western (45,598 t), southern (36,080 t) and eastern (6,329) regions from major scrap exporting countries like the US, UK and Saudi Arabia.

The bulk of imports came from the US at around 46,100 t. The second-largest exporter was the UK at 13,951 t followed by Saudi Arabia at 12,445 t.

• Semi-finished aluminium
  
  

January-May'23 recorded imports of semi-finished aluminium products at 111,344 t, up 19% as compared to 93,462 t in CPLY. Out of this, volumes of alloyed ingots were recorded at 56,857 t and alloyed billets at 16,900 t. In the non-alloyed segment, imports of ingots were at 37,586 t while billets were negligibly low.

• Finished aluminium
  
  

Imports of aluminium products stood at 174,236 t in January-May, up 4% against 167,005 t in CPLY.

A total of 15,228 t of finished long products were imported into India during January-May, a decrease of 25% compared to 20,425 t during the same period of last year. Out of this, imports of wires were at 1,867 t, while bars, rods and profiles totalled 13,361 t.

India imported 159,008 t of finished flats during January-May, up by 8% compared with 146,580 t in the CPLY. These can be further bifurcated into rolled plates. which were at 71,784 t, foils at 82,334 t, and pipes and tubes at 4,890 t each.

Country- wise imports