India: Imported aluminium scrap prices rebound on increasing futures

Imported aluminium scrap prices into India have recovered with an improvement in futures prices in the major commodity exchange markets like the London Metal Exchange (LME) and the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited (MCX).

Imported non-ferrous scrap prices went up marginally today as sellers quoted higher offers. Prices increased for most grades except tense from the Middle East-origin (UAE and Saudi) and zorba 95/5 or 94/4 from the UK-origin.

UK-origin zorba scrap 95/5 is workable for South East Asia. However, no trade has been heard so far for the Indian market due to a mismatch in supply and demand.

SteelMint assessed imported offers of aluminium scrap tense mix with 5-6% attachment into India at $1,720-1,740/t CFR, almost stable d-o-d and w-o-w.

A UK-origin deal was booked on April 17 by a western coast Indian mill with ICD for Wheel clean scrap at $2,400/t CFR. The deal was confirmed by the seller. Also, it was heard that availability is a concern amid active procurement. It may take some time to ease on the supply side.

"The market price trend seems difficult to foresee owing to different economic factors, so we will wait for some time," said an Indian mill.

The Eid al-Fitr holidays in the Middle East and across the major regions might slow down the work, resulting in slow scrap accumulation in most of the yards.

SteelMint's price assessment

• Aluminium taint tabor of Middle East-origin was offered at $1,960/t CFR Nhava Sheva, up by $10/t w-o-w.
  
  
• US-origin talk scrap prices were assessed at $4,810-4,830/t CFR Nhava Sheva, increasing by $50/t w-o-w.
  
  

The three-month aluminium futures and spot prices on the LME have been up for quite sometime now. Prices increased from $2,302/t to $2,378/t in the last trading session, lifted by $76/t w-o-w.

Additionally, aluminium stocks on the LME were estimated at 528,350 t, up by 15,625 t from 512,725 t seen last week.

MCX aluminium prices have also shown a uptrend, increasing by INR 7,800/t w-o-w to INR 213,250/t from INR 205,450/t on 11 April.

Outlook

The near-term outlook is mixed. With the Eid-u-Fitr holidays approaching, it is expected that the market may go slow. However, on the other side, most of the western region-based exporters have scheduled meetings at ISRI events where a good number of deals are supposed to be heard which may turn out to be a supportive factor.