India: Imported aluminium scrap prices remain volatile w-o-w

Imported aluminium scrap prices in India experienced significant fluctuations recently. Certain grades of aluminium scrap witnessed a notable increase by up to $55/t this week. However, there were some specific grades that experienced a fall by up to $30/t compared to last week.

These price movements can be attributed to the trends observed on the London Metal Exchange's (LME's) three-month futures market, where aluminium prices remained contracted by $40-50/t to $2,220 - $2,230/t w-o-w.

The market sentiment remained uncertain as trading activity was lower than usual. Lack of substantial trades caused confusion among participants, as no firm bids were heard from medium-scale buyers. As a result, players found it challenging to assess market direction. However, there were buying enquiries from established players, indicating some interest, reliable sources said.

The price of taint tabor grade scrap from UAE-origin has witnessed an increase of $40-50/t compared to SteelMint's assessment. Interestingly, regions such as Kuwait and Saudi Arabia are aligning with the price levels reported by SteelMint.

The price of tense scrap from the US is reasonable when compared to UK Zorba 95/5 or 94/4 along with domestic tense price in the northern regions, which is INR 163,000/t. However, after considering all the calculations, imported landing price amounts to INR 159,000-160,000/t.

SteelMint's assessment for copper motor mix US-origin stands at $1,080/t. US-origin aluminium talk stands at $1,675/t. Both were down by $20/t w-o-w. Aluminium stocks on LME fell by 7,450 t w-o-w to 555,000 t.

It has been observed that scrap exporters procured aluminium talk scrap of US-origin when the LME was at $8,700-8,900/t. However, as LME prices declined to a low of $8,070/t, these exporters restrained their offers to get better realisations. Consequently, current offers moved up by around 54.5-55% against 52-52.5%.

Sellers based in the UAE offered an aluminium talk at a price equivalent to 51.5-52% of LME's 3-month copper futures which was higher by 1-1.5% over the last few weeks.

On the other hand, buyers are proposing to purchase the material at a lower price, approximately around 49% of the futures copper price.

However, it has been anticipated that copper futures prices will remain under pressure in the near future.