Weekly round-up: Base metals prices on LME decline; domestic market remains stable

• LME stocks show negative trends, nickel bucks trend
  
  
• India's imported copper prices slip marginally
  
  

At close of trading on Friday, 3 January 2025, base metals prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) showed a downtrend, with zinc decreasing by 4.72% w-o-w. Meanwhile, LME warehouse stocks also exhibited negative trends, except nickel showing the gain of 1.20% w-o-w.

On the LME, three-month aluminium stood at $2,493/tonne (t), down by 2.54%, while nickel prices decreased by 1.31% w-o-w to $15,111/t. Copper prices were at $8,876/t, down by 1.18% w-o-w, while zinc decreased by 4.72% w-o-w to $2,888/t. Lead dropped by 2.34% w-o-w to $1,923/t.

Aluminium

Imported aluminium prices firm: Imported aluminium scrap prices into India remained stable on subdued demand during the holidays, with subdued market activity and almost nil bids. BigMint's assessment of Tense scrap from the UAE was at $1,800/t, while Zorba 95/5 from the UK stood at $2,110/t, both CFR west coast India, which remained stable w-o-w.

ADC12 non-OEM prices firm: Prices of aluminium (non-OEM) ADC12 alloyed ingots remained stable w-o-w across northern and southern India, driven by sluggish demand and nil market activity amid the New Year's Day holidays. BigMint's weekly assessments placed ADC12 at INR 202,000/t (Delhi) and INR 203,000/t (Chennai), with expectations of a market pick-up after mid-January 2025.

Copper

Imported copper stable, domestic prices almost firm w-o-w: Domestic copper armature prices were assessed at INR 743,000/t ex-Delhi, falling by 0.7% w-o-w, while imported copper motors mix scrap stood at $1,130/t CFR Mundra, stable w-o-w.

Secondary continuously cast rods (CCR) (99.90%) were assessed at INR 798,000/t ex-Delhi, up by 1.3%. Meanwhile, primary CCR prices stood at INR 800,000/t, stable w-o-w.

Zinc

Domestic zinc ingot prices stood at INR 286,000/t, a drop of 0.7% as compared to last week. Hindustan Zinc (HZL) zinc ingot prices remained marginally stable, at INR 305,100/t ex-Jodhpur w-o-w.

Lead

Domestic lead primary ingots stood at INR 182,000/t, down by 5.2% and re-melted ingots at INR 173,000/t, 1% down compared to last week. Additionally, HZL's lead ingot prices were reduced by 1% to INR 197,600/t ex-Jodhpur.

Chinese base metals market overview

In the week ending 3 January 2025, deliverable base metals inventories at warehouses registered with the Shanghai Futures Exchanges (SHFE) displayed a downtrend, with zinc showing an outflow of 20.9% w-o-w to 23,915 t, according to the exchange's weekly stock report.

Market updates