The weekly Davis Index for Indian domestic aluminium EC wire declined by Rs1,000/mt ($13.67/mt) del Delhi consumer as demand from alloy producers continued to drop.
The index for Indian domestic old cast (Purja) settled unchanged at Rs85,000/mt from the prior week. Prices of domestic old cast did not mirror the rise in imported aluminium old cast (Tense), which was up by $3/mt to $1028/mt cfr India on Friday due to increased freight charges.
The weekly index for both, old sheet and aluminium utensils dropped by Rs1,000/mt to Rs93,000/mt and Rs105,000/mt del Delhi producer, respectively. Demand from casting alloy manufacturers declined in the week. Major Indian automakers reported a decline in their February sales driving them to cut March production.
Indian markets are facing a glut of all aluminium scrap grades, mainly since alloy makers have curtailed production. After China, India’s other major alloy export market, South Korea, is affected by the Covid-19 outbreak. ADC12 exports to South Korea have thus slowed down.
The weekly index for aluminium EC wire dropped by Rs1,000/mt($13.67/mt) to Rs129,000 del Mumbai consumer. The index for Indian domestic old cast (Purja) rose by Rs500/mt to settle at Rs85,500/mt del Mumbai consumer. The index for Indian domestic old sheet rose by Rs1,667/mt to settle at Rs94,000/mt del Mumbai consumer since demand from casting alloy manufacturers around Mumbai was moderate. The index for aluminium utensil rose by Rs3,000/mt to settle at Rs106,000/mt del Mumbai consumer, on continued demand from downstream industries.
Market update
Aluminium scrap shipments into India from the US and East Europe are 15-30 days behind schedule. Shipping companies continue to face difficulties finding empty containers causing these delays. Scrap importers told Davis Index that containers scheduled to arrive in the first week of February are still in transit. This delay, however, is unlikely to impact aluminium domestic scrap prices amidst weak demand.
($1=Rs73.13)