The weekly Davis Index for copper armature wire remained flat at Rs394,000/mt del India consumer on Thursday as trades failed to resume amid the COVID-19 lockdown. Davis Index heard offers at Rs380,000/mt for copper armature wire in Delhi but no trades were confirmed at lower rates.
Copper smelters resumed partial operations in non-COVID affected areas in Diu-Daman and Madhya Pradesh, but these had little impact on scrap trade. All eyes are on the recovery of demand from downstream industries. The Indian government organised special trains to move casual workers stuck in various cities and town to their homes. This movement of people has increased the number of fresh virus cases in remote townships and industrial areas. Increase in the number of active virus cases could further delay the reopening of downstream industries in some areas.
Optimism around the restart of manufacturing activities from Monday onwards fizzled out due to the increase in COVID cases in Mumbai and its suburbs. Many parts of Maharashtra have also reported a rise in news patients. Traders do not expect buying to begin in the next few days. The index for Berry settled at Rs386,000/mt del India consumer on Thursday, flat for the last eight weeks amid lockdown.
The weekly Davis Index for domestic heavy settled at Rs383,000/mt del India consumer, while the index for copper sheet cutting remained flat at Rs377,500/mt del India consumer. The index for copper turnings and copper utensils also remained unchanged at Rs360,000/mt and Rs360,000/mt del India consumer, respectively.
($1=Rs75.47)