The prices for aluminum mill scrap delivered US mills saw small upward or downward adjustments, depending on grade, on Tuesday. Mill scrap spreads, however, tightened after LME aluminum lost value during the three of five days it traded over the week.
The spread for mill-grade 1100 & 3003 clips tightened by 0.7¢/lb to 8.3¢/lb under the three-month LME aluminum contract on Tuesday while the weekly Davis Index for the grade was flat at 72¢/lb delivered US consumer.
The spread for scrap 6063 was better at 8.3 ¢/lb under the three-month LME aluminum contract, while the index for the grade increased by 0.2¢/lb to 72¢/lb delivered. The weekly spread for mill-grade MLC settled at 26.8¢/lb, tighter by 0.9¢/lb, while the index for mill-grade MLC rose by 0.2¢/lb to 53.5¢/lb delivered US consumer.
The Davis Index for mill grade painted siding moved up by 0.7¢/lb to 51.6¢/lb, while the spread for the grade narrowed by 1.4¢/lb, at 28.7¢/lb under the three-month LME contract. The Litho sheet spread tightened by 1.1¢/lb to 14.3¢/lb while the Davis Index for the grade increased by 0.4¢/lb to 66¢/lb.
The three-month LME contract closed on Tuesday at $1,770/mt down by $16/mt from $1,786/mt on August 11. The upswing in the LME aluminum market on Tuesday was the only up day over the past week that the metal ticked up, beating its average for the month of August by almost $27/mt.
Market participants expected the new US tariffs on Canada to impact the exchange markets negatively. Although the markets responded by losing value over the past week, the word of a Chinese stimulus brought life back in the global economic recovery and the exchange markets.