US weekly brass scrap spreads trended sideways on Friday following sluggish Comex copper and LME Zinc movements during the week. Buyers have also begun to retreat after filling their inventories for the month, which could potentially soften brass prices in the near term.
Comex spot copper contract closed at $4.33/lb down by 2¢/lb from Jul 9 while the spot LME zinc official cash contract increased by $11/mt to $2,966/mt over the same period.
The weekly Davis Index for C-200 series alloy’s copper spread widened by 0.3¢/lb to 11.3¢/lb under the Comex copper spot contract, while the C-200 series zinc spread, widened by the same amount to 5.8¢/lb under the LME zinc cash contract.
Brass scrap prices began to trend down in tandem with demand with the weekly Davis Index for 360-rod borings declining by 2.1¢/lb to $3.019/lb delivered US consumer. Some mills that withdrew from the market were heard to be quoting at least 4¢/lb lower for the grade.
Brass radiators dropped by 2.5¢/lb to $2.54/lb delivered, while red brass solids inched down by 0.3¢/lb to $3.28/lb delivered.
Some mills bid at least 10¢/lb lower for red brass in the hope of striking deals at lower rates with scrapyards that may be looking to offload their volumes before buyers completely withdraw from the market. Still, most scrapyards are viewing the drop in demand as a short-term challenge as smelters close for summer maintenance and mills having filled their inventory for July prefer to sit tight before resuming purchases next month.