Fastmarkets to launch six CIF India aluminium scrap price assessments amid rising demand

Imports of aluminium scrap under harmonized standard (HS) code 7602 to India hit 1.83 million tonnes in 2023, up 4.34% year on year from 1.75 million tonnes in 2022, according to the nation’s Department of Commerce.

There are expectations that Indian demand for aluminium products will increase sharply in the coming years, in line with high forecast GDP growth in the South Asian country, according to India’s Ministry of Mines. India’s GDP is projected by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to rise by 6.5% in 2024.

Multiple initiatives of the Indian government are expected boost the consumption of aluminium in the country.

The Smart Cities’ Affordable Housing act — aimed at housing the poor in urban areas — and the region’s Industrial Corridor initiatives are two significant government policies aimed at vastly improving infrastructure.

The latter policy focuses on building better roads and rail networks, cargo ports, airports, industrial areas, logistics parks and shipping hubs and other urban infrastructure.

Indian aluminium demand has also been boosted by its usage of the metal in power transmission & distribution instead of copper. There are nearly 600 cable and conductor manufacturing units in the country, according to India’s Ministry of Mines in 2023, with a total capacity of about 400,000 tonnes per year.

Nevertheless, the major end-use sectors of aluminium in the country are for rolled sheets, extrusions and foils.

Need for scrap
At the heart of this aluminium-consuming revolution is a raft of Indian secondary aluminium smelters, which need ever-growing volumes of scrap to feed their appetites.

The CIF India aluminium market has been characterized in recent months by strong buy-side demand and tight supply in the key seller markets of Europe, the UK and the US.

Furthermore, export restrictions on the secondary raw material from two more large suppliers — namely the UAE and Saudi Arabia — has has further raised questions over supply for Indian buyers.

“Availability is a big concern, with suppliers like the US not getting enough inflows to yards,” a major Indian scrap consumer and alloy-producing source told Fastmarkets. “At the same time, we are putting up a plant in South India to produce billet later this year.”

“In the last few years, this has been a sellers’ market. EU scrap suppliers are seeing input material [to their yards] low right now due to high interest rates affecting [how often] people are changing cars or moving house,” a major Indian trader source said.

Both domestic and export demand for grades such as UK scrap aluminium wheels have been strong for several weeks, thereby driving up prices in western exporting nations, sources in the UK have said.

Fastmarkets’ price assessment for aluminium scrap cast wheels, delivered consumer UK was £1,620-1,700 ($2,052-2,154) per tonne on Wednesday April 10, up £20 per tonne from £1,600-1,680 per tonne one week before.

Given the rise in activity taking place in the Indian spot market, together with higher demand for aluminium scrap within the country’s industry, the need for transparent pricing in the market is stronger than ever.

“Reliable pricing is needed here for use in contracts with customers, such as the automotive and alloy industry,” a second consumer and alloy producer said.

“There is so much room for growth in this market, particularly because it is starting from such a low base,” a UK exporter source told Fastmarkets.

The per capita consumption of aluminium in India is among the lowest in the world, with only 2.2kg per person, compared with the world average of roughly 8kg per person and with that of the developed nations, which is 22-25kg per person, according to the Ministry of Mines.

Fastmarkets launches new prices
As a result of growing demand from the market, and following an extended informal consultation period with key market sources in January-April 2024, Fastmarkets will be launching six price assessments covering the most prevalent grades of aluminium scrap traded in the market.

The prices will complement Fastmarkets’ existing benchmark price assessments for domestic aluminium scrap in Europe, the UK and the US.

The full specifications are:

Zorba, 95/5, CIF India, $/tonne
Quality: Shredded non-ferrous scrap made up of a combination of aluminium, copper, lead, magnesium, stainless steel, nickel, tin, and zinc, in elemental or alloyed (solid) form. Zorba assessed shall have a minimum of 95% metallic content and 5% copper and brass. Must be in large parcels of 30-125mm pieces.
Location: CIF Nhava Sheva and Mundra ports, India
Unit: US dollar/tonne
Quantity: Minimum 30 tonnes
Payment: Cash
Publication: Weekly, Wednesdays at 4pm UK time

Aluminium scrap, mixed aluminium castings (Tense), 3-5% attachments, CIF India, $/tonne
Quality: Shall consist of all clean aluminium castings which may contain auto and airplane castings but no ingots. Attachments not to total more than 3-5%.
Location: CIF Nhava Sheva and Mundra ports, India
Unit: US dollar/tonne
Quantity: Minimum 30 tonnes
Payment: Cash
Publication: Weekly, Wednesdays at 4pm UK time

Aluminium scrap, old sheet (Taint/Tabor), HRB, 3-5% attachments, CIF India, $/tonne
Quality: Old sheet baled into HRB form. Shall consist of clean old alloy aluminium sheet of two or more alloys, free of foil, venetian blinds, castings, hair wire, screen wire, food or beverage containers, radiator shells, airplane sheet, bottle caps, plastic, dirt, and other non-metallic items. Attachments not to total more than 3-5%.
Location: CIF Nhava Sheva and Mundra ports, India
Unit: US dollar/tonne
Quantity: Minimum 30 tonnes
Payment: Cash
Publication: Weekly, Wednesdays at 4pm UK time

Aluminium scrap, old sheet (Taint/Tabor), cut sheared, 5-8% attachments, CIF India, $/tonne
Quality: Old sheet in cut sheared form. Pieces shall be sheared in lengths less than 1m. Shall consist of clean old alloy aluminium sheet of two or more alloys, free of foil, venetian blinds, castings, hair wire, screen wire, food or beverage containers, radiator shells, airplane sheet, bottle caps, plastic, dirt, and other non-metallic items. Attachments not to total more than 5-8%.
Location: CIF Nhava Sheva and Mundra ports, India
Unit: US dollar/tonne
Quantity: Minimum 30 tonnes
Payment: Cash
Publication: Weekly, Wednesdays at 4pm UK time

Aluminium scrap, cast wheels (Troma), CIF India, $/tonne
Quality: Shall consist of clean, single-piece, unplated aluminium small or medium-sized car wheels of a single specified alloy, free of all inserts, steel, wheel weights and tires. Wheels must be shredded or crushed. Wheels must not include chrome and must not be truck wheels.
Location: CIF Nhava Sheva and Mundra ports, India
Unit: US dollar/tonne
Quantity: Minimum 15 tonnes
Payment: Cash
Publication: Weekly, Wednesdays
ISRI code: Troma

Aluminium scrap, clean extrusions (Tata), CIF India, $/tonne
Quality: Shall consist of one alloy (typically 6063/HE9). Material may contain butt ends from the extrusion process but must be free of any foreign contamination. Anodized material is acceptable.
Location: CIF Nhava Sheva and Mundra ports, India
Unit: US dollar/tonne
Quantity: Minimum 30 tonnes
Payment: Cash
Publication: Weekly, Wednesdays
ISRI code: Tata

These prices will be a part of the Fastmarkets scrap package.

The prices will be published for the first time on Wednesday April 17.

To provide feedback on these prices, or if you would like to provide price information by becoming a data submitter to these prices, please contact Lee Allen by email at: pricing@fastmarkets.com. Please add the subject heading “FAO: Lee Allen re: CIF India aluminium scrap prices.”

Please indicate if comments are confidential. Fastmarkets will consider all comments received and will make comments not marked as confidential available upon request.

To see all Fastmarkets pricing methodology and specification documents, go to https://www.fastmarkets.com/methodology.