Japanese Secondary Al Makers Try to Sustain Ingot Price for June

Japanese major secondary aluminium alloy makers including Daiki Aluminium Industry and Nikkei MC Aluminium aim to keep the ingot selling price unchanged for June shipment though aluminium scrap price and Chinese ingot price continued to lower. Aluminium scrap market price is lowering while secondary aluminium alloy makers hold high price materials yet. Chinese secondary aluminium makers’ offer price for AD12.1grade ingot is also decreasing. However, a trader source said the import of low price ingot would start in August at earliest. High demand is expected to continue for domestically made ingot for a while.

Japanese aluminium scrap price was set lower by 7-8 yen per kilogram for high grade scrap and by 5 yen for low grade scrap for June 1-15 shipment. Japanese secondary aluminium alloy makers presently pay around 140 yen per kg for sash scrap and machine scrap while 125-127 yen for aluminium alloy turning scrap. Several secondary aluminium makers say the material price is in unbalance with current primary aluminium price, still expensive by 5 yen.

The world largest maker of secondary aluminium alloy, Sigma Group presently offer CIF US$ 2,240 per tonne for AD12.1 grade and other major Chinese alloy makers show CIF US$ 2,090-2,150. The offer prices are lower by US$ 200-250 than the recent peak in April. However, the shipment of low price ingot would start in August mostly. Delivery of offshore ingots is relatively delayed.

Nikkei MC Aluminium commented they cannot accept low price orders for profitability and stable supply.