BIR releases Non-Ferrous World Mirror-March 2015

BRUSSELS (Scrap Monster): The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) has released the Non-Ferrous World Mirror for the month of March this year.

India reduced the Special Additional Duty on imports of copper, brass and aluminium from 4% to 2%. The announcement was made during the budget presented in Parliament recently. However, the inverted duty structure on imports of finished and semi-finished goods from FTA nations was not addressed.

China’s demand for non-ferrous metals remained muted as markets opened after the New Year break. The copper scrap import volumes by the country dropped 16% in January this year when compared with the previous month. The scrap imports in 2014 had plunged to lowest in 10 years period. The copper scrap demand in the country is likely to stay weak in the upcoming months.

The non-ferrous volumes traded during the first quarter indicate a healthier second quarter in the Middle East region. However, the market slowed during the month of March when matched with the previous months. Shortage of raw material has led to higher scrap prices in South Africa. Meanwhile, Zorba production continued to drop in the US. The domestic shredders are reported to be running at 30-40% of their capacities on account of difficulties in sourcing feedstock.

Scrap demand has shown improvement in Mexico, amidst high scrap prices. The increased demand from automotive industry has led to high production rates by aluminium smelters in the country. Meantime, the prices of ADC12 aluminium alloy for April-June deliveries fell by $70-80 per ton in Japan. Trading conditions have shown significant improvements in New Zealand and Australia. France’s scrap sector too reported renewed buying activity, despite low prices.

Germany reported sufficient availability of copper scrap to meet market demand. The scrap exports from the country to Asian countries, especially China dropped considerably. Shortage of available scrap resulted in more Italian consumers looking forward to scrap import. Russian scrap market appears to have attained some stability as the currency has gained much when compared with start of the year.