Industry Experts Forecast Tight Base Metal Supply in 2023

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): According to industry experts, the supply of base metals around the globe is expected to remain tight during calendar year 2023. The anticipated supply tightness is mainly on account of supply issues and low inventory position.

Over the past one year period, the prices of most base metals, including aluminium, copper, nickel, iron ore and HRC steel traded lower on various commodity exchanges such as the London Metal Exchange (LME), Commodity & Energy Exchange (CMX) and Multi Commodity Exchange of India (MCX).

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According to Hetal Gandhi, director-research at Crisil Market Intelligence and Analytics, steel and major non-ferrous metals have reported dip in prices. The rise in prices of steel in Q1 was primarily driven by rise in raw material prices due to supply chain disruptions. The ample availability of raw materials has now resulted in input price declines.

Leading ratings agency, ICRA, noted that global prices of base metals registered steep decline between 18% and 28% in FY23. After commencing the fiscal on a healthy note, the base metal prices faced significant headwinds in second and third quarters of the year, driven by uncertainty in global economic outlook and Chinese demand slowdown. Although Chinese reopening send metal prices to six-month high in January 2023, they fell sharply in the months of February and March.