The aluminium market has reported an increase in activity for different types of products in recent weeks in attempts to diversify at a time of oversupply and weak prices.
P1020 billet and slabs, mostly cut up into smaller shapes, have emerged as a hot topic for market participants, with producers selling them at a discount to the P1020 ingot premiums.
Traders told Fastmarkets they can source P1020 billets from top-tier aluminium producers at the Fastmarkets P1020 aluminium duty-paid Rotterdam premium, minus $40-50 per tonne. For other brands, there could be an even larger discount, traders said.
"There is a lot of availability of these types of units about at the moment - different grades of billet, slabs cut up - [business] like this shows you the state of the market," a European trader said
"You have to try and sell something; you have to find little pockets....