Chinese aluminum ingot ADC 12 export prices to main Japanese ports (MJP) hit a six-week high on Wednesday May 9 following the one-month ban on US scrap imports to China, while consumers have looked for alternatives amid rising Chinese prices.
Metal Bulletin's price assessment for Chinese aluminium alloy ADC 12 delivered to MJPs jumped to $2,000-2,100 per tonne on Wednesday from $1,970-1990 per tonne the week before, while the domestic ex-works China duty-paid price slipped 500 yuan per tonne on the high end of the range to 15,500-16,000 yuan ($2,434-2,513) per tonne. Shipments of all grades of non-ferrous scrap from the United States have been frozen since May 4 in accordance with a notification from the Chinese Certification and Inspection Group (CCIC) to all importers on May 3. "The CCIC ban froze the entirety of aluminium scrap imports originating from the US, which was our biggest scrap supplying country. Although [China] imports some from Europe, [these cargoes are insufficient to] secure ADC 12 production," a producer in north China said. "We stopped offering for the past week as we saw a wild price...