The potential for scrap prices to slowly rebound and a bearish outlook for secondary aluminium ingot prices are causing European producers to worry about margins for 2019.
European secondary aluminium ingot demand is expected to stay muted through the second quarter of 2019 due to weak automotive demand caused by bottlenecks in the European Union's new emission testing procedure, market participants told Fastmarkets at the 26th International Recycled Aluminium Conference in Amsterdam this week. The price of aluminium scrap, an ingredient for secondary aluminium ingot production, has mostly fallen sharply in tandem with 226 prices in recent months. However, ingot producers are worried margins could erode next year if scrap prices diverge from ingot prices and recover. Fastmarkets' weekly price assessment for diecasting ingot DIN226, duty-paid delivered in Europe...