Non-ferrous materials report
This week MRW spoke to 14 businesses to produce this report.
The market remains pretty scary with violent swings between peaks and troughs, but still remains remarkably buoyant. Some metals, most notably aluminium, have managed to detach themselves from the shackles of currency movements, and have been in very bullish mood, but not all prices have been dragged along with them. Dealers are keen to make larger margins during unpredictable swings, and have one eye on their exposed inventories over the festive season, but should things remain as good as many analysts predict there could be a very happy new year in prospect.
White Metals
Once more, white metal traders have been content to sit on the sidelines and watch as the commodities have been rocking around seemingly oblivious to the ‘real world.’ In reality, according to many dealers, 2009 was written off in the third quarter, and prices have rarely moved since. Nevertheless, there are a few wry smiles in the industry as market levels increased.
Nickels and Alloys
There has been no change to arisings this week as material arisings remain low along with demand, therefore prices have stayed steady this week after a few weeks of downward movement. It looks as though these conditions will take a while to recover in the year ahead, as one trader said: “We are firmly of the belief, as are almost all merchants we have spoken to, that there will be no sharp increases in price, availability or demand and that it will be a slow process in coming back. From dialogue I have had, many of the merchants scepticism appears to be based on their current lack of business from factory jobs, many of which rely on these jobs for regular turnover. I feel we will see much more confidence within the market as a whole when this end line production picks up, which, at the present time seems a little distant.”
Aluminium Ingots
Merchants report a busy week taking orders for the year ahead, with substantial tonnages and higher prices. The high value of scrap seems to be helping this along a bit and the currency movement has been in the foundries’ favour as orders come from overseas. However, as with all metals at the moment, the market in 2010 is proving to be very difficult to predict, with conflicting opinions across the industry.
High Value Metals
All metals have dropped off a little again this week, most likely to be a result of the forthcoming Christmas holidays. Fine gold saw the biggest fall of 39 pence.
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