Secondary Al Makers and Users Agree in 10 Yen/kg Hike, Osaka

Secondary aluminium alloy makers and alloy users, mainly die casting makers, agreed in price hike by average 10 yen (8-12 yen) per kilogram for August alloy shipment around Osaka. Alloy makers’ selling price reached around 195 yen per kg for AD12.1 grade ingot of small-lot shipment on 120-day draft. The price has surged by total 53 yen since April 2009 along automakers’ output recovery. However, alloy makers aim to raise the selling price to 200 yen at least.

Alloy makers offered AD12.1 price hike by at least 15-20 yen to 200 yen per kg for August shipment. Alloy users seemed to show strong disapprovals against the wide hike. The price was finally raised by average 10 yen with 3 factors.

First, aluminium scrap price continued to surge. Second factor is that alloy makers agreed with Japanese major motorcycle makers in early August to set large-lot alloy shipment price as high as 199-203 yen per kg. Thirdly, Japanese import price of secondary aluminium alloy maintained upward and Shanghai Sigma Metals’ alloy exceeded CIF $ 1,900 per tonne. Import price became higher than domestic makers’ price.

Consequently, Japanese alloy makers strengthened their selling stances with these backgrounds.