Aluminium scrap import rises with surge in primary metal prices

Government wants to promote scrap recycling as an ecofriendly step

India’s import of aluminium scrap jumped 11 per cent in the first seven months of the current financial year, on a sharp increase in prices of primary aluminium on the benchmark London Metal Exchange (LME).

Rising demand for secondary aluminium products from the automobile and housing sectors fuelled the scrap import. Data compiled by the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS) showed this import at 0.63 million tonnes for April-October 2017, compared to 0.57 mt in the corresponding period a year before. On an annualised basis,  aluminium scrap import should cross a million tonnes in 2017-18, to an estimated