China Dominates Indian Import Market

Whilst you may initially think of China, America or other nations as a go-to go aluminium, India is a significant player in the industry.

India has been slowly buying up resources, training its staff and upping their game, to ensure that they can be self-reliant on their own smelters and plants for aluminium, rather than importing the bulk of it from the likes of China or elsewhere.

Indian Aluminium Industry

Indian aluminium industry Aluminium Secondary Manufacturers Association (ASMA) and the Aluminium Association of India (AAI) continue to have conflicting interests regarding import duty on aluminium metal and scrap. In FY 2019, aluminium imports touched nearly 2.3 million tons, involving a forex outgo of US$ 5.5 billion, about 1.1% of country’s total import bill, and which accounted for 58% of aluminium scrap imports. The imports come primarily from China, ASEAN nations and the Middle East having surplus aluminium production capacity, claimed to be detrimental to domestic primary aluminium companies according to the AAI. On the other hand, ASMA wants the government to reduce import duty on primary aluminium to 2.5% and remove duty on scrap altogether.

Alumina in India

Here’s some data taken from our March Edition of the India Report.

With the volatility of alumina prices and all other raw materials that are used in making aluminium, be it aluminium sheets, rods, all fluctuating since COVID-19 took hold in India and the rest of the world, it’s unclear just how the aluminium market will be in the coming months.

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