Japan’s benchmark scrap rates jump by 24%

Japan, where 97% of beverage can are collected to be recycled and reused, is seeing a surge in the scrap aluminium prices which are the highest it has been since 2008. This surge is likely to be due to the rising car sales in China and U.S. boost demand.

Aluminium-can scrap prices traded in Yokohama, the LME aluminium ingots as well as the LME monitored stockpiles for the refined metal all normalized beginning September 2013, according to the Chart of the Day comparisons. Bloomberg’s data compilation revealed a 24% rise in the benchmark scrap rate to 181.1 Yen ($1.73) per kg in comparison the LME price gained 14% and there was a 10% drop in the inventory gauge of the period.

Japan’s key market for the aluminium scarp is divided amongst China, the largest automobile manufacturer in the world and South Korea, where Novelis Inc. aluminium sheets for the carmakers and has even opened a can recycling unit in 2012.