Speaking to letsrecycle.com about the change, Novelis' UK recycling manager, Andy Doran, explained that, as with recent fluctuations in the price offered by his company, it reflected changes in the aluminium price worldwide.
“We're wrapped into the global market price and there's been a systematic drop in that price recently,” he said.
letsrecycle.com's pricing information shows that the price offered in general for non-ferrous metal scrap, such as aluminium, has fallen markedly since April 2010, with prices for some grades of non-ferrous material falling by as much as £300 per tonne in the past week.
However, at a meeting of the Bureau for International Recycling's Non Ferrous Metals Division, at the body's conference in Istanbul earlier this month, members were told that aluminium prices were expected to increase over the course of 2010.
Robin Bhar, senior metals analyst for the Credit Agricole bank, said that the metal's average cash price should rebound from $1,650 (£1,120) per tonne last year to $2,300 (£1,560) this year, and improving demand would lead it to an average of nearer $2,500 (£1,700) per tonne in 2011.
Changes
The year to date has seen several changes to the price offered by Novelis, not least of which were three price increases in January 2010 (see letsrecycle.com story), which brought the value of the material back to levels it reached before the autumn 2008 crash in recyclate prices.
With the aluminium price proving volatile due to being traded globally as a commodity, it is understood that Novelis price fluctuation have also been mirrored by other buyers of UBCs from the UK, both domestically and overseas.
Subscribe for free