Aluminum price has record win streak as supply bites
02-Sep-2014
www.proactiveinvestors.com.au
Aluminum is one of the best performing commodities this year, with the price jumping 16% during 2014 as stockpiles fall and demand increases.
In August the metal gained for a seventh straight month, which is its longest ever streak of advances.
Aluminum added 0.7% to US$2,096.50 a ton on the London Metals Exchange (LME) on Friday, its best price since early 2013.
Aluminum is an industrial metal, and with the U.S. economy growing more than forecast for the June quarter, it is expected that the world's biggest economy require more and more aluminum.
Demand is expected to firm from car and plane manufactures, who use the metal to replace heavier steel.
Highlighting the shortfall, stockpiles tracked by the LME have fallen to a two year low.
There are forecasts that demand for the metal will exceed production by 1.8 million tons this year and 1.5 million tons in 2015.
This is good news for Australian bauxite developers, given that bauxite production is processed first into alumina, and then into aluminium.
Indonesia has already placed an unprocessed export ban on bauxite, with India set to increase export tax on bauxite to 20%.
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