Aluminum gains on LME as CME sheds light on upcoming futures contract

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s new aluminum futures contract, which will begin trading May 5th, will be available for trading on the floor and electronically via CME Globex, as well as submission for clearing through CME ClearPort, and will be listed by and subject to the rules of COMEX.

CME previously announced it has applications in place from Scale Distribution Inc. in Ypsilanti, Mich., C. Steinweg Inc. in Baltimore, and Henry Bath LLC in New Orleans for warehousing the physical aluminum. The new contract “will offer global aluminum market participants a new tool for managing their exposure to volatile North American prices, while giving them access to physical aluminum at a number of CME Group-approved warehouses across the US,” CME said in a statement announcing the launch of the contract.

After a 0.3 percent increase, the aluminum 3-month price finished the day on the LME at $1,732 per metric ton. The cash price of primary aluminum gained 0.4 percent to finish at $1,690 per metric ton on the LME.

The cash price of primary Chinese aluminum experienced the biggest price decline of the day, dropping 0.7 percent on Wednesday. For the fifth consecutive day, the price of Chinese aluminum bar held flat. The price of Chinese aluminum billet saw little movement. For the fifth consecutive day, the price of Chinese aluminum scrap held flat.

The Indian aluminum cash price finished the market day up 0.4 percent per kilogram.