
Agonies hovering around the possible economic impact due to the onset of new coronavirus variant Omicron have reportedly begun hitting the benchmark aluminium price on the London Metal Exchange. On Thursday, December 2, the LME aluminium price recorded a fall of 0.9 per cent to US$2,640.50 per tonne at 0704 GMT before closing the day at US$2,655 per tonne. The most-traded January aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange also closed down by 1.2 per cent to RMB 18,765 (US$2,944.87) per tonne.

According to reports, heavily mutated Omicron is rapidly becoming the dominant variant of the coronavirus. In South Africa, the new variant of the virus outspread in less than four weeks after it was first detected there, while the United States on Wednesday became the latest country to identify an Omicron case within its borders.
However, so far, the LME aluminium prices were partially offset by LME aluminium inventories, which dropped to 893,775 tonnes, the lowest since September 2007 and down by 55 per cent from March.
"It (the LME drawdown) was driven by demand - some moved to China, some moved to the West. All (demand) sections (improved), maybe only except for real estate construction in China," said an aluminium trader.
However, the premium of LME cash aluminium over the three-month contract moved up to US$16.30 per tonne, indicating tight supplies in the vicinity.
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