Primary aluminium market ended in deficit during Jan - Sep 2015

The latest report published by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) indicates that global primary aluminium market has recorded a deficit during the initial nine months of the year. As per the report, the market reported a deficit of 370,000 tons when matched with the deficit of 654,000 reported during entire year 2014.

The production of primary aluminium was up by 7.5% during the nine-month period from January to September this year. The global production rose by 2,986 kt during this period, when compared with a year ago. The total reported stock of metal has declined further by 135,000 tonnes during the month of September. The stocks at the end of the initial nine-month period stood at 4,145 kt, which is sufficient to meet 28 days demand. It must be noted that the stock levels at the end of 2014 had stood at 5,020 kt. The combined stocks held in London, Shanghai, USA and Tokyo exchanges totaled 3,510 kt at the end of September, down by 935 kt when matched with end-2014 levels.

Global production increased by 7.5% during the period from January to September in 2015. China, with estimated production of 23,782 kt, accounted for nearly 55% of the world production. Production in the EU-28 region dropped by 1.8% and the output by NAFTA region fell by 2.7% year-on-year. The primary aluminium production for the month of September alone was 4,890.4 kt, whereas the consumption totaled 4,939.3 kt.

The Chinese net exports totaled 2,819 kt during the first nine months of the year.

The WBMS report also states that the global aluminium demand rose by 6.37% during January to September this year to total 43.24 million tonnes, when compared with the corresponding period last year. The Chinese apparent demand went higher by almost 15% when compared with 2014. On the other hand, EU-28 demand dropped slightly during January to September this year by 284 kt when compared with the previous year.