LME aluminium prices gained ground on November 4, with cash and futures contracts moving higher. The Asian Reference Price also edged up, while exchange inventories declined. Alumina Platts prices, however, moved slightly lower. The cash bid rose by USD 53.50 per tonne , or 1.74 per cent, to USD 3,134.50 per tonne from USD 3,081 per tonne. The cash offer increased 1.72 per cent to USD 3,135 per tonne from USD 3,082 per tonne. Three-month aluminium prices also advanced. The bid climbed 1.08 per cent to USD 3,073 per tonne on November 4 from USD 3,040 per tonne, while the offer gained 1.05 per cent to USD 3,074 per tonne. It was previously at USD 3,042 per tonne . Explore the production, demand and consumption forecasts of bauxite and alumina in our report: " Global Bauxite & Alumina Market...
Global primary aluminium production experienced a sequential recovery in the third quarter of 2026, supported by the gradual restoration of disrupted smelting capacity in the GCC countries, stronger operational performance in Europe and Oceania, and incremental production gains across Asia and China. But beneath this quarterly improvement lies a contrasting reality - global output remained below the corresponding levels of both 2025 and 2024. According to data from the International Aluminium Institute (IAI), global primary aluminium production reached 18.377 million tonnes in Q3 2026, an increase of 2.1 per cent from 18.003 million tonnes in the preceding quarter. However, compared with Q3 2025, when production totalled 18.683 million tonnes, output declined by 1.64 per cent. Production...
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After a fall on last Friday, April 20, A00 aluminium ingot price recorded a rise in two consecutive days this week. On April 23, the price increased right from RMB 13910 per tonne to RMB 14070 per tonne, followed by a further hike to RMB 14120 per tonne today, April 24, Shanghai Metals Market found. The average price is expected to range between RMB 14100 per tonne and RMB 14140 per tonne, with spot discounts to settle at RMB 100 per tonne to RMB 60 per tonne. In the east China, the ingot price today also recorded at RMB 14120 per tonne, after rising from RMB 14070 per tonne as on April 23. In South and North, on the other hand, the ingot price grew from RMB 14205 per tonne to RMB 14245 per tonne and from RMB 14050 per tonne to RMB 14110 per tonne, respectively. This rise in primary...
As aluminium prices surged driven by its LME counterpart, downstream consumers in the east and south China spot aluminium markets held back from purchasing on Monday July 23, Shanghai Metal Market said. This accounted for sluggish trades across the regions. The average A00 aluminium ingot price in China stands at RMB 14070 per tonne, RMB 160 up per tonne from last Friday’s price. the below table shows average aluminium prices across different markets. Both the SHFE 1808 and SHFE 1809 contract jumped in the morning. Spot transactions in Shanghai, Wuxi and Hangzhou were mostly heard at RMB 14,060-14,080 per tonne with discounts of 80-60 per tonne against the SHFE 1808 contract. The SHFE 1809 contract was pushed up by its LME counterpart to a high of RMB 14,140 per tonne. It closed at RMB...
The US Treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday that Rusal is likely to be taken off the US list of sanctioned entities if acceptable solutions can be found. The LME aluminium contract closed the day’s trading at US$2075 per tonne. The contract then broke pressure at the five-day moving average and surged to a high of US$2,047 per tonne overnight on Friday as the US dollar fell. It closed at US$2,042.5 per tonne with LME inventory reaching 1,208,400 per tonne. Shanghai Metals Market expects LME aluminium to trade at US$2,030-2,055 per tonne today. As on July 20, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2074.50 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2075 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 2029 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 2031 per tonne; Dec...
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in an interview with Reuters in São Paulo that they are open to lift aluminium producer Rusal’s name from the U.S. sanctions list. The comment came ahead of G20 finance meetings this weekend in Argentina. Mnuchin's comment was the latest indication the Trump administration is in favour of helping the sanctions-hit Rusal. The company has been constantly negotiating and taking series of corrective steps to get the restrictions lifted. The sanctions by the U.S. Treasury against billionaire Oleg Deripaska in April and the eight companies in which he is a large shareholder temporarily disrupted the supply chain of the global aluminium market, as it barred companies to buy metal from Rusal. Several countries and companies have appealed the Us treasury...
A new of round of talks between the United States and India late last month has resulted in a decision that the Trump administration will hand over a “problem-list” to India assembling all the trade issues between the two countries. This will be done next week in the hope to iron out differences over the bilateral trade that caused continued tit-for-tat actions over the past few months. An Indian official reported to the Economic Times, “All issues were discussed. They were talking of general things, we wanted specific. They will send us a text of what they want, in the next week or ten days.” The meet was taken place in Delhi when senior officials from the US Trade Representatives had paid a visit to Indian officials. The key topics in the meeting were America’s higher tariffs on...
With the growing primary aluminium social inventories in China, spot market traders in the east stood on the sidelines yesterday, July 19, in anticipation of larger spot discounts, Shanghai Metals Market found. The SHFE 1808 contract came off from its initial increase and traded range-bound within a narrow range in the morning. Transactions in Shanghai remained thin at RMB 13940 per tonne to RMB 13960 per tonne with discounts of RMB 70 per tonne to RMB 60 per tonne against the SHFE 1808 contract. Transactions in Wuxi were also heard at RMB 13940 per tonne to RMB 13960 per tonne, while that in Hangzhou were seen at RMB 13950 per tonne to RMB 13970 per tonne. Transactions in south China turned out no better as sellers held their offers firm. In Guangdong, transactions were done at RMB 14040...
The US dollar index fell from one year's high and closed at 95.09, slightly up from Wednesday. Base metals dipped across the board on ongoing trade conflicts between China and the US. After diving down the day before, LME aluminium contract closed a little higher at US$ 2062 per tonne yesterday. The contract tested support at US$2,000 per tonne twice and touched a low of US$2,001.5 per tonne while base metals weakened across the board. It closed at US$2,006 per tonne last night. With LME inventory up 5,100 tonnes to 1,203,975 million tonne, Shanghai Metals Market expects it to test support again at the US$2,000 per tonne level, and trade at US$1,990-2,020 per tonne over the day. As on July 19, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2060 per tonne, LME official settlement price...
Alcoa Corporation, a global leader in bauxite, alumina, and aluminium products, reported Q2 2018 results that were favourably impacted by strong pricing for both alumina and aluminium. “Market pricing continued to be favourable in the second quarter and drove a 38 per cent sequential increase in adjusted EBITDA excluding special items,” said Alcoa President and Chief Executive Officer Roy Harvey. “While markets and trade dynamics are likely to remain fluid, we will continue to be focused on driving value for our stockholders through all market cycles,” he added. In Q2 2018, Alcoa reported net income of US$75 million, compared to US$150 million in Q1 2018. The second quarter results include a negative impact of $211 million for special items related to cash and non-cash settlements....
Norwegian aluminium company Norsk Hydro ASA's wholly-owned subsidiary Hydro Energi AS has signed a long-term wind power contract for 29 years with Green Investment Group. The contract is believed to be the world's longest corporate wind power contract. The agreement, which encompass building of a new wind farm near Sundsvall and Østersund in Sweden (SE2), secures annual baseload supply of 0.3 TWh for the period 2021 to 2031 and 0.55 TWh for the period from 2031 to 2050. The contract will contribute to supplying power to Hydro's aluminium plants in Norway. "With this contract, we have over the last 2.5 years secured wind power contracts of approximately 4.5 terawatt hours annually from 2021 and onwards, complementing our captive and contract-based hydropower supplies," says Executive Vice...
The US dollar index inched down from a three-week high but still stood above the 95 level and closed at 95.09. Base metals mostly consolidated at low levels. As longs exited at highs, LME aluminium dived to a low of US$2,022 per tonne during the European trading session after touching US$2,045 per tonne. The contract closed Wednesday’s trading at US$2,040 per tonne, lower than the last closing of US$ 2110 per tonne. Open interests dipped 41,670 lots to 615,804 lots, while inventory rose 23,800 tonnes to close to 1.2 million tonnes. Shanghai Metals Market expects it to consolidate at US$2,020-2,050 per tonne today. As on July 18, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2038per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2040 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 2023 per...
As confirmed by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data on Monday, China’s aluminium output in June rose 1.6 per cent from May to 2.83 million tonnes. The rise was mainly driven by gradual ramp-up of new smelting capacity. According to Reuters collection based on NBS data, the world’s top aluminium producer reported a daily aluminium output of 94,000 tonnes in June month, compared with 90,000 tonnes in May, which had one extra day. The daily figure is the highest since June 2017 and the second-highest ever. However, June output was up 0.8 per cent YoY. The data released in June 2017 preceded illegal smelting capacity cut announcement in eastern China’s Shandong province and environmental restrictions on output in winter heating seasons. NBS has not updated the revised data for June 2017...
According to Tehran Times, Iran’s major aluminum producers produced 91,379 tons of aluminum during the three-month period from March 21 to June 21, which shows 11 percent growth from the figure of the same period of time in the past year, IRNA reported on Tuesday. As reported, these major companies produced 30,432 tons of aluminum during the Iranian calendar month of Khordad (May 22 – June 21), 13 percent more than the figure for the same month last year. Aluminum production by the country’s major producers rose by 9.7 percent year-on-year during the first two months of the Iranian calendar year (March 21-May 21). As reported by ILNA, production of aluminum by these major companies was 55,568 tons in the two-month period of the preceding year.
Base metals saw mixed trading on the impact of trade war and slower growth of China's economy. LME aluminium lost 1.5%. The light metal contract traded within a broad range overnight with support at the five-day moving average and resistance at the 10-day one. It closed at US$2,031.5 per tonne after touching a low of US$2,030.5 per tonne. The LME inventory has been continuously surging to touch 1.18 million tonnes. Shanghai Metals Market expects it to trade at US$2,025-2,060 per tonne today. As on July 17, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2109.50 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2110 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 2064.50 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 2065 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$ 2125 per tonne, and Dec 19 offer...
After registering a slight hike on July 17, from RMB 13870 per tonne to RMB 13910 per tonne, A00 aluminium ingot spot price decided to show restraint today, July 18, according to Shanghai Metals Market. The average prices ranged between RMB 13890 per tonne and RMB 13930 per tonne, with no change in spot discount as well from RMB 80 to RMB 40 per tonne. On the face of lower primary aluminium inventory across the region, the primary aluminium spot price did not display any sweeping growth but had been maintaining a steady trend throughout the month. However, compared to the previous month, the primary aluminium spot price recorded a month-on-month decline until now. Nonetheless, the aluminium price is expected to rise with the increasing demand to about 70 million tonnes by 2020, which...
On Monday, July 16, the United States reportedly brought cases to the World Trade Organisation against the European Union, China, Canada, Mexico, and Turkey, as they had been imposing heavy retaliatory duties on American exports. US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer claimed that these retaliatory duties by the US trading partners violated the rules of the Geneva-based WTO that is responsible for mediating trade disputes. “Instead of working with us to address a common problem, some of our trading partners have elected to respond with retaliatory tariffs designed to punish American workers, farmers and companies,” he said. He also said that if WTO also recognises that these retaliatory duties are violating its rules, then it will assess the damage and calculate tariffs that the US...
DP World, the Dubai-based ports operator, on Monday signed a deal with Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) aimed at boosting the UAE’s position as an aluminium exporter. The deal, a long-term service agreement, extends the partnership between the two companies, and facilitates the storage and transportation of aluminium produced by EGA. Under the agreement, EGA will lease a storage area that is the largest used by a company at Jebel Ali Port and that will further ease the export of EGA’s metal worldwide. EGA’s new yard at the port is over 175,000 square metres and has storage capacity of around 60,000 tonnes. Sultan Bin Sulayem, chairman and chief executive officer of DP World, said the deal was an opportunity for the two companies to work together to support Dubai and the UAE’s economy....
Rio Tinto reported a slight drop in alumina and aluminium production in second quarter as well as in H1 2018 due to operational issues like lock-out and power outage. Rio Tinto chief executive J-S Jacques said “Operational performance was solid across most commodities, rounding out a strong first half performance for the Group… Our sustained focus on cash generation, combined with disciplined capital allocation, will ensure we continue to deliver superior returns to our shareholders across the short, medium and long term.” Quarterly aluminium production was three per cent lower than Q2 2017, mainly due to an ongoing lock-out at the Becancour smelter and power interruption at the Dunkerque smelter on 6 February 2018. Dunkerque has been progressively ramping up towards full production...
According to Shanghai Metals Market, spot primary aluminium market in east China witnessed a narrow trading activity on Monday, July 16, despite the tumble in prices. The reason could be the reluctance of downstream consumers in purchasing primary aluminium during a seasonal lull. The SHFE 1807 contract also fell on the morning of its last trading day. In Shanghai, the transactions were mostly heard at RMB 13850 per tonne to RMB 13870 per tonne, with spot discounts at RMB 10 to 0 per tonne against the 1807 SHFE contract. Transactions in Wuxi were also seen at RMB 13850 per tonne to RMB 13870 per tonne, while that in Hangzhou, the transactions hovered at RMB 13870 per tonne to RMB 13890 per tonne. Although sellers in east China were keen to offload cargoes on increased primary aluminium...
