Primary Aluminum market in deficit during Jan - July 2015: WBMS

The latest report published by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) indicates that global primary aluminum market has recorded a deficit during the initial seven months of the year. As per the report, the market reported a deficit of 487,000 tons when matched with the deficit of 754,000 reported during entire year 2014.

The production of primary aluminum was up by 15% during the seven-month period from January to July this year. The global production rose by 4,741 kt during this period, when compared with a year ago. The total reported stock of metal has declined further by 106,000 tonnes during the month of July. The stocks at the end of the initial seven-month period stood at 4,444 kt, which is sufficient to meet 32 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 3,791 kt at the end of July.

Global production increased by 15.8% during the period from January to July in 2015. China, with estimated production of 18,332 kt, accounted for nearly 55% of the world production. Production in the EU region dropped by 2.5% and the output by NAFTA region fell by 3.0% year-on-year. The primary aluminum production for the month of July alone was 4,828.3 kt, whereas the consumption totaled 4,854.1 kt.

The Chinese net exports totaled 224 kt during the first seven months of the year.

The WBMS report also states that the global aluminum demand rose by 15.8% during January to July this year to total 33.63 million tonnes, when compared with the corresponding period last year. The Chinese apparent demand went higher by almost 35% when compared with 2014. Also, EU-28 demand increased slightly during January to July this year by 200 kt when compared with the previous year.