Primary aluminum market in deficit during Jan - May 2015, reveals 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 five months of the year. As per the report, the market turned into a deficit of 261,000 tons when matched with the deficit of 723,000 reported during entire year 2014.

The production of primary aluminum was up by 3,288 kt during the four-month period from January to May this year. The total reported stock of metal has declined further by 32000 tonnes during the month of May. The stocks at the end of the initial five-month period stood at 4,697 kt. 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 4,033 kt at the end of May this year.

Global production increased by 16.3% during the period from January to May in 2015. China, with estimated production of 12,817 kt, accounted for nearly 55% of the world production. Production in the EU region rose 2.2%, whereas the output by NAFTA region fell by 3.4% year-on-year. The primary aluminum production for the month of May alone was 4,851.3 kt, whereas the consumption totaled 4,909.8 kt.

The Chinese net exports totaled 178 kt during the first five months of the year.

The WBMS report also states that the global aluminum demand rose by 15% during January to May this year to total 23.68 million tonnes, when compared with the corresponding period last year. The Chinese apparent demand went higher by almost 31% when compared with 2014. On the other hand, EU-28 dropped during January to May this year when compared with the previous year.