Week in review: LME aluminium back at US$1,845/t; Shanghai aluminium fluctuates in tight range

This week aluminium prices came down from its earlier highs of US$1,990 per tonne to move in the range of US$1,865-1,845 per tonne. Aluminium contract traded on the London Metal Exchange (LME) opened the week at US$1,868 per tonne on Monday, March 6 and then came down to close at US$1,847 per tonne on Thursday (after night trading), March 9. The price fall has been 4.49 per cent from this year's highest of US$1,934 per tonne on March 1. A rise in the US dollar strength put base metal prices under pressure globally.

LME official Opening Stock of aluminium was estimated at 2160925 tonnes at the beginning of the week. As on March 9, the stock came down at 2084800 tonnes. LME aluminium premiums remained largely unchanged across major geographical regions in the past week. Only LME Aluminium East-Asia Premium inched higher at US$100 on March 8 from its previous band of US$95 (per tonne).

Source: Reuters

The benchmark price of aluminium on Shanghai Metal Exchange (SMM) kept fluctuating in the range of US$1,980-1,957 per tonne this week. The price trend was partly impacted on by the rising dollar strength and LME aluminium prices, and partly by the decision of the Chinese government who laid out a mandate of 30 per cent capacity cut for the aluminium smelters in an effort to check air pollution in the country’s major manufacturing hubs.

As per SMM ranking by metal price increase, average price of A00 aluminium ingot last week stood at RMB 13,662 per tonne.

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The following table depicts the price movement of aluminium contracts traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) on March 10, 2017:

China's aluminium production in February increased to 2.84 million tonnes, up 21.1 per cent from the corresponding period previous year. Aluminium operational capacities were up by around 1 million tonnes on a monthly basis. The operational capacities are projected to grow further in March, and aluminium output will increase to 3.16 million tonnes in March, up 17.9 percent year-on-year, SMM expects.