Aluminium in new record high as Russian supply woes persist

BY: ONOME AMUGE

Aluminium prices roared to an all-time high on Thursday as the lightweight metal maintained its bullish trend, underpinned by Russia’s relentless invasion of Ukraine, a move that has led to more sanctions by Western oppositions and forced investors to shift interest away from the third largest aluminium producer.

Three month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange (LME) was up 2.3 percent to a record high of $3,659 a tonne. On the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE), the most-traded contract gained 3.7 percent to 23,770 yuan or $3,761.79 a tonne.

Commodity analysts observed that sanctions by Western countries have prompted the world’s largest container lines (Swiss-based MSC, Denmark’s Maersk, and Frances’s CMA CGM) to temporarily suspend cargo shipments to and from Russia.

They described this as bad news for aluminium consumers, considering that it is coming at a time inventories are low.

According to market reports, stocks of aluminium in LME-registered warehouses have dwindled over the past 12 months to 809,750 tonnes against nearly two million tonnes recorded in March 2021.

Other base metals also traded in a positive direction as nickel gained 3.4 percent to $26,750 a tonne, its highest since May 2011,while copper was one percent higher at $10,269 a tonne.