Global Aluminum Market Deficit Recorded Notable Surge in 2017

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The world primary aluminum market deficit widened in 2017, in comparison with the year before that. The Metals Balances Report published by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) for the whole year 2017 indicates a market deficit of 985,000t, significantly higher from the calculated market deficit of 659,000t in 2016.

The primary aluminum production rose by 421 kt in 2017, compared with the previous year. The total reported aluminum stock levels rose by 115 kt during the last month of the previous year. The stock levels at the end of 2017 stood at 2,761 kt, sufficient to meet 17 days global demand. The 2017 stock levels were sharply lower when matched with 3,787 kt at the end of 2016. The combined stocks held in London, Shanghai, USA and Tokyo exchanges totaled 2.324 million tonnes at the end of 2017, significantly lower by 908 kt when matched with the end-Dec ‘16 levels.

The overall global aluminum production has increased marginally by 0.7% during the whole year 2017. The estimated Chinese output totaled 31.870 million t, accounting for nearly 55% share of the output by entire world countries. The production by the EU-28 region edged higher slightly by 0.4% from the previous year whereas the output from NAFTA region fell sharply by nearly 9.8% from the year-ago level. The primary aluminum output during the month of December 2017 alone totaled 5,096.8 kt, whereas the monthly consumption totaled 5,251.9 kt during the month.

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The net exports of aluminum semi manufacturers in China totaled 3,688 kt during the previous year, down marginally by more than 2% over the previous year. The exports had totaled 3,777 kt during 2016.

According to WBMS, the global aluminum demand increased by 748 kt during 2017 to total 58.74 million tonnes, when compared with the prior year. The Chinese apparent demand was modestly higher by 1.8% when compared with 2016. Also, EU-28 demand stood higher by 469 kt during the whole year.