Primary Aluminum Market Posted Deficit of 1.573 Million t

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The world primary aluminum market deficit widened further during the initial eleven months of 2017, says the latest Metals Balances Report published by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS). The market faced a deficit of 1.573 million t during this period, substantially higher from the deficit recorded for the whole of 2016.

According to WBMS Report, the world primary aluminum market ended at a deficit of 1,573 kt during the first eleven months of 2017. The deficit has widened further when matched with the deficit of 1,434 kt reported at the end of October last year. It must be noted that the global aluminum market had recorded a deficit of 770 kt during the entire year 2016.

The primary aluminum production surged higher by 534 kt during Jan-Nov ’17. The total reported aluminum stock fell marginally by 5 kt during November 2017. The inventory of the metal totaled 2,244 kt at the end of the eleven-month period, which is sufficient enough to meet global aluminum demand for 14 days. It must be noted that the stock levels had stood at 2,761 kt at the end of 2016. The combined stocks held in London, Shanghai, USA and Tokyo exchanges totaled 1.848 million tonnes at the end of October, significantly lower by 477 kt when matched with the December 2016 levels.

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During the period from January to November in 2017, the overall aluminum production recorded marginal increase by 1%. The Chinese production totaled 29.536 million t, accounting for nearly 55% of the global output. The production by the EU-28 region edged higher slightly by 0.4% from the previous year whereas the output from NAFTA region fell by nearly 2% from the year-ago level. The primary aluminum output during the month of November 2017 totaled 4,492.6 kt, whereas the monthly consumption totaled 4,624.7 kt during the month.

The net exports of Chinese aluminum semi manufacturers totaled 3,486 kt during the first eleven months of the previous year, recording marginal rise by around 3% over the previous year. The exports had totaled 3,380 kt during January to November in 2016.

According to WBMS, the global aluminum demand increased by 1.410 million tons during January to November in 2017 to total 54.92 million tonnes, when compared with the corresponding eleven-month period in 2016. The Chinese apparent demand was modestly higher by 2.0% when compared with 2016. Also, EU-28 demand stood higher by 115 kt.