Primary Aluminum Market Ended in Tiny Deficit

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The January to March 2019 Metals Balances Report published by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) suggests that world aluminum market ended in tiny deficit. The calculated market deficit stood at 2.0 kt, which follows a market deficit of 969 kt recorded during the whole year 2018.

The overall global aluminum production rose marginally by 3.3% in January to March in 2019, as compared with the corresponding three-month period in 2018. In volume terms, the production surged higher by 491kt over the year. The output by China totaled 8.567 million tonnes, accounting for approximately 56% of the global aluminum production during the three-month period. The EU region reported modest decline in production by 3.0% over the previous year. Meantime, the NAFTA output witnessed year-on-year rise by 6.5%.

The LME stocks rose declined marginally during the month. The Malaysian stocks declined by 44kt , whereas the Netherlands and South Korea too reported declines by 25kt and 23 kt respectively. The total reported stocks as at end-Mar ‘19 were 2,321 kt, down slightly when compared with 2018 closing level of 2,429kt in 2018. The combined stocks held by four main exchanges-London, Shanghai, USA and Tokyo registered decline by 88 kt from Dec ’18 closing level to total 1,864 kt at the end of March 2019.

The primary aluminum production totaled 5,149.4kt in Mar ‘19, whereas the consumption totaled 5,243.2 kt.