Primary Aluminum Market Ended in Notable Surplus

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The January to November 2020 Metals Balances Report published by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) suggests that primary aluminium market ended in notable surplus of 2,081 kt. This follows a surplus of 448 kt recorded for the entire year 2019.

The production during the initial eleven-month period of the previous year rose by nearly 2% upon comparison with the similar period a year before. The Chinese output, at 33,790 kt, accounted for almost 55% of the global aluminium production. The NAFTA output rose by 4.2%, whereas the EU output edged lower marginally by 0.5% than the previous year.

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The demand stood higher by 203 kt from the comparable period in 2019 to around 59.11 million tonnes. The Chinese apparent demand surged higher by 6.6% than in January to November in 2019. On the contrary, the EU-28 demand edged lower by 1,172 kt when compared with the corresponding eleven-month period in 2019.

The total reported stocks of the metal declined in November to close the month at 100 kt below the end-2019 levels. The Shanghai stocks, which had rose steady in the early month sof 2020, began to decline in the second quarter and closed at the end of November at 220.4 kt. Meantime, the LME stocks declined marginally to close at 1,368 kt at the end of November 2020, compared with 1,473 kt at the end of the previous year.

In November last year, primary aluminium production totalled 5,709.00 kt, whereas the demand totalled 5,458.60 kt.