Reported LME Aluminum Stocks Witnessed Notable Decline in August

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The world market for primary aluminum ended in a deficit of 643kt during the first eight months of the current year. This follows a deficit of 1.153 million tonnes recorded during the whole of the previous year.

The global demand for primary aluminum has declined by 148kt, when compared with the corresponding eight-month period in 2017, to total 40.5 million tonnes. The Chinese apparent demand edged higher marginally by 0.6% over the previous year. Also, the EU demand was 236kt higher than the Jan-Aug ’17 demand.

The overall production of primary aluminum rose marginally by 0.4% in Jan-Aug ’18, when matched with the year before. The production totaled 39.86 million tonnes. Out of this, Chinese production totaled 22.323 million tonnes, accounting for nearly 56% of the total world production. The production in the EU region too was up marginally by 0.5%. However, the NAFTA output declined modestly by 5% when matched with the previous year.

Meantime, the total reported stocks of the metal dropped by 136kt in August. The stocks at end-Aug ’18 stood higher by 98kt, when matched with end-December 2017 levels. The sharp decline in stock levels in Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and the Netherlands resulted in a decline of 127kt in total stocks held by the London Metal Exchange (LME). The LME stocks totaled 2.444 million tonnes at the end of Aug ’18.

The monthly production of primary aluminum totaled 5.134 million tonnes in August this year, whereas the consumption totaled 5.263 million tonnes.