World Primary Aluminum Market Posted Surplus Until October

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The January to October 2020 Metals Balances Report published by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) suggests that primary aluminium market ended in modest surplus of 1,709 kt. This follows a surplus of 479 kt recorded during the entire year 2019.

The production during the initial ten months of the year rose by 3.9% upon comparison with the first ten months of 2019. The Chinese output, at 30,628 kt, accounted for almost 55% of the global aluminium production. The NAFTA output rose by 4.1%, whereas the EU output edged lower by 2.1% than the previous year.

The demand stood higher by 599 kt from the comparable period in 2019 to around 53.77 million tonnes. The Chinese apparent demand surged higher by 10.9% than in January to October in 2019. On the contrary, the EU-28 demand edged lower by 1,174 kt when compared with the corresponding ten-month period in 2019. It is likely that the full effects of nationwide lockdowns during the pandemic period are not reflected in the trade statistics which is being published now.

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The total reported stocks of the metal rose in October to close the period at 70 kt above the end-2019 levels. The total stocks held in London Metal Exchange (LME) were 1,461 kt, in comparison with 1,473 kt at the end of the previous year.

In October, primary aluminium production totalled 5,620.7 kt, whereas the demand totalled 5,483.4 kt.