With aluminum premiums on the rise in the U.S. and Europe, and Japanese inventories falling amid growing demand, producers are upping the ante by charging the Pacific Rim a higher premium for the second quarter in a row.
According to a recent report from Reuters, three global aluminum producers offered buyers in Japan a premium of $135 per metric ton for shipments of the metal in Q2. This would mark an increase of 42% quarter-over-quarter.
“The producers claimed that the rise mainly reflected higher premiums in the U.S. market, but we think $135 is too high as we don’t feel much supply tightness here,” a source at an end-user told the news source, adding that his company would aim for premiums at around $120-125/mt.
Aluminum Leads the Charge in February
Our own Raul de Frutos wrote this week that of all the industrial metals, aluminum performed the best in February with prices on the London Metal Exchange growing above $1,9000 per metric ton. This marks the first time since May 2015 prices have been this high for the metal.
Wrote de Frutos: “In February, China finally approved its Air Pollution Control regulations, which came into effect on the March 1.The world’s largest nation-producer of the metal will force about a third of aluminum capacity in the provinces of Shandong, Henan, Hebei and Shanxi to be shut down over the winter season, which runs from the middle of November through the middle of March.”
How will aluminum and base metals fare in 2017? You can find a more in-depth copper price forecast and outlook in our brand new Monthly Metal Buying Outlook report. For a short- and long-term buying strategy with specific price thresholds: