(LME) aluminum futures on the London Metal Exchange rose on Tuesday, boosted by concerns about supply disruptions, but the increase in novel coronavirus's confirmed cases clouded the demand outlook and curbed the rise in futures prices.

Aluminum for three-month delivery rose 0.71% to $3546 a tonne, Beijing time.

Shanghai Aluminum's main contract fell 0.33% to 22950 yuan per ton.

Rusal announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that on March 20, 2022, the Australian government immediately banned the export of alumina and bauxite to Russia, including bauxite.

In addition, Trimet, the German aluminium producer, said it would cut production by 50 per cent in the coming weeks at its plant in Essen because of high energy costs.

From 0 to 24:00 on March 21, 31 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government) and Xinjiang production and Construction Corps reported 2281 new confirmed local cases and 2313 local asymptomatic infections, the National Health Commission of China announced on the 22nd.

For other base metals, copper for LME delivery edged up 0.05% to $10300 a tonne; lead for three-month delivery rose 0.2% to $2262.5 a tonne; zinc for three-month delivery fell 0.58% to $3917 a tonne; and tin for three-month delivery fell 0.22% to $41665 a tonne.

Shanghai copper fell 0.04% to 73120 yuan per ton, Shanghai lead rose 0.1% to 15265 yuan per ton, Shanghai zinc rose 0.57% to 25510 yuan per ton, Shanghai tin fell 1.48% to 337060 yuan per ton, and Shanghai nickel fell 3.55% to 206780 yuan per ton.

Nickel for LME delivery fell 15 per cent to $31380 a tonne on Monday and fell 9.88 per cent to $28280 a tonne in retrospect today.

The global nickel market had a supply surplus of 6000 tons in January 2022, compared with a shortage of 5300 tons in the same period last year, according to data released by (INSG), an international nickel research group, on Monday.

INSG expects a supply shortage of 157100 tonnes in the global nickel market this year, compared with a surplus of 103700 tonnes in 2021.

Global primary aluminum production fell 2.3 per cent to 5.114 million tons in February from 5.236 million tons in the same period in 2021, with an average daily output of 182600 tons, according to the International Aluminum Association (IAI) website. The association estimates that China's primary aluminium production fell to 2.946 million tons in February from 3.048 million tons in the same period in 2021.

Commercial production of an alumina smelter built by Indonesian state-owned miner Aneka Tambang and Inalum is expected to be delayed until at least July 2024, a senior executive said.

(MCM), a Zambian Mopani copper company, said in a statement on Monday that operations at one of its mines had been suspended after the accident, which killed one person.

Federal Reserve Chairman Colin Powell said on Monday that if necessary, the Fed will take more aggressive action to raise interest rates by more than 25 basis points at a time to restore price stability.

The yen fell below its psychological level of 120 against the dollar on Tuesday for the first time since 2016.