Primary aluminium inventories remained unchanged on week

As August drew to a close, looking back at China's aluminum billet market this month, "divergence" and "pressure" were the two most distinct key words. On one side was the resilient, eye-catching performance of aluminum prices; on the other was the continued slump in aluminum billet processing fees...

[SMM Analysis: On the Eve of "September Peak Season": Aluminum Billet Processing Fees Plunge Below the Cost Line; Foshan Market Consolidates Weakly at Lows] As August drew to a close, looking back at China's aluminum billet market this month, "divergence" and "pressure" were the two most distinct key words. On one side was the strong, impressive performance of aluminum prices; on the other side was the continued slide in aluminum billet processing fees—the φ120 aluminum billet processing fee in Foshan fell steadily from 180 yuan/mt at end-July, briefly touched a record low of 30 yuan/mt in intraday trading on August 12, and was quoted at only 110 yuan/mt as of August 28, already clearly below the industry average production cost line. Social inventory of aluminum billet accumulated for four consecutive weeks to a stage high of 144,500 mt; spot trades cooled several times; suppliers' willingness to cash out and downstream wait-and-see sentiment repeatedly pulled back and forth; and market participants' fatigue grew by the day...

En relación con las negociaciones en curso con Omán sobre el estrecho de Ormuz, el presidente iraní Pezeshkian afirmó que Omán apoyó inicialmente a Irán, pero que más tarde adoptó una postura más reservada; sin embargo, en reuniones recientes ambas partes volvieron a alcanzar un consenso y acordaron reabrir la ruta marítima del estrecho en el marco de un plan coordinado. Pezeshkian subrayó que Irán trabaja actualmente para garantizar que, si la ruta marítima se reabre bajo un marco específico, Estados Unidos también cumpla sus obligaciones. Estas obligaciones incluyen levantar el bloqueo y las sanciones, descongelar los fondos iraníes y detener las hostilidades de Israel en el Líbano, entre otras. Irán abrirá el estrecho de Ormuz con base en sus propias políticas nacionales.