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...

Concernant les négociations en cours avec Oman au sujet du détroit d’Ormuz, le président iranien Pezeshkian a déclaré qu’Oman a d’abord soutenu l’Iran avant d’adopter une position plus réservée ; toutefois, lors de récentes réunions, les deux parties sont parvenues à un nouveau consensus et ont convenu de rouvrir la voie de navigation du détroit dans le cadre d’un plan coordonné. Pezeshkian a souligné que l’Iran s’emploie actuellement à garantir que, si la voie de navigation est rouverte dans un cadre précis, les États-Unis doivent également remplir leurs obligations. Ces obligations comprennent la levée du blocus et des sanctions, le dégel des fonds iraniens et l’arrêt des hostilités d’Israël au Liban, entre autres. L’Iran ouvrira le détroit d’Ormuz conformément à ses propres politiques nationales.