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...

Terkait perundingan yang sedang berlangsung dengan Oman mengenai Selat Hormuz, Presiden Iran Pezeshkian mengatakan bahwa Oman awalnya mendukung Iran tetapi kemudian mengambil sikap yang lebih menahan diri; namun, dalam pertemuan-pertemuan terakhir kedua pihak kembali mencapai konsensus dan sepakat untuk membuka kembali jalur pelayaran selat itu berdasarkan rencana yang terkoordinasi. Pezeshkian menegaskan bahwa Iran saat ini berupaya memastikan bahwa jika jalur pelayaran dibuka kembali dalam kerangka tertentu, AS juga harus memenuhi kewajibannya. Kewajiban tersebut mencakup pencabutan blokade dan sanksi, pencairan dana Iran yang dibekukan, serta penghentian permusuhan Israel di Lebanon, antara lain. Iran akan membuka Selat Hormuz berdasarkan kebijakan nasionalnya sendiri.