Primary Aluminum market reports deficit during Jan – Apr 2015

By Paul Ploumis 18 Jun 2015 Last updated at 03:47:52 GMT

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The latest report published by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) indicates that global primary aluminum market has recorded a deficit during the initial four months of the year. As per the report, the market turned into a deficit of 283,000 tons when matched with the deficit of 723,000 reported during entire year 2014.

The production of primary aluminum was up by 2,630 kt during the four-month period from January to April this year. The total reported stock of metal has declined further by 79,000 tonnes during the month of April. The stocks at the end of the initial four-month period stood at 4,728 kt. It must be noted that the stock levels at the end of 2014 had stood at 5,020 kt. The combined stocks held in London, Shanghai, USA and Tokyo exchanges totaled 4,097 kt at the end of April.

Global production increased by 16.4% during the period from January to April in 2015. China, with estimated production of 10,099 kt, accounted for nearly 54% of the world production. Production in the EU region rose 3.2%, whereas the output by NAFTA region fell by 3.6% year-on-year. The primary aluminum production for the month of February alone was 4,745.7 kt, whereas the consumption totaled 5,087.2 kt.

The Chinese net exports totaled 142 kt during the first four months of the year.

The WBMS report also states that the global aluminum demand rose by 15.8% during January to April this year to total 18.98 million tonnes, when compared with the corresponding period last year. The Chinese apparent demand went higher by almost 33% when compared with 2014. On the other hand, EU-28 dropped by 69 kt when compared with the previous year.