Aluminum Demand Will Only Return to Peak by 2012, Mitsui Says

ISTANBUL, Sept. 16 -- Aluminum demand will only return to 2007's peak level by 2012 at the earliest, said Mo Ahmadzadeh, an executive at Mitsui & Co.'s industrial-metals trading arm.

    Producers of the lightweight metal lack "extreme confidence that things are getting dramatically better," Ahmadzadeh said today in an interview at a Metal Bulletin aluminum conference in Dusseldorf, Germany. "People are relieved that things stopped getting worse."

    Stronger demand from China fueled optimism about the aluminum industry's growth outlook by consuming most of the surplus in Western nations, according to Ahmadzadeh. "But that is probably going to calm down now," he said.

    Ahmadzadeh is president of metals trading at Mitsui Bussan Commodities Ltd. The Tokyo-based parent company is the second- largest Japanese trading house.

    (Source: Bloomberg)