Alcoa: Nearly Decade Long Aluminum Surplus To End

Alcoa Inc (NYSE:AA) has forecast global aluminum demand will exceed production this year, predicting an end to an almost decade-long surplus driven by Chinese output that has saddled the industry with lower prices, Bloomberg News reported

Alcoa is among aluminum producers outside of China to have shuttered unprofitable smelters amid a glut of the lightweight metal. The New York-based company yesterday reported better-than-expected first quarter earnings and said that it now sees a global supply deficit of 730,000 metric tons. In January it had predicted a 106,000-ton surplus.

The Indian aluminum cash price saw the biggest upwards shift for the day, rising 1.3 percent on Tuesday. After improving for two days, the cash price of primary aluminum declined 0.9 percent on the LME to $1,794 per metric ton. Weakening prices followed two days of improvement as the 3-month price of aluminum dropped 0.8 percent on the LME to $1,831 per metric ton.

Chinese aluminum closed mixed yesterday. The cash price of Chinese aluminum finished the market day up 0.2 percent per metric ton. The price of Chinese aluminum scrap saw little movement. For the fifth consecutive day, the price of Chinese aluminum billet held flat. For the fifth day in a row, the price of Chinese aluminum bar remained essentially flat.

Copyright and Exemption Declaration :¢ÙAll articles, pictures and videos that are marked with "China Aluminum Network" on this website are copyright and belong to China Aluminium Network (www.alu.com.cn). When transshipment, any media, website or individual must list the source from "China Aluminium Network (www.alu.com.cn)". We seek legal actions against anyone that disobey this. ¢ÚArticles that marked as copy from others are for transferring more information to readers, do not represent or endorse their opinions or accuracy and reliability. When other media, website or individuals copy from our website, must keep the source. Anyone that changes the articles' sources will hold the responsibilities for copyright and law problems. We also seek legal actions against anyone that disobey this. ¢ÛIf any articles copied by our website concern the copyright and other problems, please contact us within one week.