Supply woes in China, Russia fuel aluminium prices to multi-year highs

HANOI: Shanghai aluminium prices on Thursday hit near a 10-year peak while the London contract hovered near their highest in three years as concerns on tepid supply from top producers China and Russia weighed on sentiment.

The most-traded May aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed as much as 2.1% to 18,195 yuan ($2,783.43) a tonne, its highest since August 2011.

Three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange hit its highest since June 2018 at $2,343 a tonne.

Investors have been concerned about output cuts in China to curb carbon emissions, particularly in Inner Mongolia where authorities said last month they would stop approving new projects for aluminium smelting, which consumes much energy.

The region's largest city Baotou also said it would shutter some industrial production and power plants to meet energy consumption targets.

Consultancy AZ China estimates that 279,000 tonnes of annual aluminium capacity across seven smelters was shut as a result of the energy curbs.

Meanwhile, the United States is expected to announce sanctions on Russia as soon as Thursday for alleged election interference and malicious cyber activity.

Russia is a major aluminium producer and a US sanction in 2018 had pushed LME aluminium prices to a seven-year high.

"Investors will keep an eye on Rusal after oligarch Oleg Deripaska's role in the Russian aluminium producer was flagged for US sanctions review in December," commodities broker Anna Stablum of Marex Spectron said.

A four-weak-low US dollar also lent support, making greenback-priced metals cheaper to holders of other currencies.