There is a deficit in the primary aluminum market

The latest report published by the World Bureau of Metals Statistics (WBMS) shows that the global primary aluminum market was in short supply during the first six months of this year. According to the report, the market recorded a deficit of 380,000 tons. Whereas during the whole 2014 the deficit was 716,000 tons.

Primary aluminum production increased by 4,084 thousand tons during the six-month period from January to June of this year. It is reported that the total stock of the metal during June fell further to 148,000 tons. Stocks at the end of the first six months amounted to 4,549 thousand tons, which is sufficient to meet demand within 33 days. It should be noted that the level of reserves at the end of 2014 was already 5020 thousand tons. The combined shares on the exchanges in London, Shanghai, USA and Tokyo totaled 3,888 thousand tons at the end of June this year.

Global aluminum production increased by 16.8 percent between January and June 2015. China, with a production of 15.401 thousand tons, provided almost 55 percent of world production. Production in the EU region rose 0.6 percent, while output in the NAFTA region fell 3.1 percent year on year. The main volume of aluminum production in June amounted to 4851.3 thousand tons, while consumption amounted to 4898.10 thousand tons. During the first six months of the year, China's net exports amounted to 208 thousand tons.

The WBMS report also says that global demand for aluminum rose 16 percent in January-June this year to 28.74 million tons, compared with the corresponding period last year. Chinese demand has grown by almost 34 percent since 2014. On the other hand, demand in the EU-28 fell in January-June this year compared to the previous year.