Curtailments continue as producers struggle with low LME price

摘要

Announcements of high cost production curtailments in Europe and the USA continues as the LME cash price drops below $1700/t in February. Meanwhile, the future of production at Alcoa's Point Henry and BHP Billiton's Bayside smelter remains uncertain and adds to the likelihood that there will be more curtailments to come. High cost Chinese smelters in Guizhou and Zhejiang finally begin to respond to the low SHFE cash price as production ramps up at lower cost Greenfield smelters in the north-west. Marginal producers in the world ex. China have continued to struggle with the low LME cash aluminium price. LME cash prices have continued to fall with Q1 2014 expected to post a 2.6% q-o-q decline. This was accompanied by further announcements of production cuts pushing the world ex. China market into a deficit position for the fourth quarter in a row.