Oil prices, commodity currency weakness and continued concerns over the Chinese economy were the dominant drivers of the metal markets this week as London Metal Exchange (LME) aluminium traded lower. Aluminium prices settled at $1467.50/t on 15 January, down from $1,483/t the prior week as aluminium remained one of the most oversupplied of all the base metals. China exported around 430,000t of aluminium and aluminium products in December, or about 8pc more than last year's monthly average. The total amount of the metal exported during 2015 was a record 4.77mn t, up by 9.9pc on the year. There are no significant production cuts pending, and China is expected to continue to export large quantities of aluminium this year. This will keep the global market amply supplied and prevent any significant price rises.
展开▼
