Le marché de l'aluminium : structuration et analyse du comportement des prix au comptant et à terme au London Metal Exchange

摘要

In the 1960s and before, the international aluminium market has been hold up as a paradigm for oligopolistic company organisation. A small number of strongly integrated conglomerates (the six Majors) did indeed control virtually the entire aluminium sector, from bauxite extraction to alumin and aluminum bar production as well as the manufacturing of finished aluminium products. From the 1970s onwards, this monopoly has been more and more called into question, in particular by cash-fuelled mining corporations and state-owned companies driven by different motivations. When the London Metal Exchange (LME) introduced the Aluminium contract in December 1978, the days of the 6 Majors’ monopoly were counted. From there on, prices have been fixed by producers and the market. This thesis aims at determining whether the LME, a pioneering exchange and the prime market for non-iron metals, efficiently fulfils its financial functions concerning aluminium: information about prices and the market situation, legal protection against price fluctuation risks, price stabilization.