Flooding of the Mississippi River and its tributaries in the last three weeks has delayed aluminium barge shipments from New Orleans to the US Midwest, according to Fastmarkets sources, and this could lead to increased spot trading in the second quarter of the year.
So far, the delays have not impacted the US Midwest aluminium premium, which remained supported at 19.25-19.5 cents per lb amid a stable contango in London Metal Exchange spreads and rising premiums in Asia. But that could change soon.A trader said the flooding was hurting the movement of alumina, with logjams delaying shipments by two weeks. The delay for finished...