A consistently low US Midwest aluminium premium continued to deter participants from any sort of arbitrage activity between London Metal Exchange sheds in Asia and the United States.
The
aluminium P1020A premium, ddp Midwest US was most recently at 14.5-16 cents per lb on December 31, unchanged since December 3 when it fell from 15-16 cents per lb.
Market participants told Fastmarkets the current premium level means it does not make sense to bring aluminium from Asia to the US.
"As anticipated, further weakening of the reported average Midwest premium for the...