The Asian aluminium market is considering the impact on aluminium premiums after the US sanctioned and froze the assets of Oleg Deripaska and UC Rusal, with responses mixed among Asian industry participants so far.
The US' announcement last Friday has prompted bullish sentiment and expectations of tightness in the US aluminium market, but reactions from Asia on the impact on its domestic aluminium premiums have ranged from bullish to bearish so far.Asian consumers that use Rusal aluminium and export their end-products to the US, might use P1020 raw materials from other countries instead, some sources suggested. "Our customers do not import a lot from Russia but if we have customers who do, we would ask them if they are okay with continuing to use Russian raw materials before we do any purchasing," a Taiwan-based trader said. "If end-users make products that sell to the US, they might not want to buy Russian aluminium. The impact could be...