An imbalance between supply and demand and the increases in freight costs boosted global aluminium premiums in the week to Tuesday March 23, with the Rotterdam duty-unpaid price at a multi-year high and the United States Midwest premium reaching its highest since October 2018.
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Rotterdam dup premium at near-six-year high
Low supply levels and logistics problems continued to fuel bullish sentimenr throughout Europe, with aluminium premiums across the region hitting multi-year highs.
Fastmarkets' daily assessment of the benchmark
aluminium P1020A premium, in-whs dup Rotterdam, was $165-175 per tonne on Tuesday, up from $160-165 per tonne the day before and $20 per tonne higher than a week earlier.
The increase sent the premium to its
highest level since April 2015.
"The market is crazy," one trader source said. "Every day, offer [prices] increase, and the pool of metal gets smaller. It really is hard to source metal."
There has been a significant shortage of material in Rotterdam, especially duty-unpaid, since the beginning...