* LME copper stocks at lowest since December 2005 * Premium for cash over 3-month contract at $18.50/T * Copper comes within touching distance of 26-month high (Updates prices) By Pratima Desai Sept 7 (Reuters) - Aluminium prices rose towards 7-monthhighs on Monday as stronger economic growth and demand in Europeand elsewhere raised the prospect of rising exports from topproducer China. Benchmark aluminium on the London Metal Exchange wasup 0.6% at $1,797 a tonne at 1601 GMT. Prices of the metal used in the construction and transportindustries touched $1,824 a tonne last week, the highest sinceJanuary and a rise of 25% since the middle of May. "Outside China, construction projects are restarting andconsumers who have been destocking will need to buy aluminium,"BMO analyst Timothy Wood-Dow said. "Western economies will to have to buy from China, a typicalexporter of aluminium, which will charge a premium and that willpull benchmark prices higher."
IMPORTS: China's July aluminium imports leapt nearlysevenfold year-on-year to their second-highest level on record, as the world's top exporter of the metal turn net importer forthe first time since 2009. China is the world's largest producer and consumer ofaluminium. EXPORTS: China's exports rose for the third consecutivemonth in August as more of its trading partners relaxedcoronavirus lockdowns in a further boost to the recovery in theworld's second-biggest economy. The data boosted sentiment overall in industrial metalsmarkets, pushing copper up to $6,822.5, within a whiskerof the 26-month high seen last week. It was last up 1.1% at $6,787 a tonne. INVENTORIES: Copper stocks in LME approvedwarehouses at 77,550 tonnes are at their lowest since 2005 anddown more than 70% since the middle of May. Historically low copper stocks combined with large holdingsof copper warrants over the past couple of months have fuelled worries about supplies on the LME market. This is why the premium for the cash over the three-month rose above $30 a tonne at the end of August, the highestsince March last year. It was last at $20.80. OTHER METALS: Zinc was up 0.8% at $2,503 a tonne,lead was flat at $1,972, tin gained 0.4% to$18,320 and nickel slipped 0.7% to $15,190. (Reporting by Pratima Desai; Editing by David Evans, EmeliaSithole-Matarise and Alexander Smith)
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