Aluminium billet premiums in the United States jumped, some premiums in Asia were lower, and the Germany premium in Europe widened upward.
The aluminium three-month price on the London Metal Exchange closed at $2,219 per tonne.The spread between the three-month and cash price was in a $1.50 contango per tonne after touching a $6 backwardation earlier in the week.The US 6063 spot billet upcharge has moved up 0.5 cents to 10.5-12.5 cents per lb during the past two weeks on a combination of unusually strong winter demand, excessively high trucking rates, the looming possibility of new import tariffs and a number of supply disruptions. "We've done some huge spot sales and we are in a very good, high range. This will be our biggest January ever," said one supplier, who reported 1,500 tonnes of sales this past week. Alcoa has locked out union workers at its Aluminerie de B?(C)cancour Inc (ABI) smelter in the Canadian province of Quebec, with operations stopping on two of its three potlines. The smelter produces 430,000 tonnes of primary...