Aluminum prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose after Rio
Tinto Group said the worst storms in 50 years would reduce China's
output of the lightweight metal. Copper prices also gained.
China may lose 650,000 metric tons of aluminum output from
snowstorms that hit central and southern regions, Rio's Chief
Executive Officer Tom Albanese said in London on Wednesday, citing
figures from CRU International Ltd.
"Investment funds must have poured in, betting lost output is
bullish for prices," Li Ling, a trader at Minmetals Starfutures Co,
told Bloomberg News by phone from Shanghai yesterday. Demand from
processors may be curbed as users "are not used to" the high
prices, she added.
Aluminum in Shanghai for April delivery rose as much as 700
yuan, or 3.7 percent, to 19,750 yuan (US$2,747) a ton and closed at
19,580 yuan. Aluminum for three-month delivery on the London Metal
Exchange advanced 2.7 percent to US$2,764 a ton at the same
time.
Metal for immediate delivery in Changjiang, Shanghai's biggest
cash market, rose 110 yuan, or 0.6 percent to 19,370 yuan a ton
yesterday.
Aluminum Corp of China Ltd, the nation's biggest producer of the
metal, returned one percent of the combined capacity of its
smelters in the southern province of Guizhou after power was
restored, the firm said in a statement on its Website yesterday. It
would take "months" to reach full production, Zhang Qing, a company
spokeswoman said in Beijing yesterday.
Chinese zinc and copper producers have resumed output and
deliveries hampered by snowstorms.
Zhuzhou Smelter Group Co, the country's largest zinc firm,
restored output to "normal level" from February 6, it said
yesterday.
(Shanghai Daily, February 15, 2008)
