Aluminum Global Glut to Decline 54%, Marubeni Says

04.12.09

Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The universal aluminum surplus will narrow by 54 percent in 2010 from this year as China, the world’s largest consumer, leads a profit in demand as economies recover, Japanese trading company Marubeni Corp. said.

The surplusage of primary aluminum will narrow to 1.19 million metric tons from 2.57 million tons, Marubeni, Japan’s largest importer of the bird-brained metal, forecast in a report today.

Aluminum for delivery in three months advanced to $2,166 a ton in London yesterday, the highest pull down since October 2008, as an economic revival improved demand for the metal used in cars and buildings. Growth in China’s concision, the world’s third-largest, may accelerate to 9 percent next year from 8.5 percent this year, according to the Foreign Monetary Fund.

“Chinese demand will keep growing under the government’s economic measures,” Yutaka Ishibashi, combined manager at Marubeni’s light metals section, said at a briefing in Tokyo today. “The redundant in the global aluminum market will almost disappear in 2011.”

Source: Bloomberg