1. ALERT! – RUSSIAN ALUMINUM. LIFTING OF SANCTIONS AHEAD? US seems on path to lifting sanctions on Russian aluminum.
The United States and Russia announced today a series of bilateral agreements toward achieving peace in Ukraine, including ensuring safe navigation through the Black Sea, lower maritime insurance costs, and enhancing access to ports and payment systems for such transactions. In HARBOR’s view, recent US-Russian developments signal a pathway for…
2. LME Cash price falls to an eight-week low of $… per mton as US-Russia-Ukraine peace talks signal pathway for removal of sanctions on Russian aluminum.
LME Cash aluminum prices closed the session down 1.2% or $… per mton, at $… per mton. Prices fell late in the session as the US agreed with Russia and Ukraine to extend the ceasefire to the Black Sea and help “restore Russia’s access to the world market for agricultural and fertilizer exports,” while all parties continue to seek a final peace agreement. Indeed, LME 3M aluminum prices pulled back from…
3. ALERT! – EUROPE P1020. FALL CONTINUES: European P1020 premiums gap down to $… per mton.
As anticipated by HARBOR, Europe’s P1020 duty-paid premium plunge…
4. LME Cash-3M spread in contango for the first time since January but remains uneconomic for inventory financing (bearish P1020 premiums).
The Cash-3M spread returns to contango for the first time in seven weeks. The Cash-3M spread loosened to a contango of $… per mton from yesterday’s backwardation of $… per mton as tightness receded ahead of May’s third Wednesday contract….
5. China’s aluminum prices tested one-week intraday lows.
SHFE front-month aluminum prices closed today’s session marginally down at… yuan per mton, after testing a one-week intraday low of … yuan per mton. China’s prices followed LME aluminum cash prices lower, amid …