A surplus of aluminum will break records

«This year volumes of supplies of aluminum on the market

a record will outstrip demand, which will lead to this level of excess „winged

metal“, what was the last 24 months," writes correspondent of the new York

information Agency „Bloomberg“, citing analysts trading

division of the Japanese keiretsu „Sumitomo Group“. „Blame — the mismatch

the amount of new capacity in the sector (the owners of which, as

it turned out, unjustifiably relied on progressive interest

Asian buyers) growth rate of world consumption of aluminum“ comment

your expectations of professionals. „We believe that the difference between the volumes of supply and level

aluminum consumption in 2013 amounted to 866 thousand tonnes. This figure

14% more than last year’s numbers, with more than half of this amount

will be a surplus in the Chinese market of non-ferrous metals“ — added Japanese

experts.

Representatives of „Sumitomo Group“ noted that

recent years (because of the unreasonable expansion of production) trends in

pricing on aluminium and products on its basis have consistently demonstrated

descending vectors. And current prices of metal, „broken“ line in 2000 USD, is clear confirmation

rashness of growth in the supply of the resource. So for the past year, the price of

aluminum „slipped“ down to 12%, while the global average cost of production in 2164

US dollar per ton has prompted many major producers (including „RUSAL“,

"Rio Tinto» and «Alcoa») to review the volume of production of the product.

Remember: aluminum is the most abundant metal

in the earth’s crust (ton rough product is extracted from 4−8 tonnes of bauxite is often

occurring ore, obtained relatively low-cost way). However, the final

the production cost is very high: only during the processing of alumina

uses about 17,000 kWh of energy, and additionally consumes about

30 kg of aluminum fluoride, more than 50 kg. of cryolite and other costly resources. At

this reason cost-effective melting «winged metal» at low market prices can

only companies with access to cheap energy and raw materials that

developing countries (with relatively low rates in these areas) is

a significant bonus in terms of competition with European and American manufacturers

aluminium.