Aluminum Stockpiles Extend Declines, Driven by U.S. Withdrawals
Aluminum inventories monitored by the London Metal Exchange fell to a six-month low, driven by declines in the U.S.
Inventories of the lightweight metal fell for a 34th session, dropping 6,500 metric tons to 4.42 million tons, exchange data showed today. They are at the lowest level since Jan. 12. Stockpiles have dropped 6 percent since May 24. Most declines were registered in the U.S. Total orders to draw aluminum from LME warehouses, known as canceled warrants, fell 6,525 tons to 389,250 tons.
The decline in aluminum inventories on the LME is the result of a shift into “invisible” stockpiles, which are those not tracked by the LME, rather than to consumers, said Alcoa Inc. (AA), the top U.S. producer of the metal used in cans and cars.
“We do see shifts between visible and invisible inventories,” said Chief Executive Officer Klaus Kleinfeld in a conference call with analysts. “It’s moved into invisible inventory whereas before we’d seen it moving into visible.”
Lead inventories rose for the first time in 10 days, gaining 1,925 tons to 308,650 tons on gains in Malaysia and Rotterdam. Stockpiles in the Dutch port city rose 1,150 tons in the past two days after declining 1,150 tons on July 7. Total canceled warrants fell 1,625 tons to 20,500 tons.
To contact the reporter on this story: Agnieszka Troszkiewicz in London at atroszkiewic@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net
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