Aluminum Bear Market Piles Pressure on World’s Biggest Smelters
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The world’s biggest aluminum makers will be under even more pressure to make deeper production cuts and stave off a price slump that saw the metal trade near its lowest level in six years on Wednesday.
China, which accounts for half of the world’s aluminum output, is on pace to export record amounts of metal products this year, helping to deepen a worldwide glut. Producers outside China, including Alcoa Inc. and United Co. Rusal, had already cut back capacity through last year. Still, 1 million metric tons more, enough to supply Japan for six months, will probably be curtailed within a year, according to Macquarie Group Ltd.