Aluminium resumes rally after Rio Tinto force majeure

LONDON, April 16 (Reuters) – Aluminium prices touched a new six-year high on Monday on supply concerns after Rio Tinto said on Friday it would declare force majeure on some of its customer contracts following U.S. sanctions on its partner Rusal. Benchmark aluminium on the London Metal Exchange rose 2.4 percent to $2,348 per tonne by 0958 GMT, its highest since March 2012. “Aluminium keeps gaining since we are likely to get force majeures declared by other traders since Russia’s Rusal was one of the world’s largest producer,” said Commerzbank head of commodities research Eugen Weinberg. Rio Tinto also said it was reviewing Rusal’s 20 percent stake in the Queensland Alumina refinery, Rusal’s supply and offtake arrangements, bauxite sales to Rusal’s refinery in Ireland and offtake contracts for alumina. GLENCORE: Swiss trader Glencore will declare force majeure on some aluminium supply, a source told Reuters on Wednesday. STOCKS: Total stocks of aluminium rose 15,100 tonnes to 1.4 million tonnes. Total stocks are up 9 percent since the start of the Rusal sanctions on April 6. LME: The LME will suspend Rusal’s aluminium from its list of approved brands from April 17 after some members raised concerns about settling LME contracts with companies facing sanctions. SPREADS: The premium of cash to the three-month contract on the LME was at $52 a tonne on Thursday, its highest in at least a decade, but nearly evaporated by Monday to above $6.  U.S. PREMIUMS: The U.S aluminium premium on Comex was at 21.1 cents per pound ($465 a tonne) on Friday, close to its highest in three years. CHINA ALUMINIUM: China’s top steelmaking city of Tangshan is enacting a series of emergency measures to tackle a bout of foul air expected to blanket the city and the surrounding Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region from Monday, a municipal official told Reuters. SHFE ALUMINIUM: The most-traded June aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed up 0.9 percent at 14,625 yuan ($2,327) a tonne. It earlier touched its highest since Feb. 12. * CHINA GDP: China likely carried most of its strong economic momentum from last year into the first quarter of 2018, with government crackdowns on financial risks and industrial pollution dragging less on activity than earlier expected, a Reuters poll showed. * COPPER: Three-month copper on the LME gained 0.3 percent to $6,852.50 a tonne, zinc rose 0.45 percent to $3,130.50 a tonne, lead climbed 0.4 percent to $2,313.50 and nickel added 2 percent to a two-month high of $14,220 tonnes.