© Archyde.com / Ivan Alvarado
File image of a train carrying copper cathodes leaves the Chuquicamata mine and smelter for a port in northern Chile.
By Pratima Desai
LONDON, April 11 (Archyde.com) – Aluminum prices fell to their lowest level in more than three weeks on Monday, as COVID-19 lockdowns in top consumer China fueled concerns about a slowdown in demand for industrial metals, while copper also fell.
* Benchmark aluminum on the London Metal Exchange (LME) fell 4.1% to $3,235 a tonne. The metal used in transportation, packaging and construction sank earlier to $3,221, the lowest level since March 17.
* “Some investors may choose to take profits, at a time when the COVID restrictions affect the demand for aluminum in China,” said ING analyst Wenyu Yao.
* China is also the world’s largest aluminum producer, with almost 58% of global supplies, estimated at almost 68 million tonnes last year
* “Total social inventories – almost all reportable inventories in China – have started to rise, weighing heavily on confidence,” Yao said.
* China has imposed lockdowns to contain the spread of the omicron variant of the coronavirus in places like Jilin province and Shanghai, where the factories of major automakers and their suppliers are located.
* Meanwhile, nickel fell 4.2% to $32,440 a tonne, while copper fell 1.4% to $10,177 a tonne.
* Zinc rose 0.6% to $4,282 a tonne. Prices for the metal used to galvanize steel have been buoyed by production cuts in Europe due to record energy prices, as well as significant shortages.
(Reporting by Pratima Desai. Edited in Spanish by Javier Leira)