Aluminum Price

Aluminum graphs and tables

Aluminum belongs to the base metals. Because investors can now buy aluminum for a cheap price and give it out slowly, entrepeneurs pay higher buying prices. The market is actually moving daily, which can make the price of aluminum shift all the time.

How does the aluminum price work

Globally the aluminum market has to do with a larger demand than supply. This has a negative effect on the price. According to an analysis of the Dutch bank ING, this price supression and can stay for a while.

Because of lower aluminum prices, a lot of production stops as well. And if we look at the world economy, there is a positive effect of the Chinese market visible. In other words: The Chinese economy seems to be climbing back to the days before Covid. Next to that the central banks from the US, China and Europe do back it up. This is a good thing for the markets. The aluminum prices will recover, is the prediction of financial experts. Besides supply and demand, the market and world economy are influencing the height of the price of aluminum.

How does the exact aluminum price work? This is noted in the London Metal Exchange, LME for short. The price there forms the basis for price calculations that enterprises who use aluminum in their products use. It is good to know that the LME calculates aluminum in the price of US Dollars per 1.000 kilogram. LME calls this the settlement price. This official selling price forms the base for contracts.

Production countries of aluminum

The main producer of aluminum is China. With over 3.9 million tonnes of aluminum in 2017, China is the largest producer. China lets all the other production countries way behind them. The chinese market is all about aluminum, from soda cans to cars and anything in between. The chinese government subsidizes producing aluminum heavily, which benefits the demand for the production of aluminum in China heavily.

The third biggest country that produces aluminum is Australia. It has a huge advantage in comparison to other producing countries. In the inland the biggest amounts of quartz on the planet can be found. Because of this quartz, Australia can produce a huge amount of aluminum. And that is a big advantage in consideration to number 2, Russia.

There was a time whree Russia was the biggest country where aluminum was produced. Russia is still a large player on the production market. In 2014 it proced 3.5 million tonnes of aluminum. Mostly because the aluminum company United Company Rusal governs multiple aluminum enterprises, Russia has a florishing production of aluminum. There are 2 folio walses and 6 aluminum companies in Russia. This offers a huge amount of employment opportunity for the people.

Facts about aluminum

Aluminum is the only material which can be recycled limitlessly, without degrading in quality or breaking. It is also very easily and fast to recycle. This makes this metal fit into a sustainable future.

Per minute, every day 105.800 cans of aluminum are recycled. The United States joins this trend very well, last year it recycled as many aluminum cans to be able to travel to the moon and back 8 times.

Aluminum is not a material that can be dug up from earth. Aluminum is gained from bauxiet, in bauxiet we can aluminumoxide, from which aluminum is made.

The nickname for aluminum is “King among metals”. In the early days, getting aluminum from bauxiet was quite a job. In the 19th century, for a while, aluminum was the most valuable metal available. Even more valuable than gold or silver. An example from history is Napoelon. He gave his important guests food, only on aluminum plates. Because the production process has become a lot more simple, the aluminum price is also a lot cheaper than before.

At the moment aluminum is the most common metal in the world. Abotu 8% of earth’s crust exists out of aluminum. Economically aluminum is a metal we cannot miss. Aluminum is light, does not erode and does not waiver (besides tension corrosion). Even in household appliances, camping gear like antennas and construction (like doors and window sills), ladders, furniture and even food coloring contains aluminum. Aluminum is very versatile.

In the production of Teslas a lot of aluminum is used as well! Aluminum is a great conductor. It can be in contact with a powerful magnet and create its own floating electricity. This follows with a reverse magnetic field. Because it does not spark and shapes easily, the car industry loves to work with this metal. In aviation and aerospace engineering a lot of aluminum is used as well. The production of aluminum keeps growing and there will be a demand for a long time.

History of aluminum

In ancient times, people used aluminum in medical sciences already. Bleeds were stopped using aluminum. The discovery of aluminum is granted to Humphry Davy. In 1807 he discovered that you can create aluminum from aluminumoxide. The production just was not complete yet back then. 18 years later in 1825, Hans Christiaan created an unpure form of aluminum through aluminumchloride and potassiumamalgame.

This started the era of high aluminum prices. The process and gaining of aluminum was a timely and big job. Only in 1886 the production of aluminum was possible on a larger scale. This is because of the Hall-Heroult process.

What exchange trades aluminum

The price of aluminum is settled at the exchange of non-ferro metals. This is in London. The full name of this exchange is London Metal Exchange. For buyers and suppliers this is also known as the abbreviation LME.

Aluminum and the future

The future is hard to predict. Looking at the world, we can see that aluminum is present everywhere. Because of its great recyclability it is also very sustainable. We also started succeeding in making the production process faster and simpler throughout the years. The expectation is that aluminum is a metal that can be used in a large scale in the future as well.

A recap of the aluminum price of 2021

In 2021 we saw that the price of aluminum at a high level for the first time since 2008. This was an increase of a little under 2 percent. We did notice though, that from april the price was increasing. After the raw materials prices dropped for a bit, but that was only a short time. In all of 2021 this raw material even gotten 90% more expensive. The biggest cause was the coup in Guinea. They make the raw material bauxiet where we eventually create aluminum out of.

This is what will happen in the future

A short while ago the Dutch bank ING has done research to the aluminum price and what to expect in 2022. Research shows that they expect an increase of even 8% this year. Of course the numbers are relative, because we only are at the beginning of the year, but it could be that this percentage is even higher than what they think. This has to do with the higher prices of energy. Aluminum has to be made out of bauxiet and there is a lot of power needed to do so.

Aluminum is mostly coming from China and there we see an increasing problem in supply. This is because the cities lockdown due to corona at the slightest hint of an infection. This also causes the factories to close down necessarily. The Chinese factories also hope that they are compensated for the higher costs they are making, but that is unclear until now.