FILE PHOTO: Pure aluminium ingots are seen stored at the foundry shop of the Rusal Krasnoyarsk aluminium smelter in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, Russia November 9, 2017. REUTERS
LONDON: Aluminium hit its lowest in nearly two weeks on Tuesday, extending declines from the previous day after Washington gave U.S. companies more time to comply with sanctions on Russian producer Rusal and hinted at further sanctions relief.
Washington gave Americans until Oct. 23, instead of June 5, to wind down business with Rusal and said it would consider lifting sanctions if Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska ceded control of the company.
"We should be getting use to the fact that Trump has a lot of bark and less bite. We've seen it with a lot of policies. He introduces them, markets react, then he backtracks or nothing comes of it or they get delayed," said William Adams, head of research at Fastmarkets.
"Aluminium is going to remain volatile depending on how the sanctions play out, but at the end of the day $2,200 is not a bad price for aluminium ... until we see evidence of stronger global economic growth."
The metal rallied to its highest since mid-2011 last week at $2,718 a tonne on fears that the global market could face shortages because of the sanctions on Rusal, which last year accounted for more than 6 percent of global aluminium output.
* LME ALUMINIUM: Three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange was down 1.9 percent at $2,251.50 a tonne by 1024 GMT, having touched $2,213 a tonne, its lowest since April 12. The price had dropped by 7.1 percent on Monday in its biggest one-day decline in eight years.
* ALUMINIUM PREMIUMS: "This (U.S. sanctions reprieve) certainly removed some of the acute tightness from the aluminium market, however ... raw material constraint persists," said BMO Capital Markets in a note. The U.S aluminium premium on Comex was at a three-year high of 21.5 cents per pound ($474 a tonne) on Monday.
* ALUMINIUM DEMAND: Consumption of aluminium in China, the world's top user, will increase by 7-9 percent this year and next, an executive at Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco) said on Tuesday.
* NICKEL PRICE: Nickel was up 0.4 percent at $14,315 a tonne after a 3.8 percent fall on Monday. The metal hit a three-year high on April 19 on fears that sanctions might be extended to major producer Nornickel, a company linked with both Rusal and Deripaska.
* NICKEL EXPORTS: The Philippines' top nickel ore producer, Nickel Asia Corp, said its export plans in 2018 remain unchanged despite government plans to limit mining areas. - Reuters
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