Chinese aluminium storms world

It's not just Chinese steel that is swamping world markets. Chinese aluminium exports have also shown strong growth in the first nine months of 2007.

Surging Chinese aluminium exports assume significance given the weakening trend of the non-ferrous metal on the London Metal Exchange.

For instance, China exported 1.439 million tonnes of aluminium products during the period, up 66 per cent year-on-year, according to data gathered from the official Xinhua news agency and analysts at foreign brokerage houses.

To curb its aluminium exports, the Chinese government had taken several measures over the last few months with little success.

Meanwhile, the LME price of the non-ferrous is currently at $2,443 a tonne, while the average aluminium price in the September 2007 quarter was $2,618 a tonne.

Domestic aluminium suppliers like Hindalco and Nalco are not only grappling with sluggish aluminium prices, coupled with a near 13 per cent rise in the rupee since the beginning of the year.

Meanwhile, aluminium inventories in Asia, including India, amounted to 337,000 tonnes in October 2007 as compared with 345,000 tonnes a year earlier, according to the global industry body International Aluminium Institute.