Aluminum prices, already rising before the conflict, have gained further as traders and buyers focus on the potential for tighter markets and shrinking global inventories.
Planes, iPhones, soda cans, electric cars and appliances, aluminium is key to modern life and the global economy. It is trading at a three-year high, near $2,900 per metric ton.
Russian metal is largely still flowing around the world. Many traders and fabricators who buy from them are tied in to pre-existing purchase deals that can extend over years.
Kumar Mangalam Birla’s Hindalco will kick off long-term downstream investment plan by setting up 34,000-ton aluminum extrusion project. Production is expected to start in 2 years.
A circular economy can reduce emissions from production of key materials by 40 per cent. Aluminium, an infinitely recyclable material, can help in this transition.
If successful, its exit would mark the first observed passage by an India-linked tanker since a weeks-old US blockade of ships tied to Iran began, pushing Hormuz transits to nearly zero.
Historically, and instinctively, India has seen threats emerging from the west and the north, from Pakistan and China. The east has received less attention.
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