ALUMINIUM-Major market developments in November

LONDON, Dec 8 - Aluminium prices continue to defy the market's weak fundamentals for now, but at some point prices will correct lower, some analysts say. "How the imbalance between supply and demand is going to be rectified is a moot point, but at some point it will have to be," said independent consultant Angus MacMillan. In the meantime, though, he said the technical picture suggested prices could make further headway in December. At 1206 GMT the London Metal Exchange three-months price was indicated at $2,171/81 a tonne. Will Adams of Basemetals.com said $1,900 was a "better" price for aluminium. He added that he was looking for a general downwards correction in equities and metals, as well as a stronger U.S. dollar. A stronger U.S. currency makes dollar-priced metals more expensive for non-U.S. investors. Nikos Kavalis, senior analyst at GFMS Consulting said he did not see metals prices materially weakening, with LME benchmark contract copper leading the pack. Below are some of the more significant recent developments in production, stocks and prices that may influence the direction of the market in the rest of 2009 and into 2010. PRODUCTION: Nov 30 - Aluminium production at Alcoa Inc's Portovesme plant in Sardinia is continuing at normal rates despite worker protests, union sources said. Normal annual production at the plant is 159,000 tonnes of aluminium. The workforce, which is protesting against the possible closure of the Portovesme plant, is working regularly at the factory. In November Alcoa said it would temporarily idle operations at its smelters in Italy after the European Commission ordered it to pay back most of the state aid it had received in Italy since 2006. Alcoa has set a deadline of Dec. 21 to know how much power will cost it in 2010. On the basis of that it will take a decision on whether to stay in Italy. [ID:nGEE5AT2FZ] Nov 28 - New capacity is expected to boost China's production of primary aluminium by 24.7 percent on the year to 17 million tonnes in 2010, according to state-backed research group Antaike. This would be a big rise compared with a 0.2 percent increase expected this year. [ID:nSP430055] Nov 27 - Lanzhou Liancheng Aluminium, controlled by Aluminum Corporation of China , is about to get a deal to buy electricity directly from a power producer, a planning director at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said. If approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, Liancheng will be the second aluminium smelter under a central government scheme to allow 15 aluminium smelters to buy power directly from plants. [ID:nHKG373390] The scheme, monitored by MIIT and launched in the first half of this year, is expected to cut aluminium smelters' power costs. But so far the NDRC has only approved Fushun Aluminium. [ID:nPEK146475] Nov 24 - A strike over wages and job cuts has stopped output at Aroima, Guyana's largest bauxite mine, a subsidiary of Russian aluminum company RUSAL, the leader of the union involved in the dispute said. He said workers were resisting pressure by the company to accept 75 layoffs in return for a 10 percent wage increase for the remaining workers. The mine is the fourth largest supplier of bauxite to the United States. The union official said there was no immediate end in sight to the strike, which began on Nov. 22. [ID:nGEE5AN0FA] Nov 23 - Alcoa Inc, which said it will idle its two smelters in Italy in a dispute over state subsidies and power supplies, will keep producing aluminium at the plants for about a month, the company said. Production at the smelters in Fusina and Portovesme will then be curtailed as the company seeks to resolve the issues with the European Commission. [ID:nN23268910] Nov 21 - Rio Tinto's aluminium operation in Cameroon has secured a 30-year power supply contract with the government but electricity costs have doubled and output from the Edea smelter will fall due to cuts in power consumption, Rio said. Rio Tinto Alcan is a partner with Cameroon's government in Alucam, an aluminium smelting operation that had already slashed output by nearly 40 percent from its 90,000 tonne capacity in 2009 due to power shortages. [ID:nLL43790] Nov 20 - Daily average primary aluminium output rose to 63,400 tonnes in October from a revised 63,200 tonnes in September, provisional figures from the International Aluminium Institute showed. Total production in October was 1.966 million tonnes compared with a revised 1.897 million tonnes in September. Total production in October 2008 was 2.187 million tonnes. Primary aluminium production in China rose to 1.294 million tonnes in October from 1.219 million tonnes in September and 1.106 million tonnes in October last year. [ID:nLK624547] Nov 18 - Century Aluminum Co plans to restart construction at its Helguvik greenfield smelter project in Iceland and to produce its first metal at the plant by early 2012, a company official said. [ID:nN18113545]