Aluminum Stockpiles Have Longest Drop in Six Years Led by Asia

Aluminum inventories extended their longest decline to six years led by removals in Asia.

Aluminum inventories in warehouses monitored by the London Metal Exchange fell 10,000 metric tons, or 0.2 percent, to 4.52 million tons, the lowest since Jan. 31. That was the 24th consecutive drop, the longest streak since March 14, 2005. Inventories had climbed to a record on May 18.

“The current reshuffling of aluminum stocks between LME warehouses, particularly in the U.S., could interfere slightly with readings of the state of ‘apparent’ demand over the coming months,” Citigroup Inc. analyst David Thurtell said in a report today.

Annual growth in “apparent” aluminum demand jumped to almost 11 percent last month from 7 percent in April, Thurtell wrote in the report. Alcoa Inc. (AA) said three days ago it won a multiyear agreement valued at $1 billion to supply aluminum to Airbus SAS.

Stockpiles have dropped 3.9 percent since May 24, with inventories down 6.1 percent in Asia over the same period, according to exchange figures. Stockpiles in the U.S. are down 3.7 percent.

Aluminum inventories had climbed to a record 4.71 million tons on May 18. Bottlenecks in the U.S. warehousing system prompted the LME to consider a proposal to increase the amount of metal that has to be delivered from the biggest stockpiles.