Aluminium snaps 7-session rally as EGA confirms smelter recovery timeline

Aluminium prices snapped a seven-session rally on Wednesday after major producer Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) reaffirmed it would resume full-scale production at its war-damaged smelter in the first quarter of 2027. Benchmark three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange was down 0.65% at $3,342 a metric ton by 0700 GMT. It was nonetheless up 4.7% since the rally started on August 3. The most-traded aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange was 0.43% higher at 24,285 yuan ($3,600.18) a ton. Earlier in the session it touched 24,470 yuan a ton, its highest in nearly 10 weeks. EGA's large Al Taweelah smelter in Abu Dhabi was damaged after Iranian strikes in March, forcing an emergency shutdown. In its earnings call for the first half of the year, EGA said the facility would reach pre-incident hot metal production volumes in the first quarter of 2027, in line with its July announcement. Disruption to aluminium supply from the Middle East, which accounts for 9% of the world's smelting capacity, has led to an expected supply deficit this year. Total stocks of the light metal in LME-registered warehouses are at their lowest levels this century. Elsewhere, copper edged up as a temporary shutdown at the major Smelting Gresik smelter in Indonesia added to the pressure on global red metal supply. The red metal was up 0.26% on the LME and up 0.4% on the SHFE. Copper has been supported by supply concerns and sinking inventories. Outflows to the U.S. ahead of a potential tariff on imports of the metal have brought available stocks in LME warehouses to their lowest since January. Among other LME metals, zinc gained 0.9%, lead dipped 0.05%, nickel ticked 0.09% higher and tin gained 0.64%. On the SHFE zinc gained 0.86%, lead added 0.28%, nickel dipped 0.23% and tin gained 1.4%.