The world prices for aluminum came to the rescue of Russian metallurgists accused of the First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov in the “fattening” of the state for 100 billion rubles, writes Kommersant.
Metal prices on the last week of June rose on the main stock exchanges of Europe, the USA and Japan. Aluminum rose more in price – on the London Marine Metal Exchange (LME) quotes of futures contracts with delivery in three months increased by 4.5 percent, to $ 2533 per ton.
At the same time, spot prices (with the condition of delivery for two trading days) exceed the cost of futures. The size of the premium in Europe is $ 220 per ton. One of the reasons for this situation was a limited proposal, which in turn is caused by high freight rates of vessels during transportation to European countries. Because of this, sellers prefer deliveries to other markets, and prices are growing at the preserving level of demand. The situation in which prices on the spot market exceed the quotes on urgent (futures, forwards and options) are called backfills and is usually uncharacteristic for the normal state of the markets.
Most of the supply of Russian companies accounts for abroad. So, 42 percent of the sales “Rusal” falls on Europe, 26 percent – to Asia, eight percent – to America and 24 percent – to Russia and the CIS. From August 1, export duties on nickel, aluminum, steel and some other metals will begin to operate in Russia.
Thus, the authorities expect to stop the rise in prices in the domestic market by increasing the offer on it. However, the rise in price of aluminum abroad can compensate for the growing income of exporters and stimulate them to continue delivery abroad.
The introduction of duties followed the statements of the first Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov, accusing Russian metallurgists in the “fattening” of the state for 100 billion rubles at the expense of successful conjuncture in world markets.