March 30 (Reuters) – Aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange jumped 6% to close in on four-year highs on Monday after the Middle East’s two largest producers of the metal sustained damage from Iranian attacks over the weekend.
Benchmark LME three-month aluminium rose to $3,492 per metric ton, the highest since March 19, at the start of trading as Gulf smelters Emirates Global Aluminium and Aluminium Bahrain assess damage to their facilities from the strikes.
A break above $3,546.50 from March 12 would open the way to peaks last seen during the depth of the Covid era in 2022.
Aluminium Bahrain, which runs one of the world’s largest smelters, said on Sunday it was assessing the damage following Iranian strikes on the facility.
Two employees at Aluminium Bahrain were hurt in Saturday’s attack, the state-controlled company said, while regional peer Emirates Global Aluminium’s site sustained significant damage from missile and drone strikes the same day.
Most Gulf aluminium producers, which account for about 9% of global supply, have been unable to ship to world markets via their normal channels since the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran began due to Tehran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
EGA is the Middle East’s largest producer of the metal and Alba operates the world’s largest single-site smelter.
Shares in Australian-listed alumina producers also rallied, with Rio Tinto up more than 2 percent and South32 up almost 7 percent.
(Reporting by Tom Daly and Melanie Burton; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Jonathan Oatis)
