War pushes fragile aluminium markets to the brink of disaster

Six months ago, US investment bank Citi warned that aluminium markets were “sleepwalking into the biggest deficit in 20 years” as China fast approached its self-imposed annual production cap of 45 million tonnes.

The mandate has been a ticking time bomb since it was introduced in 2017 to curb overcapacity and cut emissions. China first hit that production ceiling last year, which raised questions about whether the rest of the world could step in to meet demand for the metal that is used in everything from aircraft and cars to food packaging and solar panels.

Source: https://www.afr.com/markets/commodities/war-pushes-fragile-aluminium-markets-to-the-brink-of-disaster-20260331-p5zk4c