Aluminum prices hit a 9-1/2-year high on Tuesday, as supply concerns rose after an aluminum hub in top consumer China ordered power cuts and output curbs.
The Chinese city of Baotou in Inner Mongolia ordered some shutdowns in a bid to meet its energy consumption targets for the first quarter.
“This could translate to a 100,000-tonne annual aluminum output reduction,” CRU analyst Wan Ling told Reuters.
Aluminum for delivery in June was down 1.27% on Tuesday, after futures touched $2.245 a tonne on the Comex market in New York.
The most-traded April aluminum contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange climbed as much as 2.6% to 17,980 yuan ($2,766.15) a tonne, a level unseen since August 2011, before easing to close up 0.6% at 17,630 yuan a tonne.
The three-month aluminum on the London Metal Exchange advanced as much as 0.4% to $2,227 a tonne…
