Aluminium cancelled warrants on the LME surged by 32,000 tonnes to 42,850 tonnes, the highest since early June, marking the largest daily increase since January. Despite the pickup, cancellations remain just 9% of total inventories amid sluggish physical demand, while on-warrant stocks fell sharply and prices touched $2,625/t, ING's commodity experts Ewa Manthey and Warren Patterson note.

Aluminium prices firm as inventories edge higher

"The latest LME data shows that Aluminium cancelled warrants rose by 32,000 tons to 42,850 tons yesterday, the highest level since 5 June 2025. This was the biggest intraday addition reported since 7 January 2025. The majority of the cancellations come from Malaysian warehouses."

"However, cancelled warrants now only account for roughly 9% of total LME inventories, compared to 54% at the start of the year, primarily due to weak physical demand during the first two quarters of the year."

"Meanwhile, on-warrant inventories for Aluminium decreased by 31,400 tons to 442,425 tons, while total inventories increased by 600 tons to 485,275 tons (the highest since 20 March 2025) as of yesterday. LME Aluminium 3m prices rose to the intraday highs of $2,625/t as of yesterday, following the surge in requests to withdraw inventories from the exchange."