World's Largest Non-Chinese Alumina Refinery Hit by Natural Gas Disruption, 50% Output Cut Pushes Aluminum Prices to Seven-Week High
Nashnova编辑部
Brazil's Alunorte refinery halved output after a natural-gas supply cut, pushing London aluminum up nearly 2% to $3,373 per tonne — a seven-week high — while exchange inventories sit at a 35-year low.
Why can one plant move global aluminum prices?
Alunorte, owned by Norway's Norsk Hydro, is the world's single largest alumina refinery — 6.3 million tonnes of annual capacity and the biggest alumina plant outside China.
Alumina refining runs on the Bayer process — dissolving bauxite ore in hot caustic solution, then evaporating and calcining the result into alumina powder. Every step needs steam and furnace heat, both fueled by natural gas.
In plain terms = no gas means no steam and no furnace temperature. The plant had no choice but to cut output by half.
How tight are aluminum inventories?
LME warehouse aluminum stocks have fallen to 250,000 tonnes — the lowest since November 1990, a 35-year low.
This means → the market has almost no buffer. Any major plant curtailment gets priced in immediately.
Hydro had already warned that sustained shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz could push the global aluminum supply deficit past 900,000 tonnes per year. The Alunorte curtailment widens that gap further.
Aluminum and copper rallying together — what does it signal?
London aluminum rose nearly 2% to $3,373/t, a seven-week high. Shanghai alumina futures also gained about 1%.
At the same time, London copper broke above $14,000/t. Traders are rushing metal into the U.S. ahead of expected Trump tariffs, effectively tightening copper supply for the rest of the world.
This reflects a simultaneous squeeze on two core industrial metals. Higher aluminum and copper prices feed directly into electrification and energy-transition costs — from grid-grade aluminum wire to copper cables and transformers.
What to watch next?
Hydro says Alunorte will ramp back to full capacity once gas supply is restored — but has given no timeline.
Two near-term variables: when Brazilian gas supply comes back online + whether Strait of Hormuz shipping faces further disruption.
In plain terms = two supply risks are stacked on top of each other — an immediate gas outage and an unresolved shipping bottleneck. If either drags on, aluminum prices have room to keep climbing.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.