LONDON (Reuters) – Total aluminium stocks in London Metal Exchange-registered warehouses rose by 88% to 903,850 metric tons on Thursday, their highest level since January 2022, daily LME data showed on Friday.
Inventories have been subject to so-called rent share deals, sources said last month, with traders taking Russian-made aluminium from the warehouses and returning it at a later date to profit from rule changes.
Total aluminium stocks rose on Thursday as 425,575 tons were deposited in Port Klang in Malaysia, the daily LME data showed. The data also showed reverse net fresh cancellations of 137,050 tons in the same location.
The scale of the growth in one day is unusual with one of the traders calling it “insane”.
The LME did not immediately reply to a Reuters’ request for comment.
Benchmark three-month aluminium prices dropped slightly after the data before stabilising. The metal was last up 0.2% at $2,567.5 per ton.
(Reporting by Polina Devitt; editing by Jason Neely)
