The aluminium market mainly shrugged off the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control's (OFAC) long-awaited decision to remove sanctions imposed on producer UC Rusal on Sunday.
The market said the removal of sanctions had been expected and therefore is already priced into the premium levels. But Rusal's next move will remain a crucial key to how the market develops in the coming days. "Everybody is waiting for that first Rusal trade and if their numbers are excessively low. We don't know anything yet," a European trader said. "[The question is] how fast they resume deliveries, whoever wants those units, whether they need cash, how fast they move metal in the market," a producer added. The benchmark daily Rotterdam duty-unpaid premium was unchanged today at $70-75 per tonne. Market participants said it was too early for them to reassess their offers. "We knew this was coming. It was priced in and the premium is already low on the expectation they would...