Aluminum Extends Retreat in Commodity News 19/03/2026 Aluminum futures in the UK fell below $3,360 per tonne, extending their retreat from a near four-year high as traders assess demand prospects amid ongoing conflict in Middle East. Analysts noted that demand from China, the world’s largest producer and consumer, still lags the previous year due to higher aluminum prices, even as operating rates among fabricators have picked up following the Lunar New Year holiday. Prices had surged this month after the US-Israeli strikes on Iran led to shutdowns and shipping disruptions in a region responsible for roughly 9% of global supply. Recently, Bahrain’s Alba, the world’s largest single-site aluminum producer, shutdown 19% of its 1.6 million tonne-a-year production capacity, while Qatar also halted part of its production due to natural gas shortages. Source: Trading Economics 2026-03-19 hellenicshippingnews... window.___gcfg = {lang: 'en-US'}; (function(w, d, s) { function go(){ var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0], load = function(url, id) { if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;} js = d.createElement(s); js.src = url; js.id = id; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }; load('//connect.facebook.net/en/all.js#xfbml=1', 'fbjssdk'); load('https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js', 'gplus1js'); load('//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js', 'tweetjs'); } if (w.addEventListener) { w.addEventListener("load", go, false); } else if (w.attachEvent) { w.attachEvent("onload",go); } }(window, document, 'script')); tweet Share