The share of available Russian-origin aluminium stocks in London Metal Exchange warehouses rose to almost 100% in September from 95% in August, exchange data showed on Wednesday, leaving only a tiny amount of Indian metal as an alternative.
Total available, or on-warrant, aluminium inventories 6.5% to 226,675 metric tons at the end of last month, the lowest since March 2025, as conflict in the Middle East tightens global supply.
Available Russian aluminium stocks fell by 3,425 tons to 226,625 tons last month, but their share of total rose to 99.98% as Indian stocks, the only other origin material available, dropped by 12,400 tons to just 50 tons.
Many traders have shunned Russian metal even though material produced before April 13, 2024, remains eligible for trading. Aluminium made in Russia after that date was barred from the LME warehousing system to comply with Western sanctions.
“We’ve got to a place where I think the market has accepted that the (aluminium) stocks are where they are at this very low level and the quantity that is in there isn’t really wanted,” StoneX senior metals analyst Natalie Scott-Gray said on a webinar on Wednesday.
“It’s going to take time for these stocks actually to start to increase. If we look at even the queues for materials or cancelled warrants, there’s not a lot of orders for it.”
Meanwhile, the share of Chinese-made copper in available LME copper stocks fell to 28% at the end of September from 44% the previous month.
Total available copper stocks rose to 131,450 tons from 111,175 tons at the end of August as a drop in the arbitrage to ship metal to the US COMEX exchange incentivised more deliveries on to the LME.
The volume of available Chinese copper fell by 12,125 tons to 37,275 tons, while volumes from Chile and Democratic Republic of Congo increased.
The share of Chinese-origin nickel edged down to 69% of available LME stocks at the end of September from 70% the prior month.
(Reporting by Tom Daly; Editing by Alexander Smith)
