25.06.201406:34:20UTC+00Decreasing supply causes aluminum prices to soar

Aluminum continued to rise in value in metal commodity markets today and eventually achieved its greatest price in two weeks.

The metal is currently enjoying a span of three consecutive days where it has closed at a higher value than where it initially opened. Its overall performance has been on the gaining side as it has increased by 7% so far in this quarter. Should this trend continue, it will mark its first quarterly gain since September of last year.

Futures contracts with a delivery date of September for a metric ton of aluminum climbed by 0.8% to wind up with a value of $1,912 in the London Metals Exchange.

A large contributor to its rise is the persistent drop in stockpile volumes which has steadily gone down for the past 21 days. The current stockpile amount of 5.07 million tons is the lowest it has been since November 2012. At the same time, the number of orders received by the LME to transport the metal from storage, also known as cancelled warrants, went to a record high.

This high number of cancelled warrants signified that a decreased amount of aluminum will be left for use in the market and drove up its  price. Another possible factor could be investors who bet on lower prices closing their positions in a hurry.

Other metals such as zinc and nickel rose in value as well on the LME.