The Iran war is escalating again but you wouldn't know it from the aluminum price.
Damage to two Gulf smelters and constrained logistics at others have already blown a 2-million-metric-ton hole in the global supply chain.
But after surging to a four-year high of US$3,787.50 per tonne in early June, London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month aluminum is now trading around $3,170 per tonne, which is exactly where it was before the United States unleashed its "Operation Epic Fury" — joint strikes with Israel on Iran — on Feb. 28.
So where did the war premium go?
And is the market right to be so relaxed about the unprecedented supply hit to what both Washington and Brussels view as a critical metal?
