Reports of Guinea unrest send aluminium prices to 10-year high

Guinea is a key supplier of bauxite, aluminiums raw material, markets are concerned about potential supply disruptions.

Aluminum climbed to the highest in more than a decade as political unrest in Guinea fueled concerns over supply of the raw material needed to make the metal. A unit of the military seized power and suspended the constitution, with head of special forces, Colonel Mamady Doumbouya, urging the army to back him. That rattled global aluminum markets Monday — prices in London notched a fresh 10-year high and futures in China climbed to the highest since 2006 — as the political instability raises the possibility of disruptions to bauxite shipments from the key global supplier. Aluminum has climbed about 40% this year in London as massive global stimulus measures stoked demand just as smelters in China, the biggest producer, struggled to maintain output during a seasonal power crunch and Beijing sought to rein in the country’s carbon emissions. Bauxite is the feedstock used to make alumina, which is further processed into aluminum, and Guinea accounts for more than half of all of Chinese imports.