METALS-Shanghai aluminium touches over 9-yr high on Chinese supply concerns

Updates prices, adds quotes

By Mai Nguyen

HANOI, March 16 (Reuters) - Shanghai aluminium prices hit a 9-1/2-year high on Tuesday, as supply concerns rose after an aluminium hub in top consumer China ordered power cuts and output curbs.

The Chinese city of Baotou in Inner Mongolia, a major aluminium producing region, ordered some shutdowns in a bid to meet its energy consumption targets for the first quarter. nL1N2LD0SY

CRU analyst Wan Ling said this could translate to a 100,000-tonne annual aluminium output reduction.

The most-traded April aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SAFcv1 climbed as much as 2.6% to 17,980 yuan ($2,767.90) a tonne, a level unseen since August 2011.

The three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange CMAL3 advanced as much as 0.4% to $2,227 a tonne.

"Figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics pointed to strong aluminium production in China over the first two months," ING analysts said, referring to an 8.4% annual rise in China's aluminium output in the first two months of 2021. nL1N2LD03R

"However, investors appear to be more forward-looking, and instead focused on the ongoing production curtailments in Inner Mongolia," they added.

FUNDAMENTALS

* Aluminium inventories in LME warehouses MALSTX-TOTAL were hovering around their highest since March 2017, while stockpiles in ShFE warehouses AL-STX-SGH hit a high level unseen since April 2020 last week, latest data showed.

* LME cash aluminium was at a $25.25 discount to the three-month contract CMAL0-3, suggesting abundant supply.

* The spread between LME and ShFE aluminium cash prices LMESHFALc0 was last at $246.13 a tonne, hovering near its highest since July 2020 of $267.50 a tonne.

* LME copper CMCU3 fell 0.5% to $9,102.50 a tonne at 0514 GMT and nickel CMNI3 dropped 0.6% to $16,120 a tonne. The ShFE tin contract SSNcv1 declined 1% to 175,120 yuan a tonne and ShFE copper SCFcv1 was down 0.2% to 67,410 yuan a tonne.

* For the top stories in metals and other news, click TOP/MTL or MET/L

($1 = 6.4959 yuan)

(Reporting by Mai Nguyen; Editing by Uttaresh.V and Ramakrishnan M.)

((mai.nguyen@thomsonreuters.com; +842438259623; Reuters Messaging: mai.nguyen.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

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