Macro front: Multiple EU countries are considering imposing additional tariffs on US goods worth 93 billion euros exported to Europe, or restricting US enterprises' access to the EU market, in retaliation for US President Trump's tariff hikes on eight European countries to acquire Greenland. Previously, Trump announced on social media that, starting February 1, a 10 per cent additional tariff would be imposed on goods from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands, and Finland exported to the US, with the tariff rate increasing to 25 per cent from June 1 until an agreement is reached on the US "comprehensive and thorough purchase of Greenland." (Bearish ★)
Fundamentals: Supply side, new aluminium projects in China and Indonesia continued to ramp up, with daily average production further increasing. Demand side, the overall weekly operating rate of downstream sectors remained relatively weak this week, but operating rates for primary alloy and aluminium plate/sheet, strip and foil saw a slight rebound. Some primary alloy enterprises began year-end stockpiling, providing rigid support for demand. For plate/sheet, strip and foil, downstream can stock and food packaging are in the peak consumption season, initiating pre-holiday stockpiling. However, high prices continued to suppress demand, and amid the traditional off-season, the proportion of liquid aluminium in aluminium production continued its downward trend this week, down 0.21 percentage points M-o-M, with no significant improvement in fundamentals. Inventory side, according to SMM statistics, aluminium ingot inventory in mainstream consumption areas recorded 749,000 tonnes this Monday, an increase of 13,000 tonnes compared to last Thursday.
