24 Feb 2020 | 22:06 UTC — New York
US aluminum premium futures stronger on continued spread activity
Highlights
AUP Total volume was 5,311 lots, or 132,775 mt last week. Open Interest finished the up at 29,251 lots, up 2,874 from February 14.
The spot to six-months spread settled at 0.848 cent/lb contango, as H2 2020 was bid higher on continued spreading into late 2020 and tightening Q3-Q4/Calendar 2021 spreads.
The cash to three-months spread on the London Metal Exchange settled at a $23.25/mt contango on Monday.
Cash/December 2020 spread settled at $73.50/mt contango
New York — CME Group's AUP Midwest aluminum premium forward curve found support through the second half of 2020 in the two weeks ending Monday, as the market sees some risk appetite and hedging to the upside for further into 2020 and into 2021.
The swap futures contracts trade on CME Globex and CME Clearport and settle on a monthly basis, based on the Platts US Aluminum Transaction premium.
On February 21 the US Midwest premium rose 0.15 cents/lb to 13.75 cents/lb on higher trader bid levels.
The February monthly average sits at 13.577 cents/lb and the monthly transaction price average for February was 90.231 cents/lb as of Friday's close.
The February contract settled at 13.62 cents/lb on Monday, up 0.12 cent/lb during the last two weeks.
March contract held steady at 14 cents/lb, with 257 lots trading during the two week period.
The second quarter strip moved up 0.30 cent/lb, holding above 14.40 cents/lb during the same period, with 1,379 lots trading.
The April-December strip traded up to 14.70 cents/lb, settling above 14.50 cents/lb on Monday and up over 0.30 cent/lb on the week, with 3,866 lots trading.
First quarter 2021 strip traded up to 14.65 cents/lb, with 180 lots trading.
Spread and rolling activity was seen during the week. Spreads within first half 2020 have been trading flat. second-quarter 2020/first quarter/second quarter 2021 spreads trading around 0.25 cent/lb contango.
Second-half 2020/second-half 2021 spread tightened on the week trading flat, 120 lots.
The front part of the curve is still seeing some weakness with April-May 2020/second quarter 2021 trading 0.25 contango, 180 lots.