Alcoa optimistic about aluminium price

Alcoa, which is moving to sell its stake in Jamalco, is depending on an aluminum deficit to help its stock price continue the nearly 50-percent increase it’s seen so far this year.

Prices for the metal have risen about 10 per cent in 2014, and analysts predict a global aluminum deficit will correct years of  market saturation.

Aluminum’s good fortune has come as the automobile market has turned its attention to utilizing the light metal for producing cars.

Alcoa, which accounts for 7% of  the world’s aluminum output, has placed an emphasis on cutting production to help offset the surplus.

News came in June that Alcoa will pull out of  Jamaica within two years and sell its mining interests to Noble Group.

Alcoa has a 55 per cent stake in Jamalco, with the remaining 45 per cent held by the Government through its holding company Clarendon Alumina Production.

The plant is managed by Alcoa.