(May 15): Aluminium stockpiles held in London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses climbed to the highest since 2021 after a second big delivery into warehouses in Port Klang in a matter of days.

The huge influx of aluminium into the LME in the past week is fuelling fears of a new round of trading games and a potential queue if that metal is in turn cancelled and buyers look to withdraw it from the exchange.

Exchange inventories rose by 15% to 1.03 million tonnes on Tuesday, following an even bigger increase on Friday. Three-month aluminium futures were little changed at US$2,545 (RM12,047) a tonne by 5.03pm local time on the LME.

In other metals, copper fell 0.9% to US$10,091 a tonne, after earlier touching a two-year high earlier. Prices have defied typical indicators of soft demand, especially in China. That’s partly because investors see tight mine supply creating a shortfall of the metal as early as this year.

“Investors are pricing beyond near-term cyclical uncertainty and weakness in physical demand indicators,” Citigroup Inc. analysts said in a note. The bank sees copper climbing to US$10,500 a tonne in the near term amid a “looming tightening” of supply.

Zinc and nickel retreated on the LME on Tuesday, while tin climbed 1.4%.