Aluminum on Thursday hit a record-high price after key producer Russia launched a military attack on neighboring Ukraine.
The industrial lightweight metal jumped as high as $3,382.50 per tone, beating the previous peak of $3,380.15 reached in July 2008 during the global financial crisis.
Aluminum, used in a variety of items including drinks cans and aircraft components, later pulled back to $3,372.50 per tone on the London Metal Exchange.
“The rise of the aluminum price was to be expected once Russia attacked Ukraine,” Commerzbank analyst Daniel Briesemann told AFP.
“Market participants clearly fear that aluminum supply from Russia will be affected in case of severe sanctions by the West and probably retaliatory measures by Russia.”
The base metal was already trading at elevated levels owing to stretched global supplies of the base metal, particularly from China.