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Aluminum is one of the most abundant metals in the world, often mined from bauxite ore. The main end users of base metals include the following sectors: transportation and construction. Together, these two sectors account for almost half of the market. Guinea, Australia and Vietnam are considered to be the countries with the largest bauxite reserves, while China leads in the proportion of aluminum smelting production.

Despite the improved raw material supply, aluminum futures were at $2,675 per tonne, largely maintaining their decline after touching the nine-month high of $2,730 earlier in March. In order to recoup from a series of setbacks last year, major alumina producers in Guinea, Australia, and China installed new capacity. This helped smelters improve their processing rates and drove raw material costs closer to one-year lows. However, the final product supply is expected to decrease. Beijing stopped production at 45 million tons in 2017 to prevent excess supply and support carbon emission targets, so this year's output will have to fall significantly. China produced 44 million tons of aluminum in 2024, the highest on record. Additionally, fresh trade data showed that aluminum exports out of China were muted after the government ended tax rebates on overseas sales, lifting prices on foreign benchmarks as local producers increased the share of domestic sales.

In terms of demand, the main aluminum markets include China, the United States, Germany, India and Japan. The aluminum market is assessed to reach USD 112 billion by 2021 and is expected to reach a CAGR of over 6% during the forecast period 2022-2027. The Asia-Pacific region is expected to be the largest aluminum consuming market during the forecast period.