Brent crude rises after Trump says he wants to ‘take the oil’ in Iran and Yemeni Houthis launch second attack on Israel – business live

Brent crude on track for record monthly increase; aluminium prices hit four-year highs after Iranian attacks on Middle East smelters

Aluminium prices have surged to four-year highs after Iranian airstrikes on two major Middle East producers over the weekend raised fears of a supply shock.

Benchmark aluminium on the London Metal Exchange rose nearly 5% to $3,453 a tonne, and touched $3,492 earlier today. This compares with an all-time high of $4,073.50 a tonne in March 2022, after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, a top producer of the metal.

Iran’s strikes on Middle Eastern aluminium plants are threatening to send a fragile market into crisis, raising the prospect of record prices.

The conflict’s impact is being amplified because constraints on production elsewhere have eroded global inventories, leaving the market with little buffer against shocks.