LONDON, Sept 13 — The price of aluminium hit exactly US$3,000 a tonne in trading today, the metal’s highest level for 13 years, with tight supplies worsened by the recent military coup in Guinea.

The African nation is rich in bauxite rock, from which aluminium is processed.

Aluminium prices had already been soaring before the coup struck at the start of the month, rising by about 40 per cent since January as global economic activity bounces back from the Covid-19 trough.

Also pushing prices higher are rising electricity prices in China, which has led to a sag in production at a number of foundries in its western Xinjiang region.

Aluminium smelting consumes voracious quantities of energy.

Guinea possesses the world’s largest reserves of bauxite, the reddish or grey rock, whose aluminium oxide is smelted into aluminium, a metal widely used in everyday items.

Guinea’s ruling military has been coming under growing diplomatic pressure after special forces led by Lieutenant Colonel Mamady Doumbouya seized power and arrested president Alpha Conde. — AFP