Aluminum Market Squeezed as LME Stocks Plunge 56% to 1990 Low

The signal here is structural, not just a headline number: simultaneous backwardation on both the LME and Shanghai points to a physical shortage that paper markets cannot paper over, and it hits manufacturers and traders who need metal now rather than later. The Indonesian output story is the counterweight, but its timing is the whole question — new supply arrives on a different clock than the current squeeze. Whether backwardation persists once that metal lands, and whether it eases the spot premium or merely caps it, is the open question worth tracking.