Klaus Kleinfeld Says Asia, Mideast Helping Aluminum (AA)

Klaus Klienfeld, CEO of Alcoa Inc. AA said that aluminum demand will double by 2020, led by demand from China, Brazil, and the Middle East. “We see places like China continuing to lead with growth of 21 percent last year, 13 percent this year,” Kleinfeld said in an interview in Davos, Switzerland. “We actually see that places like Southeast Asia, Brazil, Middle East are increasing the growth rate.” Alcoa expects average growth of about 6 percent a year until 2020, he said. This is a positive for aluminum investors, and investment banks are taking note. HSBC Holdings Plc was positive in a research note, and Market Risk Advisory said that demand will surpass output by 300,000 metric tons in 2012, the first shortage in 6 years. If investors believe that aluminum demand will continue to grow, investors can take a look at Alcoa, Rio Tinto RIO, which owns Alcan, and Aluminum Corp. of China ACH. There has also been talk of creating an aluminum ETF, which would only further constrain supply, as it will need to hold the physical metal, much like other commodity ETF's. Disclosure: no position in names mentioned.