Aluminium Bahrain declares force majeure on contracts

Reuters | March 4, 2026 | 5:40 am Markets Middle East USA Aluminum

Rolls of aluminum. Stock image.

Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) on Wednesday declared force majeure on its contracts because it is not able to ship, a spokesperson said.

“It’s because what’s happening in the Strait of Hormuz, we are not able to ship. So we’re producing, but the metal is here in Alba,” the spokesperson told Reuters.

Alba, which has one of the world’s biggest aluminium smelters, produced 1.62 million metric tons of aluminium in 2025, according to its website.

Qatar smelter shutdown exacerbates Iran war aluminum fears

Aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange jumped as much as 5.1% to $3,418 a ton, their strongest since April 2022, following the news.

The price of the lightweight metal used in construction, transport and packaging has rallied this week because of supply worries after the attack by the US and Israel on Iran over the weekend. The Gulf Cooperation Council countries supplied 8% of the world’s aluminium last year.

(Reporting by Eric OnstadEditing by Tomasz Janowski)