Ahead of this evening's earnings report (and Alcoa outperforming today), and amid Alcoa's ongoing capacity reduction, the yawning chasm between production (of aluminum) and price continues to suggest significant pain ahead. With China and the Middle East seemingly unwilling to follow the market's signals and reduce production (helped un-economically by their respective governments no doubt), the 'if you produce it, demand will come' view of the world is just not working out (and hasn't for 18 months). As Bloomberg reports, "the market is still looking at over-capacity, over-production and an unprecedented overhang of metal," and furthermore, while prices have plunged 12% in recent weeks, there is doubt that producers will follow-through on planned production cuts. Of course, we are sure the Alcoa CEO will be on CNBC to tell us all how great it is and how the world economy is about to pick up... this chart suggests otherwise...
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Chart: Bloomberg