Despite Indonesia’s export ban on mineral ore going into its fifth month, aluminum prices on the London Metal Exchange were slightly down for the year, with LEM 3-month aluminum futures trading around $1,770 per ton.
Year-to-date, the iPath Dow Jones-UBS Aluminum Subindex Total ReturnSM ETN (NYSEArca: JJU) is down 4.4% and iPath Pure Beta Aluminum ETN (NYSEArca: FOIL) declined 4.9%.
Potential investors should be aware that the two ETNs are relatively small. JJU has $3.1 million in assets under management while FOIL holds $2.5 million. However, with a tighter global supply, more investors could turn to the ETNs as their source of exposure to aluminum markets, similar to the large run up in the nickel-related ETNs.
The iPath Dow Jones-UBS Nickel Total Return Sub-Index ETN (NYSEArca: JJN), which now has $16.2 million in assets, has attracted $9.1 million so far this year, or more than doubled in size after Indonesia’s ban, according to ETF.com data. [Ukraine Crisis Drives Cash to Gold, Nickel ETFs]
For more the metals market, visit our base metals category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.