COMMODITY PRICE INDEX

COMMODITY PRICE INDEX More than 900,000 tonnes of aluminium production capacity (6% of the West's output) is still idle, even though an intergovernmental deal in 1994 to limit output and reduce stocks expired early last year. Analysts reckon that more capacity will be reopened if stocks continue to fall and the recent price rally continues. Unwrought stocks held by producers are now 25% below their peak at the beginning of 1996; stocks on the London Metal Exchange have fallen by a similar amount this year. Alcan, a big producer, already intends to return its Kitimat smelter in Canada to full output by the beginning of 1998. Norway's Norsk Hydro wants to phase in its idled capacity this quarter.