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Aluminium has risen to its highest level since 2008 as a deepening energy crisis squeezes supplies of the energy-intensive metal that is used in everything from beer cans to iPhones.

Each tonne of metal requires around 14 megawatt hours of energy to produce, enough to run an average UK home for more than three years. If the aluminium industry, with its 65 million tonnes per year, were a country, it would be the fifth largest energy consumer in the world.

This means that aluminium was one of the first targets in China’s efforts to reduce industrial energy use. Even beyond the current energy crisis, Beijing has set a hard limit on future capacity that promises to end years of over-expansion and raises the prospect of deep global deficits. Rising energy costs in Asia and Europe mean there is a risk of further supply cuts.

In the Netherlands, aluminium producer Aldel will reduce production from this week due to high electricity prices. A number of aluminium plants in China have been put on standby and the country’s production has probably peaked, at least in the short term.

With Chinese production under pressure and demand booming, the country has been importing increasing amounts of the primary metal. However, it is still exporting huge volumes of semi-finished aluminium, partly supported by tax rebates.

Prices received a further boost on Monday after the European Union imposed an anti-dumping duty on flat-rolled aluminium from China, although it excluded some key materials, including metal used by beverage cans, the automotive industry and aircraft.

Soaring aluminium prices this year would typically prompt producers to reopen old plants and consider adding new supplies. But rising energy costs are putting pressure on smelters and could make restarts difficult.

If a smelter in Germany were exposed to one month’s base load rates for energy, it would have to pay about $4,000 for the energy needed to produce one tonne of metal, well above current aluminium prices.