Aluminium Bahrain CEO Al Baqali says damage to smelter from Iranian strike in March has already been repaired; with annual capacity of 1.3mln tonnes

Confirmation from the operator itself that damage has already been repaired follows the usual pattern of such episodes, where the market impact sits in the regional supply-risk premium embedded in LME prices and physical premiums rather than in actual lost tonnage. Aluminium Bahrain is one of the largest single-site smelters globally, so genuine capacity loss at the stated scale would be material to ex-China balances, which is precisely why the market prices these threats quickly and unwinds them quickly on all-clear signals. The case distinction that matters is between confirmed repair, as stated here, and lingering disruption to power supply or logistics through the Gulf, since smelters are continuous-process assets where a power interruption rather than physical damage is what forces prolonged curtailment. What bears watching is whether freight and insurance costs through the region normalise in line with the operational all-clear, and whether regional peers report any parallel exposure.