Aluminum prices rose on Monday amid reports of Iranian attacks on facilities belonging to the largest Middle Eastern metal producers.
Three-month aluminum futures on the London Metal Exchange (LME) were trading at $3,432.5 per ton as of 11:10 a.m. local time, up 4.1% from the previous session’s close. Earlier in the session, the price rose to $3,492 per ton, its highest level since March 19, approaching a four-year high of $3,546.5 per ton.
Aluminum contracts, the most actively traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, rose 3.43% to 24,725 yuan ($3,578.82) per ton at Monday’s market close.
Last Sunday, Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), which operates one of the world’s largest aluminum plants, said it was assessing the damage from Saturday’s Iranian strikes on its facility. In addition, leading Middle Eastern aluminum producer Emirates Global Aluminium reported “significant damage” to production facilities as a result of Iranian missile and drone attacks on the Khalifa economic zone in Abu Dhabi.
Concerns about disruptions to aluminum supplies to the global market arose with the start of the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran. Producers from the Persian Gulf countries, which account for about 9% of global supply, have lost the ability to ship metal through the Strait of Hormuz. Under these conditions, Alba has already begun cutting back production, and damage to its facility could worsen the situation, experts note.
“Attacks on facilities increase the likelihood of prolonged supply disruptions,” states a report by ING Economics analysts. “Supply issues may persist even if geopolitical tensions ease, heightening the risk of rising prices.”
For a more detailed overview of global aluminum production—1970–2024—watch the video on the Experts Club YouTube channel.
On Monday, platinum is posting the sharpest decline among major precious metals amid a strengthening U.S. dollar and deteriorating expectations regarding Federal Reserve policy. As of 9:25 a.m., platinum futures fell 11.7% to $1,740 per ounce.
The platinum market is declining in tandem with gold and silver, reacting to the strengthening dollar and the growing likelihood that the Fed may keep rates high longer than expected. When the U.S. dollar is strong, global investors’ interest in precious metals typically wanes.
Platinum faces additional pressure because it is viewed not only as a safe-haven asset but also as a commodity sensitive to the outlook for global industry.
Platinum is of key importance to industry, primarily to the automotive sector, the chemical industry, oil refining, hydrogen energy, and catalyst production. For the financial market, it is important as an exchange-traded metal with an investment function; however, its value depends more heavily on the state of the real economy than that of gold.
Previously, the Experts Club analytical center released a video analysis on the production of platinum group metals by the world’s leading producers for the period 1971–2024: – https://youtube.com/shorts/vj4mBkJVxrg?si=pPTU6_l0t9-iCBb4
Silver prices on Monday are showing a sharp decline amid a strengthening U.S. dollar and a general deterioration in sentiment in the precious metals market. As of 9:25 a.m., silver futures on Comex fell 10.5% to $62.345 per ounce.
The rise in the DXY dollar index is weighing on prices, as are expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve may maintain a tight monetary policy for longer than the market had previously anticipated. An additional factor is demand for the dollar as a safe-haven asset amid the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
Like other precious metals, silver becomes less attractive to investors when the dollar is strong, especially as yields on dollar-denominated instruments rise.
Silver is important not only as an investment and monetary metal but also as an industrial raw material. It is widely used in solar energy, electronics, electrical engineering, medicine, and battery production, so its market depends on both financial and industrial factors.
Reference: The Experts Club analytical center previously released a video analysis of the twenty largest silver-producing countries and their competition for leadership from 1971 to 2024 – https://www.youtube.com/shorts/HvKK-YET8vs
Gold prices are falling sharply on Monday amid the strengthening of the U.S. dollar against major global currencies and a shift in expectations regarding the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy. As of 9:25 a.m., April gold futures on the Comex exchange fell 9.7% to $4,131 per ounce. This is the lowest level since November 2026.
Pressure on the market is coming from the dollar’s rise, as well as growing fears that the Fed may abandon plans to cut rates or even raise them by year-end if inflation accelerates. According to CME FedWatch, traders estimate the probability of a 25-basis-point rate hike at nearly 36%.
A strong dollar traditionally reduces gold’s appeal to investors using other currencies, as it makes the metal more expensive when purchased outside the U.S.
Gold is important to the global financial system as a safe-haven asset, a savings instrument, and a component of central banks’ international reserves. It is also significant for industry due to its use in electronics, medicine, and high-precision technologies.
Earlier, the Experts Club analytical center presented an analysis of the world’s leading gold-producing countries in a video on its YouTube channel — https://youtube.com/shorts/DWbzJ1e2tJc?si=BywddHO-JFWFqUFA
According to the results of a survey conducted by the research company Active Group and the Experts Club think tank, 34.1% of respondents described a healthy lifestyle as “very important,” 53.1% as “somewhat important,” 10.8% — “somewhat unimportant,” and 2.1% — “not important at all.” The data was presented at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine press center.
“The high value placed on a healthy lifestyle is an opportunity for the system to shift its focus toward prevention and early diagnosis,” said Maksym Urakin.
“People are ready to change their habits, but they need accessible tools—consultations, screenings, and clear recommendations,” added Oleksandr Pozniy.
The study was conducted on the SunFlowerSociology online panel using a representative sample in February 2026. The survey involved 1,000 respondents from a representative sample across all regions of Ukraine, excluding temporarily occupied territories.
ACTIVE GROUP, EXPERTS CLUB, Healthy Lifestyle, Pozniy, URAKIN
The Experts Club analytical center has released a new video study devoted to the dynamics of public debt of countries around the world in relation to GDP in 1950-2025. The visualization shows how the debt burden in different economies has changed over the past 75 years – from post-war recovery and debt crises to the pandemic and the current stage of expensive borrowing. The final slide focuses on the situation in 2025, when Ukraine, according to the international methodology used in the study, also entered the group of 20 countries with the highest debt burden.
The study is based on IMF DataMapper and World Economic Outlook data for October 2025 using the general government gross debt indicator. According to IMF estimates, the global level of public debt in 2025 reached 96.8% of world GDP, while for advanced economies the average figure was 111.8% of GDP. This means that the debt burden remains systemically high not only in vulnerable countries, but also in the world’s largest economies.
According to the data used in the video, in 2025 the countries with the highest debt burden included primarily Sudan, Japan, Singapore, Greece, Bahrain, the Maldives, and Italy. The same group also included the United States, France, and Canada, while Ukraine, with an indicator of about 108.6-110% of GDP, also found itself in the upper part of the global anti-ranking and, according to these estimates, entered approximately the first dozen countries by the debt-to-GDP ratio. For comparison, the database for 2025 indicates a level of 108.6% of GDP for Ukraine, 128.7% for the United States, 119.6% for France, 138.3% for Italy, and 226.8% for Japan; in summary international tables based on the same IMF estimates, similar values appear, where Ukraine is shown at around 110% of GDP.
For Ukraine, this result is especially indicative. According to IMF DataMapper, in 2025 the total public debt of the general government sector reached 108.6% of GDP. VoxUkraine, analyzing the same IMF database, notes that this is the highest level for the entire observation period for Ukraine. At the same time, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine reported that state and state-guaranteed debt at the end of 2025 amounted to 98.4% of GDP. The difference is explained by methodology: IMF international comparisons use the broader general government gross debt indicator, so it is precisely this indicator that is suitable for the global ranking shown in the Experts Club study.
“Our study shows not just the size of the debt, but the country’s place in the global system of risks. In Ukraine’s case, entry into the group of countries with the highest debt burden is a direct consequence of the war, the large-scale need for budget financing, and dependence on external support. But at the same time, it is also a reminder that after the end of the war one of the key challenges will be not only the recovery of the economy, but also the building of a long-term debt management strategy,” noted Experts Club founder and PhD in Economics Maksym Urakin.
In a broader context, the video demonstrates that high debt is no longer an exception only for crisis states. Among the countries with the largest debt burden today are both economies with prolonged structural imbalances and developed states with deep domestic capital markets. That is why the comparison of 1950 and 2025 shows the main shift: the debt model has become the norm of the global economy, while the issue of debt sustainability now depends not only on its size, but also on the cost of servicing, GDP growth rates, the structure of creditors, and the state’s ability to maintain investor confidence.
For Ukraine, based on the 2025 data, the main conclusion of the study is that the country has already crossed the psychological threshold of 100% of GDP according to the international methodology and entered the global group of the most highly indebted states. This does not mean an automatic debt crisis, but it does mean that the issue of post-war fiscal sustainability, restructuring of liabilities, the cost of new financing, and acceleration of economic growth will be among the central topics of economic policy in the coming years.
