METALS-Aluminium jumps as supply fears deepen on Iran's attacks on Middle East plants

March 30 (Reuters) - Aluminium prices rose sharply on Monday as market participants braced for a deeper supply shock after Iranian strikes over the weekend damaged two of the biggest producers of the metal in the Middle East.

The benchmark three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange CMAL3 was up 4.34% at $3,439 a metric ton, as of 0143 GMT. Earlier in the session, it hit its highest since March 19 at $3,492, close to a four-year peak of $3,546.50.

The most-active aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange SAFcv1 climbed 3.64% to 24,775 yuan ($3,581.08) a ton, after rising as much as 3.91% to 24,840 yuan, the highest since March 19.

Aluminium Bahrain ALBH.BH, which runs the world's largest single-site smelter, said on Sunday that it was assessing the damage from the Iranian strikes, while Emirates Global Aluminium said its plant sustained "significant damage".

Fears of an aluminium disruption have grown since the United States and Israel's war against Iran began because aluminium producers in the Gulf, which accounts for about 9% of global supply, have been unable to ship material through the Strait of Hormuz.

Alba has already started shutting smelting lines representing 19% of its capacity earlier this month. Serious damage to the plants could lead to further production cuts that could be difficult to quickly recover from, traders said.

Elsewhere on the LME, copper CMCU3 dropped 0.56%, zinc CMZN3 rose 1%, lead CMPB3 nudged 0.08% higher, nickel CMNI3 was little changed, tin CMSN3 dropped 0.63%.

Among other base metals on SHFE, copper SCFcv1 dropped 0.60%, zinc SZNcv1 gained 1.20%, lead SPBcv1 was unchanged, nickel SNIcv1 declined 085%, and tin SSNcv1 rose 1.37%.

Monday, March 30

DATA/EVENTS (GMT)

1000 EU Consumer Confid. Final Mar

1200 Germany CPI Prelim YY Mar

1200 Germany HCIP Prelim YY Mar

($1 = 6.9183 Chinese yuan)