Alcoa CEO Favors First Aluminum-Backed ETF

The chief executive of Alcoa Inc. （AA） says he’s had talks with exchange-traded fund sponsors about supply aluminum for physically backed funds.

“We’re in favor of the ETFs,” CEO Klaus Kleinfeld told Dow Jones Newswires in an interview. “We would be willing to supply metal to the ETFs.”

ETF Securities and Deutsche Bank AG （DB） have recently said they plan to get into physically backed ETFs for base metals including aluminum, copper, lead, nickel, tin and zinc.

Swiss commodity supplier Glencore International SA and Credit Suisse Group （CS） have been developing a physical aluminum ETF for more than a year, according to the report.

Russian producer United Co. Rusal PLC has said it is also looking at an ETF.

Right now, the iPath DJ-UBS Aluminum Total Return ETN （JJU）, is available to U.S. investors. But it doesn’t store aluminum for shareholders.