Aluminium ingot inventories build up 28,000 tonnes on Jan. 4 on reduced consumption for early Chinese New Year break

According to the Shanghai Metals Market survey, aluminium ingot inventories in China have marked the beginning of the year 2024 with a notable hike. As per the data, social inventories of ingot across Chinese eight major consumption areas built up 28,000 tonnes week-on-week, reaching 462,000 tonnes as of January 4.

The chart below shows the status of primary aluminium inventories in more details:

Aluminium ingot inventories across Chinese provinces

The above chart indicates the increase this week is primarily contributed by Gongyi, where in aluminium ingot inventories grew 18,000 tonnes W-o-W to stand at 70,000 tonnes as aluminium consumption was hurt due to production restrictions on local downstream plants.

Inventories in Foshan marked an increase of 5,000 tonnes week-on-week, standing at 127,000 tonnes as of January 4, followed by a growth of 3,000 tonnes in Hangzhou to 52,000 tonnes. In Wuxi and Tinajin, primary aluminium inventories recorded a slight rise of 1,000 tonnes to 118,000 tonnes and 37,000 tonnes.

The ingot inventories rose at the beginning of the year due to lower consumption as downstream enterprises took an early break for the Chinese New Year holiday.

In Shanghai, Chongqing, and Linyi, on the other hand, inventories registered restraint at 40,000 tonnes, 3,000 tonnes, and 15,000 tonnes, respectively, on January 4.

However, despite the increase at the beginning of the year, the overall inventories on January 4 stood 114,000 tonnes lower than a year ago and marked the lowest compared to the same period over the past seven years.