Asia Alumina: Australia firms $1.50/mt to $204.50/mt as longs contract

Platts Australian alumina daily assessment at $204.50/mt FOB gained $1.50/mt from Monday, January 22nd, as the market continued to gravitate from a long to a more balanced position. Global refining cuts in response to poor margins, and recent consumer restocking and dip buying have put a floor under the market.

There appears to have been a creeping up of buying inquiries in the last couple of days. In the past week, consumer and trader sources have noted that offers were harder to come by. Stockholders have said they were in no hurry to offload.

A stockholder said he was anticipating demand to pick up in coming weeks. In the meantime, there was the option of storing the tons in China, he said. A Chinese smelter affirmed that sellers were eyeing more than $215/mt CIF China. Platts assessed the handysize freight rate at $8.95/mt on Tuesday for a 30,000 mt shipment in March from Western Australia to Lianyungang in China.

Market participants were awaiting the result of Nalco’s sell tender in India. Nalco closed last week a sell tender for a prompt 30,000 mt cargo for shipment in early February from Visakhapatnam port. Further to this, Nalco floated another sell tender late Monday for a second 30,000 mt parcel, for shipment between February 15 and 20, sources said.

Platts China spot alumina price ex-works Shanxi basis has firmed Yuan 5/mt ($0.76) in the last week to Yuan 1,625/mt ($248/mt) full cash payment terms.

Most refiners have sold out for February now or are no longer offering, as they expect prices to edge up after the Lunar New Year holiday, a Shanxi refiner said.

Spot trade was thin ahead of the holiday, which runs from February 8-12. Buyers and sellers are both staying on the sidelines awaiting fresh direction after the holiday, sources said.

The front-month contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed at Yuan 10,710/mt on Tuesday, down from Yuan 10,780/mt last week, and also from Yuan 10,990/mt a month ago.