China alumina price fall yet to ring alarm bells for domestic producers

Alumina price in China major markets have been falling of late; yet the price fall is not that steep to pinch hard the 'big' producers at their bottomlines, Shanghai Metals Market thinks.

China alumina prices are currently trending below the highest cost of production causing small and medium sized refiners run losses in the recent quarter. However, profits in the late 2016 were high enough to cover these losses. This is the reason why they have not yet halt production at their alumina refineries, barring a few which chose to close in order to combat their lack of liquidity.

According to the analysts, high alumina production all over China and an equally high nation-wide inventory still leave room for alumina prices to fall further.

However, alumina price declines will slow down in a while. Once the stock starts depleting with aluminium smelters raising their output, price fall will be checked, SMM understands.

The falling alumina costs have helped increase profit margins at the aluminium smelters in China. The average profit reported by domestic aluminium producers rose above 1,300 yuan per tonne in the week ending April 21, data showed. 

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Trading in China alumina market continues to remain steady. The country's alumina output in March increased by 26.82 per cent over the same period last year to total at 5.83 million tonnes, data showed.