China’s aluminium billet inventories continue to grow surpassing 100,000 tonnes this week

China’s aluminium billet inventories recorded a hike on Thursday, January 19, marking the fourth consecutive week of rise. According to the Shanghai Metals Market data, the inventories accumulated 37,200 tonnes from the previous week to reach 131,900 tonnes across five major consumption areas.

Foshan saw the highest growth over a week, driven by high shipments from southwest China. Inventory in east China also maintained seasonal accumulation. Slow consumption among extruders due to the shutdown of small and medium-sized plants for the CNY holiday also contributed to the billet inventory hike, stated SMM.  Going ahead, aluminium billet inventories in east and south China are estimated to climb further.

To know the current status of aluminium billet inventories in more details, refer to the chart below:

In Foshan, aluminium billet inventories built up by 10,890 tonnes week-on-week to stand at 64,300 tonnes, followed by the surge of 10,510 tonnes in Wuxi to settle at 37,000 tonnes as of January 19. In Huzhou, inventories grew by 3,000 tonnes from a week ago to peg at 25,000 tonnes, while that in Changzhou inched up by only 200 tonnes to 2,100 tonnes.

Only the inventories in Nanchang recorded no change this week from 3,500 tonnes. That marked the third consecutive week of restraint in Nanchang.