China’s primary aluminium inventories continue to fall by 42000 tonnes W-o-W as purchase recovers after pandemic

According to the Shanghai Metals Market, social inventories of primary aluminium in China continued to record week-on-week fall since the last drop of 3,000 tonnes on the previous Thursday, April 14. But compared to the prior week, the inventories fell extensively this Thursday by 42,000 tonnes across eight major Chinese consumption areas, including SHFE warrants, to come in at 1.02 million tonnes. Gongyi saw the highest downfall in inventories as it experienced normal arrivals and increased sales. Downstream producers became willing to stock up after the pandemic situation improved slightly, allowing inventories of aluminium ingots to continue to fall.

The chart below indicates the current status of primary aluminium inventories across China in more details:

So, as the chart suggests, primary aluminium inventories in Gongyi plummeted by 33,000 tonnes W-o-W on April 22 to stand at 87,000 tonnes, followed by the decrease of 6,000 tonnes in Nanhai to score at 194,000 tonnes. In Hangzhou, Shanghai, and Chongqing, primary aluminium inventories fell by 3,000 tonnes, 2,000 tonnes, and 1,000 tonnes, respectively, to settle at 63,000 tonnes, 57,000 tonnes, and 6,000 tonnes.

However, on the other hand, some Chinese provinces saw hikes in inventories, such as Wuxi and Tianjin. While in Wuxi, inventories grew by 2,000 tonnes on the week to stand at 55,000 tonnes; in Tianjin, inventories slipped by 1,000 tonnes to close at 6,000 tonnes.