China’s primary aluminium inventories record 185,000 tonnes of a hike on resumption from the CNY holiday

According to the Shanghai Metals Market, China’s social inventories of primary aluminium across eight major consumption areas totalled 986,000 tonnes as of Monday, January 30, up 57,000 tonnes from 929,000 tonnes on January 28 and 242,000 tonnes higher than the pre-Chinese New Year level. As of Saturday, January 28, the first day after the week-long Chinese New Year (CNY), the inventories recorded a surge of 185,000 tonnes from pre-CNY level and a year ago. The increase of 185,000 tonnes or 24.9 per cent was in line with SMM's previous forecast.

The surge in inventories could be attributed to continued cargoes arrivals over the past couple of days amid limited warehouse withdrawals.

The chart below indicates the status of primary aluminium inventories across China as of January 28:

Gongyi saw the highest growth of primary aluminium inventories on January 28 by 72,000 tonnes to stand at 209,000 tonnes, followed by the increase of 59,000 tonnes in Wuxi to stand at 285,000 tonnes. In Nanhai, primary aluminium inventories built up 41,000 tonnes to amount to 195,000 tonnes, while the inventories in Chongqing and Hangzhou grew by 7,000 tonnes and 5,000 tonnes, respectively, to come in 11,000 tonnes and 84,000 tonnes.

In Shanghai, primary aluminium inventories inched up 1,000 tonnes to 42,000 tonnes, while that in Linyi remained restrained at 28,000 tonnes.