
Trading starts in China at a sluggish pace after the Chinese New Year and there is no such significant movement in the prices of commodities and the raw materials other than the substantial drop in A00 aluminium ingot prices.
According to Shanghai Metals Market, China’s social inventory of refined aluminium including SHFE warrants amounted to 1.96 million tonnes as of Thursday February 22. This is up from 1.82 million tonnes recorded on Wednesday February 14, before the Chinese New Year holiday.
{alcircleadd}The current inventory status in the major Chinese cities is as follows:

Average Aluminum Ingot prices dropped RMB 310 per tonne today to stand at RMB 13,700 per tonne. The prices are expected to move within a range of RMB 13,680-13,720. Spot discount will range within RMB 300-260 per tonne today. Average A00 ingot prices saw the biggest drop in the East China market at RMB 315 per tonne. Today’s A00 ingot prices in the individual markets are shown in the below table:

Prices are expected to fall further in the short term as aluminium supply would ramp up, even if at a slower pace. However downward movement is expected to prevail in the short term as the domestic aluminium demand is set to be increased fast after the winter heating season, when industrial activities restart with a boom.
On the cost front, alumina, bauxite and prebaked anode prices are unchanged today. SMM expects alumina prices and prebaked anode prices to go down due to lower electricity prices.
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