Price charts in India hit by ripple effect of April’s routine of alumina and aluminium maintenance season in China
Aluminium prices in India nudged up 0.8 per cent to INR 238.9 per kilogram, buoyed by a chain reaction unfolding in China’s refinery landscape. But this isn’t just another pricing blip, and it’s a mirror to something deeper: the calculated routine of alumina supply, energy bottlenecks, and macro market muscle. As Chinese refineries go under the wrench and global production gears shift, the aluminium market is entering a new price reality, one which is calibrated not just by output but by strategic pause.
Maintenance or market masterstroke?
From late March through April 2025, nearly 11.5 million tonnes of Chinese alumina capacity went offline for maintenance, according to Shanghai Metals Market (SMM). Far from a routine fix-up, this mass downtime was synchronised across provinces like Shanxi, Guizhou, and Yunnan, where cost pressures and environmental regulations demanded a cooling-off.
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