Primary aluminium inventories total the lowest this year at 580,000 tonnes: SMM

According to the Shanghai Metals Market, social inventories of primary aluminium continued to decline week-on-week by 41,000 tonnes, ended November 3, 2022. The stocks plunged across eight major consumption areas across China, including SHFE warrants, to total 580,000 tonnes, down by 33,000 tonnes from Monday.

On a month-on-month basis, the inventories on Thursday edged 93,000 tonnes lower, while that on a year-on-year basis stood 433,000 tonnes down. Transportation restrictions due to pandemic resulted in fewer arrivals in the market, leading to inventory downfall to the lowest this year.

However, the transportation in Gongyi and Henan provinces has begun to resume from October 31, which is expected to alleviate supply tightness from the next week, allowing cargoes to arrive.

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

This week, Wuxi saw the highest plunge in inventories by 26,000 tonnes over the week to stand at 184,000 tonnes, followed by the downfall of 14,000 tonnes in Nanhai to 132,000 tonnes. In Gongyi, inventories dipped by 2,000 tonnes on November 3 to 59,000 tonnes, while that in Shanghai and Hangzhou inched down by 1,000 tonnes to 41,000 tonnes and 69,000 tonnes, respectively.

In contrast, primary aluminium inventories in Chongqing gained 3,000 tonnes to peg at 4,000 tonnes, while that in Tianjin and Linyi remained restrained at 74,000 tonnes and 17,000 tonnes, respectively.