Primary aluminium price in China shows restraint after a hike on the previous day

After registering a slight hike on July 17, from RMB 13870 per tonne to RMB 13910 per tonne, A00 aluminium ingot spot price decided to show restraint today, July 18, according to Shanghai Metals Market. The average prices ranged between RMB 13890 per tonne and RMB 13930 per tonne, with no change in spot discount as well from RMB 80 to RMB 40 per tonne.

On the face of lower primary aluminium inventory across the region, the primary aluminium spot price did not display any sweeping growth but had been maintaining a steady trend throughout the month. However, compared to the previous month, the primary aluminium spot price recorded a month-on-month decline until now.

Nonetheless, the aluminium price is expected to rise with the increasing demand to about 70 million tonnes by 2020, which represent a hike of almost 3 million tonnes from a year, according to the estimate shared by the International Aluminium Institute. The non-ferrous research department of Citic Futures also expressed its optimistic view about near-term trends in aluminium consumption and that would expectedly boost the price as well.

As of today, July 18, major Chinese markets like east and north, however, recorded a little plunge from RMB 13910 per tonne to RMB 13905 per tonne and from RMB 13920 per tonne to RMB 13900 per tonne, respectively. Only south China registered no change in price today.

As far as the input costs are concerned, alumina spot price had been showing a significant growth over the month, while today proved no exception. The price grew further from yesterday’s RMB 2906 per tonne to RMB 2920 per tonne. Other input costs like that of bauxite and pre-baked anode remained the same, hovering at RMB 495 per tonne and RMB 3135 per tonne, respectively.