DAILY: China alumina capacity use climbs to 80.12% but spot prices stay under pressure

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Mysteel's daily price assessment showed that the national average price for smelter-grade alumina with a minimum purity of 98.6 per cent stood at RMB 2,744 per tonne, remaining stable compared to the previous day.

The steady price trend can be attributed to the offering prices in China's five key alumina production regions. In Shanxi, Shandong and Henan assessed prices for the same grade of alumina both kept stable from the prior day, to RMB 2,770 per tonne, RMB 2,735 per tonne and RMB 2,765 per tonne, respectively.

Additionally, prices in Guangxi and Guizhou stayed steady at RMB 2,670/t and RMB 2,780/t respectively.

In the derivatives market, alumina futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange showed slight volatility. The most-traded alumina contract for September delivery edged up by 0.37 per cent by the end of Friday's daytime trading and increased by 0.67 per cent overnight, closing the night-time session at RMB 2,717/t as of 1 a.m. Monday, July 27, 2026.

As of July 23, 2026, the national alumina capacity utilisation rate stood at 80.12 per cent, up 0.52 percentage points from the previous week. According to Mysteel's research, an alumina plant in Shanxi has ended its shutdown and is gradually resuming production, though it will take some time to reach full capacity. Meanwhile, recently restarted capacities in Guangxi, Shanxi, and Henan have been gradually ramping up output.

Recently, domestic alumina spot prices have shown a slight downward trend amid stability. Despite ongoing news from overseas markets, the domestic pattern of strong supply and weak demand remains fundamentally unchanged, while bearish market sentiment has somewhat weighed on commodities.

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Currently, high profit margins are driving aluminium smelters to maintain high-load operations, with compliant capacities producing steadily. However, a small amount of replacement capacity is still slowly ramping up, resulting in very limited short-term incremental supply and sluggish growth in alumina demand.

It is expected that domestic alumina spot prices will continue to exhibit a narrow-range, rangebound, and slightly bearish performance in the near term, with a trading range of RMB 2,600-2,750 per tonne.

Note: This news is published under a content and exchange agreement with Mysteel