The national average spot price for smelter-grade alumina with a minimum purity of 98.6 per cent remained stable from last Friday at RMB 2,783 per tonne (USD 404.2 per tonne), including 13 per cent VAT on Tuesday, Mysteel's daily price assessment showed. The price has held steady for about a week, Mysteel Global noted.

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Meanwhile, Mysteel-assessed regional prices for the same grade of alumina were unchanged across China's five major alumina production bases - Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, Guizhou, and Guangxi - averaging between RMB 2,750 per tonne and RMB 2,830 per tonne.

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In the derivatives market, Shanghai alumina futures continued to slide on the first trading day following the three-day Qingming Festival holiday. The most-traded May contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slumped by 2.9 per cent during Tuesday's daytime trading and fell by a further 0.96 per cent overnight, closing the nighttime session at RMB 2,683 per tonne. This marked the fifth consecutive trading day of losses, Mysteel Global noted.

The sustained declines in domestic alumina futures over the past week weighed on spot market sentiment, according to market watchers. Some downstream aluminium smelters adopted a wait-and-see approach, anticipating lower spot prices, while alumina producers largely held their offers steady. As a result, only smelters with immediate restocking needs entered the physical market to secure tonnage.

Mysteel heard of two deals involving 13,000 tonnes of alumina concluded yesterday. A smelter in Xinjiang purchased 10,000 tonnes of North China-origin alumina via tender at a delivered price of RMB 2,950 per tonne, including freight costs and VAT, and a Henan-based smelter procured 3,000 tonnes of Shandong-origin material from a trader at RMB 2,675 per tonne EXW, including VAT.

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