WEEKLY: China's alumina inventory build persists despite output cuts

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China's alumina output edged down last week as several producers in Henan and Guizhou provinces and in the Guangxi autonomous region scaled back production to carry out 10-14 days of maintenance, either to curb atmospheric pollution or to control operating costs.News of the production curtailments provided brief support to the alumina futures market late last week. The most-traded May 2026 alumina contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange jumped 1.8 per cent during Thursday's daytime trading session from the prior day's settlement price.

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In contrast, spot alumina prices continued to weaken over the same week, mainly weighed down by steady inventory accumulation. Mysteel assessed the national average spot price for smelter-grade alumina with a purity above 98.6 per cent at RMB 2,655 per tonne (USD 382 per tonne) on January 22, down 0.6 per cent from a week earlier.

Read More: GACC: China's 2025 alumina exports surge 43 per cent y-o-y

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