WEEKLY: Chinese spot alumina prices soften on rising availability

On April 9, Mysteel assessed the national average spot price for metallurgical-grade alumina with a minimum purity of 98.6 per cent at RMB 2,764 per tonne (USD 404.5 per tonne), down 0.7 per cent from a week ago, reversing the previous week's 0.3 per cent uptick, Mysteel Global noted. 

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 In the futures market, the most-traded May alumina contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) closed the daytime session on April 9 at RMB 2,650 per tonne, down 3.4 per cent on the week, the SHFE's data showed.

The sustained decline in futures prices reinforced the expectations of primary aluminium smelters that prices were easing, prompting them to seek purchases at lower price levels, market participants said.

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At the same time, warrants for a large volume of alumina held in the SHFE's warehouses have either reached or approached maturity recently, increasing the amount of the raw material circulating in the spot market. Consequently, alumina traders holding stocks became more eager to sell off spot cargoes, while buyers pushed for lower prices. The selling pressure and cautious buying sentiment drove both asking and offering prices lower.

Fundamentally, alumina supply and demand remained largely steady last week. Output from the 44 Chinese alumina producers under Mysteel's regular tracking edged up by 0.1 per cent on a week to 1.78 million tonnes over April 3-9, according to Mysteel's survey.

Demand showed slightly stronger growth during the same period. Consumption by the 89 primary aluminium smelters monitored by Mysteel rose by 0.5 per cent from a week earlier to 1.66 million tonnes, accelerating from the 0.07 per cent rise in the prior week.

Meanwhile, inventory accumulation persisted, albeit at a slower pace. Total alumina stocks across China's 10 major ports, 44 refineries, 89 smelters, and rail yards or in transit increased by 0.2 per cent on a week to a record high of 5.89 million tonnes as of April 9, the survey findings showed. 

The inventory build was primarily associated with new arrivals of imported alumina at Chinese ports. According to Mysteel's data, by last Thursday, alumina stockpiles at the country's 10 major ports increased by 4.7 per cent from the previous week to 337,000 tonnes.

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