Weekly: Rising supply, inventories weigh on Chinese alumina prices

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Domestic alumina output remained largely steady over the period, with production resumptions largely offsetting maintenance-related halts. According to Mysteel's survey, total metallurgical-grade alumina output from the 44 tracked refiners reached 1.79 million tonnes over May 15-21, marking a 0.2 per cent uptick from the previous week.

This had slowed from the previous week's 1.1 per cent increase, Mysteel Global noted. At the same time, additional supply from imports further loosened market fundamentals, with continued arrivals of overseas alumina contributing to rising port inventories.

As of May 21, stocks at the ten major Chinese ports monitored by Mysteel had mounted for a fourth consecutive week to top 572,000 tonnes, jumping by 14.4 per cent from a week earlier and accelerating from the prior week's 11.6 per cent rise.

The overall inventory build also persisted during the week. By May 21, total alumina stocks across China's ten major ports, 44 alumina producers, 89 primary aluminium smelters, and rail yards or in transit had climbed by a further 1.3 per cent from a week earlier to hit a new high of 6.14 million tonnes, Mysteel data showed.

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 Meanwhile, alumina prices faced ongoing downward pressure last week. With availability and inventories both rising, some alumina suppliers were pressured to cut offers to facilitate sales. On May 21, Mysteel assessed the national average spot price for smelter-grade alumina with a minimum purity of 98.6 per cent lower by RMB 8 per tonne (USD 1.2 per tonne) on week at RMB 2,700 per tonne.

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