China's alumina prices continue to drop, production cuts seen in Shanxi

Among the five major markets under Mysteel's monitoring nationwide, Southwest China's Guizhou province recorded the highest spot alumina price of Yuan 3,650/tonne ($500) on Wednesday, down by Yuan 50/t from the previous day. East China's Shandong province saw the lowest spot price of Yuan 3,360/t, down by Yuan 70/t on day.

Meanwhile, spot alumina prices in North China's Shanxi, Central China's Henan, and South China's Guangxi, all dropped by Yuan 50/t to Yuan 3,430/t, Yuan 3,450/t, and Yuan 3,530/t, respectively.

On the Shanghai Futures Exchange, major alumina futures lost further ground yesterday, with the most-traded alumina futures contract for May delivery closing the overnight trading session at Yuan 3,361/t, lower by Yuan 47/t from the prior day.

In the spot market, 10,000 tonnes of alumina was traded at a settlement price of Yuan 3,425/t in North China. And traders sold alumina goods sourced from Shanxi, Shandong and Henan to electrolytic aluminum plants in Northwest China.

Although alumina producers are on the verge of profit loss amid the continuous drops in spot alumina prices, they have not started large-scale alumina production cuts. Only one alumina refinery in Shanxi has scaled back production for equipment maintenance on two production lines with an annual capacity of about 600,000 tonnes.

Written by Iris Pang, pangjunyu@mysteel.com

Edited by Alyssa Ren, rentingting@mysteel.com