DAILY: Chinese alumina prices slip lower, supply glut persists

Mysteel's daily assessments showed the alumina price in Guangxi slumped by a larger Yuan 40/tonne ($5.5/t) on day to Yuan 3,020/t, and the price in Southwest China's Guizhou slipped by Yuan 30/t on day to Yuan 3,110/t.

The assessed prices in Henan, Shanxi and Shandong provinces fell by Yuan 10/t on day to sit at Yuan 3,010-3,035/t, marking prolonged declines for around 20 days, Mysteel Global noted.

Meanwhile, alumina trading in the domestic spot market was inactive on April 3, with Mysteel not hearing of any deals being concluded. The subdued trading led to accumulation in port inventories in the week to April 3, indicating that the glut of alumina persisted, which in turn weighed on spot alumina prices, a market watcher explained.

The combined alumina stocks piled at China's ten major ports under Mysteel's tracking rose quickly to 51,000 tonnes as of April 3, higher by 23,000 tonnes or 82.1% on week.

Later last week, two deals were heard concluded with overseas buyers, though, with a 24,000-tonne consignment traded at $352/t FOB Vietnam on Thursday and the other involving 30,000 tonnes of alumina settled at $330/t FOB Western Australia on Friday.

Also, the sweeping tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump last Wednesday dealt a heavy blow to the financial markets across the globe. Although steel and aluminum products will be exempt from Trump's "reciprocal tariffs", the ongoing duties on Chinese aluminum exports to the US have hovered as high as around 60%, and the expectation for the new tariffs' impact on other related industries has also worsened the outlook for aluminum and alumina demand, market analysts note. 

In response, the Chinese alumina futures market softened further on Thursday. The prices of the 12 alumina futures contracts on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) decreased by Yuan 60-88/t during the nighttime trading session, with the most-traded contract for May delivery closing Yuan 71/t or 2.43% lower at Yuan 2,854/t as of 1:00 am last Friday, hitting the lowest in over a year, the SHFE's data showed.