DAILY: Chinese alumina prices decline in spot, futures markets

Mysteel assessed the national average spot price for smelter-grade alumina with purity above 98.6% at Yuan 2,907/tonne ($408/t) last Friday, down slightly by Yuan 2/t from the prior day.

Transaction prices for spot alumina cargoes softened, though offering prices in most of China's five major alumina-producing regions remained largely stable. In the Guangxi autonomous region, the assessed prices for the same grade of alumina slipped by Yuan 10/t on day to Yuan 3,000/t on Friday, while those in Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, and Guizhou provinces were unchanged from Thursday, ranging between Yuan 2,795/t and Yuan 3,020/t.  

On Friday, some primary aluminum smelters continued replenishing alumina stocks through open tenders for weekend production, market sources learned. This prompted several alumina producers and traders with high inventories to accept slightly lower trading prices to secure orders. However, other sellers chose to hold firm on their alumina offers, anticipating potential production adjustments to tighten supply and underpin prices in the spot alumina market.

Mysteel heard of two deals involving 15,000 tonnes of alumina concluded via tender on Friday. A smelter in Gansu province purchased 10,000 tonnes of spot alumina sourced from North China at a delivered price of Yuan 3,010/t including freight costs and the 13% VAT, while another smelter in Yunnan province procured 5,000 tonnes from a trader at Yuan 2,940/t EXW including the VAT, with the material sourced from Guangxi.

In the derivatives market, alumina futures weakened further. The most-traded January 2026 contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange declined by 1.97% by the end of Friday's daytime trading session, and it further decreased by 1.5% to close the nighttime session at Yuan 2,768/t as of 1 a.m. Saturday, according to the exchange's data. This marked the lowest price level for the main alumina contract in nearly six months, Mysteel Global noted.

Written by Iris Pang, pangjunyu@mysteel.com