DAILY: Chinese alumina prices move lower

Mysteel assessed the national average spot price for smelter-grade alumina with purity exceeding 98.6% at Yuan 2,877/tonne ($404/t) including the 13% VAT on Thursday, down by Yuan 5/t from Wednesday. Regionally, the assessed prices for the same grade in Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, and Guizhou provinces and in the Guangxi autonomous region all declined by Yuan 5/t on day to range between Yuan 2,785/t and Yuan 2,965/t, Mysteel's price assessment showed.  

With alumina stocks remaining abundant throughout the country, many alumina producers and traders were willing to lower their quotations to secure sales, according to market sources. The lower offers prompted some primary aluminum smelters needing to replenish raw material stocks to strike deals. 

In the domestic spot market, Mysteel heard of one deal concluded on November 6 in the Xinjiang autonomous region, where a smelter procured 10,000 tonnes of spot alumina via tender at a delivered price of Yuan 3,100/t including freight costs and the 13% VAT. The material was sourced from North China, and the settlement price was Yuan 10-30/t lower than a comparable transaction concluded on November 3.

Overseas, Mysteel learned that a 30,000-tonne cargo was traded at $320/t FOB Western Australia the same day, with shipment scheduled for December.

Meanwhile, prices of major alumina futures contracts on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) retreated on Thursday night following daytime increases. For instance, the SHFE's most-traded January 2026 alumina contract closed Thursday's nighttime session 0.22% lower at Yuan 2,774/t as of 1 a.m. Friday, reversing a 0.87% increase recorded by the end of Thursday's daytime trading.

Written by Iris Pang, pangjunyu@mysteel.com

Edited by Russ McCulloch, russ.mcculloch@mysteel.com