DAILY: Chinese spot alumina prices drop again, futures recover

According to Mysteel's price assessment, the national average spot price for metallurgical-grade alumina with purity above 98.6% dipped by Yuan 4/tonne ($0.6/t) on day last Friday to stand at Yuan 2,873/t including 13% VAT.

By region, assessed prices for the same grade in Shandong, Shanxi, and the Guizhou provinces and in the Guangxi autonomous region fell by another Yuan 5/t from Thursday to range between Yuan 2,780 and Yuan 2,960/t, while those in Henan province held steady at Yuan 2,855/t.

As alumina inventories climbed further across the country, alumina producers and traders with weaker bargaining power continued to trim offers to reduce their stockpiles, dragging spot alumina prices lower, according to market watchers. Moreover, the ongoing price weakness caused some producers to begin losing money on sales, prompting several to curtail output last week to avoid further negative margins.

Meanwhile, many primary aluminum smelters refrained from purchasing on the last working day of the week, having already secured sufficient quantities of the raw material earlier. As a result, trading activity in the spot market was minimal on November 7, with Mysteel not hearing of any deals being concluded.

In contrast, on the Shanghai Futures Exchange domestic alumina futures prices rebounded, with the most-traded January 2026 alumina contract closing Friday's nighttime trading session 0.9% higher at Yuan 2,805/t as of 1 a.m. last Saturday, extending a 0.11% gain seen at the close of Friday's daytime trading.

Written by Iris Pang, pangjunyu@mysteel.com

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