DAILY: Chinese spot alumina prices stay under pressure, futures strengthen

On Monday, Mysteel assessed the national average spot price for smelter-grade alumina with a purity above 98.6% at Yuan 2,871/tonne ($403/t) including the 13% VAT, down by Yuan 2/t from last Friday.

The slight dip mainly reflected lower quotations seen in southern production bases. Alumina prices for the same grade in the Guangxi autonomous region and Guizhou province dropped by another Yuan 5/t day from last Friday to Yuan 2,925/t and Yuan 2,955/t, respectively, on Monday, according to Mysteel's daily assessments.Meanwhile, the assessed prices in Shandong, Henan, and Shanxi provinces remained unchanged at Yuan 2,780–2,855/t.

In the spot market, some alumina producers and traders showed willingness to offload inventories, wary of future sales and rising stock pressure, putting further downward pressure on prices, market participants noted. However, others chose to hold firm in anticipation of a potential tightening of spot alumina availability in the near term, following recent production curtailments prompted by heavy air pollution.

On the demand side, some primary aluminum smelters continued their routine restocking through open tenders at the start of this week. Mysteel heard of one deal concluded on Monday in the Xinjiang autonomous region, where a smelter procured 10,000 tonnes of spot alumina via tender at a delivered price of Yuan 3,120-3,140/t. The material was sourced from North China, and the settlement price was Yuan 10-20/t higher than the deal made last Thursday, according to market sources.

In the derivatives market, domestic alumina futures extended their upward momentum on Monday following the previous trading recovery. The most-traded January 2026 contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange jumped 1.8% by the end of Monday's daytime session and rose a further 0.68% in nighttime trading, closing at Yuan 2,832/t as of 1 a.m. Tuesday.

Written by Iris Pang, pangjunyu@mysteel.com