DAILY: Chinese alumina prices stay soft amid cautious sentiment

Mysteel assessed the national average spot price for smelter-grade alumina with a more than 98.6% purity at Yuan 2,867/tonne ($403/t) including the 13% VAT on Wednesday, inching lower by Yuan 2/t from the previous day and marking the third consecutive day of slight dips, Mysteel Global noted.

Spot alumina prices across China's key alumina-producing regions continued their mixed trends yesterday. In the Guangxi autonomous region and Guizhou province, alumina prices for the same grade slipped by another Yuan 5/t on day to Yuan 2,915/t and Yuan 2,945/t, respectively. In contrast, prices in Shandong, Henan, and Shanxi provinces were flat for the third straight day, holding within the range of Yuan 2,780-2,855/t, Mysteel's tracking data showed.

With narrowing profit margins, Chinese alumina sellers remained divided on pricing strategies, with some alumina producers anxious about whether to maintain operations or cut production, according to market watchers. As such, some sellers lowered their quotations to accelerate sales and reduce inventory pressure, while some others chose to maintain prices, anticipating that the oversupply situation could ease if more refiners reduced output.

The overall market sentiment stayed cautious amid uncertainty, and most buyers adopted a wait-and-see approach, refraining from making new purchases. Consequently, spot alumina trading remained subdued over the past two days. Mysteel heard of no concluded transactions yesterday.

In the derivatives market, major alumina futures lost ground too. The most-traded alumina contract for January 2026 delivery on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed Wednesday's nighttime trading session 0.25% lower at Yuan 2,816/t, following a 0.18% loss during the daytime trading.

Written by Iris Pang, pangjunyu@mysteel.com