DAILY: Chinese spot alumina prices stabilize

The price stability pointed to the firm pricing stance adopted by many alumina producers and traders across China's five major alumina production hubs. On Wednesday, Mysteel assessed spot prices of the same grade in Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, and Guizhou provinces and in the Guangxi autonomous region at Yuan 2,780-2,940/t, flat from Tuesday.

Recent feedstock procurement by primary aluminum smelters has resulted in higher stock levels at rail yards, ports, and smelters, according to market sources. This has served to temporarily tighten the volume of alumina circulating in the spot market and given sellers renewed confidence, prompting some alumina producers and traders to defend their offer levels on Wednesday.

Though several smelters with urgent demand continued routine restocking, trading activity was limited overall yesterday, with Mysteel hearing of only one deal concluded. A smelter in Gansu province purchased 10,000 tonnes of alumina via tender at a delivered price of Yuan 2,980/t including freight and VAT, with the material sourced from North China.

In the derivatives market, domestic alumina futures prices fell yesterday. The most-traded January 2026 contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange had decreased 1.9% by the close of Wednesday's daytime trading session and dropped a further 1.34% during the nighttime session, closing at Yuan 2,730/t as of 1 a.m. Thursday.

Written by Iris Pang, pangjunyu@mysteel.com

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