DAILY: Chinese spot alumina prices stabilize, futures recover

The national average spot price for smelter-grade alumina with purity above 98.6% held steady on day at Yuan 2,851/tonne ($402.9/t) on Thursday, ending a decline streak for seven working days, Mysteel's daily price assessment showed.

China's alumina futures also strengthened yesterday. The most-traded January 2026 alumina contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange rose by 0.15% by the end of Thursday's daytime trading and climbed a further 0.55% during the nighttime session.

The stabilization reflected a firm price stance adopted by many sellers across China's five major alumina production bases, although trading activity remained subdued, market watchers pointed out. 

By region, the assessed prices for the same grade of alumina in Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, and Guizhou provinces and in the Guangxi autonomous region all remained unchanged from the previous day, averaging between Yuan 2,770/t and Yuan 2,905/t on Thursday.  

Many alumina refiners and traders held firm offers yesterday as the current prices were approaching their cost levels, while primary aluminum smelters still showed limited interest in replenishing the raw material given their rather ample inventories in hand. In consequence, trading activity for spot alumina cargoes was sluggish, with Mysteel hearing no concluded deals in the spot domestic alumina market on Thursday.

In the overseas market, Mysteel noted that one 30,000-tonne alumina cargo was concluded on November 27 at $311.5/t FOB Western Australia for late-December shipment.

Written by Iris Pang, pangjunyu@mysteel.com