WEEKLY: China's spot alumina market remains oversupplied

China's alumina production stayed broadly unchanged last week, despite temporary maintenance conducted by some refiners in North China's Shanxi province and Central China's Henan province causing them to scale back output. These short-term stoppages had limited impact on medium- and long-term supply, leaving the spot market's supply-demand imbalance largely unresolved.

According to Mysteel's weekly survey, total smelter-grade alumina output among the 44 Chinese alumina refiners under Mysteel tracking ticked up marginally by 0.2% on week to 1.84 million tonnes during the December 19-25 week. During the same week, the average capacity utilization rate across the same 44 producers rose slightly