DAILY: Chinese spot alumina prices stablize, futures retreat overnight

Mysteel assessed the national average spot price of metallurgical-grade alumina with a purity exceeding 98.6% at Yuan 2,698/tonne ($385/t) including 13% VAT on Monday, staying unchanged from last Friday and ending a losing streak for 17 working days straight.

Regionally, prices assessed for this grade in Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, and Guizhou provinces and in the Guangxi autonomous region all hovered flat from Friday, averaging between Yuan 2,600/t and Yuan 2,790/t.

In the derivatives market, alumina futures retreated overnight after gains in their earlier sessions. The most-traded May 2026 alumina contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slumped by 2.3% to Yuan 2,724/t as of the close of Monday's nighttime trading session at 1 a.m. Tuesday.

In the physical market, buying interest for alumina was subdued yesterday, with Mysteel not hearing of any concluded deals.

Many primary aluminum smelters refrained from making enquiries or concluding deals at the start of this week after stepping up purchases late last week, market participants said. Alumina producers and traders offered few quotations and maintained stable spot prices.

Written by Iris Pang, pangjunyu@mysteel.com