DAILY: Chinese spot alumina prices largely mark time, futures fluctuate

On Tuesday, the national average spot price for smelter-grade alumina with a purity above 98.6% held steady for a second consecutive working day at Yuan 2,698/tonne ($385/t) including the 13% VAT, according to Mysteel's daily assessment.

However, this price level still marked a more than four-year low and was close to the domestic alumina industry's average cash cost of around Yuan 2,566/t in November, Mysteel Global noted.

By region, prices for the same grade of alumina in China's five major alumina-producing areas - Shandong, Henan, Shanxi and Guizhou provinces and the Guangxi autonomous region - all hovered flat on day within a range of Yuan 2,600-2,790/t, marking the second straight working day of stability.

In contrast, the domestic alumina futures market fluctuated on the same day, as the most-traded May 2026 alumina contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange slumped by 1.33% during Tuesday's daytime trading but rebounded by 0.47% overnight to close at Yuan 2,752/t by 1 a.m. on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, buying activity in the physical market remained lackluster yesterday, with Mysteel not hearing of any finalized deals. Divergent price expectations led to a stalemate between alumina buyers and sellers, market sources said.

Most primary aluminum smelters with restocking needs continued to seek lower purchase prices amid a relatively ample alumina supply, while alumina producers and traders were reluctant to cut offers as they were at risk of incurring losses.

Written by Iris Pang, pangjunyu@mysteel.com