DAILY: Chinese alumina prices track lower in spot, futures markets

Mysteel's daily price assessment showed that on Tuesday, the national average spot price for smelter-grade alumina with a purity above 98.6% dipped by Yuan 3/tonne ($0.4/t) from Monday to Yuan 2,688/t including the 13% VAT.
 
By region, the assessed prices for the same grade of alumina in Shandong, Henan, and Shanxi provinces all slipped by Yuan 5/t on day to average between Yuan 2,590/t and Yuan 2670/t, while those in the Guangxi autonomous region and Guizhou province were unchanged at Yuan 2,745/t and Yuan 2,785/t respectively.

Notably, the price in Guangxi has held stable for ten consecutive working days since late December, Mysteel Global noted.

 
Meanwhile, domestic alumina futures also moved lower yesterday. The most-traded May 2026 alumina contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) slumped by 2.08% by the end of Tuesday's daytime trading session and dropped by a further 0.64% overnight to close at Yuan 2,790/t by 1 a.m. Wednesday.

Trading activity in the spot market was subdued yesterday, with Mysteel not hearing of any concluded deals. Many alumina buyers had already secured sufficient inventories over the past few days and chose to stay on the sidelines amid abundant supply.

On the supply side, some alumina producers and traders facing mounting stock and sales pressure continued to trim offers, market participants said. With most delivery warehouses registered with the SHFE across the country being fully booked, some alumina sellers are likely to face rising inventory pressure in the near term, which may further weigh on alumina prices.

Written by Iris Pang, pangjunyu@mysteel.com

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