DAILY: Chinese spot alumina holds steady amid tight availability

Mysteel assessed the national average price for metallurgical-grade alumina with a minimum purity of 98.6% at Yuan 2,696/tonne ($395/t) on Monday, standing still for the fifth consecutive working day.

At the regional level, assessed prices for the same grade of alumina across China's five major alumina production regions - Shandong, Henan, Shanxi, Guizhou, and Guangxi - were all unchanged from last Friday, ranging between Yuan 2,650/t and Yuan 2,790/t. Prices in Guizhou and Guangxi have held steady for six straight working days, Mysteel Global noted.

In the derivatives market, alumina futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange remained volatile. The most-traded September alumina contract jumped by 2.66% during Monday's daytime trading but eased by 0.38% overnight, closing the nighttime session at Yuan 2,877/t as of 1 a.m. Tuesday.

In the physical market, most alumina suppliers maintained stable offers amid temporary tightening in availability. Meanwhile, many downstream primary aluminum smelters stayed on the sidelines, anticipating potential price declines, although some with urgent restocking needs proceeded with purchases of the raw material.

Buying activity was limited yesterday, with Mysteel hearing of only one deal concluded in the domestic spot market. A smelter in Xinjiang purchased 10,000 tonnes of North China-origin alumina via tender at a delivered price of Yuan 3,010-3,020/t including freight and the VAT.

Written by Iris Pang, pangjunyu@mysteel.com