Mysteel's daily price assessment showed that the national average price for smelter-grade alumina with a minimum purity of 98.6% dropped to 2,762 Yuan/tonne, flat compared to the previous day.
The stable price trend can be attributed to the offering prices in China's five key alumina production regions, where the prices all stood flat from the prior day at Yuan 2,765/tonne in Shandong, Yuan 2,790/tonne in Henan, Yuan 2,800/tonne in Shanxi, Yuan 2,675/tonne in Guangxi, and Yuan 2,780/tonne in Guizhou, based on Mysteel's assessment.
In the derivatives market, alumina futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange showed slight volatility. The most-traded alumina contract for September delivery edged up by 0.41% by the end of Thursday's daytime trading and went up by 0.29% overnight, closing the nighttime session at Yuan 2,721/t as of 1 a.m. Friday, July 10, 2026.
Alumina futures price has come under pressure recently, prompting some traders to soften their offers and pulling transaction prices lower. As new and restarted capacity in southern China continues to ramp up, south-to-north shipments are on the rise. With futures prices declining, the traders have grown more willing to sell on the spot market, and some lowpriced warehouse receipts have been gradually digested, which in turn provided certain support to futures price.
Mysteel's survey showed that as of July 9, China's alumina traders' inventories stood at 6.331 million tonnes, up 25,000 tonnes from the previous week. Recent typhoons and persistent heavy rainfall across multiple regions have curbed logistics efficiency at ports and terminals.
On the supply side, while some production cuts and maintenance activities have occurred, the concentrated commissioning of new capacity and rapid restarts of idled plants are increasing spot availability and modestly building alumina refineries' in-plant inventories.
In the near term, domestic alumina supply continues to grow steadily, while traders' inventories keep accumulating, increasing spot market liquidity and giving buyers the upper hand in price negotiations. However, attention should remain on potential production adjustments in Guangxi and other regions due to natural disasters. Prices are expected to stay soft in the short term.
Written by Aggie Hu, huchenying@mysteel.com
