China's alumina prices down further, purchasing active

Mysteel's survey among the country's five major alumina producing regions showed that Southwest China's Guizhou province saw the highest spot alumina price of Yuan 3,550/tonne ($487) on Thursday, with a drop of Yuan 100/t from Wednesday. East China's Shandong province recorded the lowest spot price of Yuan 3,300/t, lower by Yuan 60/t from the previous day.

Meanwhile, spot alumina prices in North China's Shanxi and Central China's Henan both decreased by Yuan 60/t to Yuan 3,370/t and Yuan 3,390/t, respectively. The price in Southwest China's Guangxi dropped by Yuan 80/t to Yuan 3,450/t.

In the futures market, major alumina futures contracts listed on the Shanghai Futures Exchange all lost some ground on Thursday, with the most-traded alumina futures contract for May delivery down by Yuan 31/t to close the overnight trading session at Yuan 3,335/t.

With the lower prices, trading activity for alumina improved in the physical market. The total trading volume of spot alumina reached 13,000 tonnes on Thursday, a 30% increase from the previous day, according to Mysteel's tracking. 

In Henan, two deals were concluded at Yuan 3,320/t with electrolytic aluminum producers from Sichuan. One deal involved 3,000 tonnes of alumina from a trader, and the other saw 5,000 tonnes from an alumina producer. In Guizhou, a trader sold 5,000 tonnes of alumina at Yuan 3,420/t also to an electrolytic aluminum plant in Sichuan.

Alumina traders were willing to sell spot alumina at lower prices out of concern for an oversupply of the feedstock. As of February 13, the total alumina inventory in China stood at 3.8 million tonnes, with an increase of 6,000 tonnes compared to the previous week, Mysteel's survey showed.

Written by Iris Pang, pangjunyu@mysteel.com

Edited by Alyssa Ren, rentingting@mysteel.com