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China alumina futures struck three-month high on tight supply

China's alumina futures struck a nearthreemonth high up on Tuesday, as growing need and restricted supply fuelled a rally of the essential component used in making aluminium.

The most-traded October alumina agreement on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) struck 4,139 yuan ($ 579.72) per metric lot in early trading, the highest since late May and up 17% so far this month.

It closed day-time trade 0.5% lower at 4,013 yuan.

Industrial metals gained assistance from the turn of macro-economic outlook, and alumina is (likewise) underpinned by its tightening up products, stated Xu Zhongyuan, an alumina expert at AZ Global Consulting, a local aluminium consulting company.

Easing worries about a possible U.S. financial recession and hopes the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates imminently have supported rates throughout the nonferrous metals sector.

With constrained capacity growth and recent rainy season interrupting some bauxite mining operations, alumina output in China tape-recorded warm growth, especially when compared with the production development of main aluminium, the consumer of alumina.

China's alumina output grew 2.2% in the first 7 months of the year, compared to a 6.7% development of main aluminium throughout the exact same duration, data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

Rewarding revenue in the aluminium sector, driven by rising costs in previous months, has actually encouraged smelters to ramp up production and intake of alumina.

Also supporting SHFE alumina costs has been a 31.5% drop in deliverable stocks within three weeks to 140,136 lots on Friday, exchange information revealed.

There is not much deliverable product offered in the market, stated a China-based trader, including that even though alumina supply in China has actually improved somewhat given that April, the majority of of it is not deliverable on the exchange.

So funds want to squeeze a little bit, the trader added.

Supply-demand stress is anticipated to remain in the near term, which can reinforce alumina futures to 4,100 yuan or above, said AZ Global's Xu.

On the other hand, Chinese domestic supply is likewise limited amidst rising exports, driven by higher ex-China costs that were pushed up by tight supply and closures of alumina refineries.

China exported 957,368 lots of alumina in January-July, up 37.4% from the 696,666 lots exported in the very same duration in 2023, customs information showed.

Australian alumina export prices, assessed by Shanghai Metals Market, << SMM-ALM-FOB > increased to $512 a lot, the highest because March 2022.

(source: Reuters)