Downward pressure persists on SMM aluminium prices; Alumina stagnates after surge

The aluminium metal segment in the Shanghai Metals Market has seen an across-the-board downward pricing trend on Monday, December 16. On one hand, the non-ferrous metal's primary and secondary ingot pricing has declined, and on the other hand, the alumina pricing has remained stagnant after abrupt inflation over the past four months.

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Primary aluminium pricing

The price of A00 primary aluminium ingot has witnessed a subtraction of RMB 160 per tonne, standing at RMB 20,160 per tonne. The first week of the month (December 06) closed with the metal's primary ingot's average pricing listed at RMB 20,400 per tonne, and the second week commenced (December 09) with the prices gaining a further RMB 10, finally towering at RMB 20,410 per tonne. Today, as the market on the third week of the year's last month dawns, the ingot pricing saw a 1.23 per cent drop W-o-W and a 3.31 per cent drop M-o-M (pricing on Friday, November 15, was RMB 20,850 per tonne).

The average A00 aluminium ingot pricing has fallen in most of the provinces, with average prices of a00 aluminium ingot listed as RMB 20,000 per tonne (-130) in Gongyi, RMB 20,240 per tonne (-140) in Foshan, RMB 20,150 per tonne (-150) in Wuxi, RMB 20,130 per tonne (-180) in Hangzhou, RMB 20,170 per tonne (-150) in Chongqing, RMB 20,210 per tonne (-140) in Shenyang, RMB 20,210 per tonne (-160) in Tianjin and RMB 20,080 per tonne (-140) in Linyi. The price range in the provinces has varied between RMB 19,980 per tonne to RMB 20,260 per tonne.

Secondary aluminium pricing

The secondary aluminium alloy ingot prices have also mostly remained static in the Shanghai Metals Market with a few exceptions wherein the variant A365 has witnessed a loss of RMB 150 per tonne on Monday's SMM market while being listed at an average price of RMB 20,600 per tonne. Variant A360 has also lost 150 bucks and nestled at RMB 20,750 per tonne.

Alumina pricing

Alumina's average pricing has stood stagnant, similar to the previous week's closing price at RMB 5,769 per tonne. The Shanghai Metals Market price indicator for alumina on Wednesday, December 11, showed a gain of RMB 8 per tonne, totalling RMB 5769 per tonne. It was the last time the average price of alumina saw a change. All the provincial pricing stood stagnant as well, apart from the two regions — Lianyungang and Bayuquan where alumina's price has gone down RMB 50 per tonne and was listed as RMB 6,150 per tonne (range RMB 6,110-6,190 per tonne).

Other pricing

High-purity aluminium variants 99.99 per cent and 99.96 per cent also glided downwards on Monday, and both have lost 200 bucks, standing at an average of RMB 27,200 and RMB 28,200 per tonne.

On the same date, low-carbon aluminium was priced at RMB 21,288 per tonne, with a deflation of RMB 131 per tonne which is still 2.64 lower when compared to M-o-M pricing (price on November 15, 2024, was RMB 21,863 per tonne).