The weekly operating rate declined again, further tightening supply. The price of alumina in the north rebounded slightly

Futures: In the night session, the most-traded alumina 2509 contract opened at RMB 2,811 per tonne, with a high of RMB 2,824 per tonne, a low of RMB 2,787 per tonne, and closed at RMB 2,814 per tonne, down RMB 17 per tonne, a decrease of 0.61 per cent, with an open interest of 219,000 lots.

Ore: As of April 18, the SMM imported bauxite index was reported at USD 88.74 per tonne, up USD 0.03 per tonne from the previous trading day, mainly due to a slight increase in caustic soda prices. The SMM Guinea bauxite CIF average price was reported at USD 88 per tonne, unchanged from the previous trading day. The SMM Australia low-temperature bauxite CIF average price was reported at USD 87 per tonne, unchanged from the previous trading day. The SMM Australia high-temperature bauxite CIF average price was reported at USD 81 per tonne, unchanged from the previous trading day.

Industry News:

1. Bauxite Port Inventory: According to SMM statistics on April 18, the total bauxite inventory at nine domestic ports was 17.13 million tonnes, an increase of 1.25 million tonnes from the previous week.
2. According to SMM, data released by the Kazakhstan Statistics Bureau showed that the country's production of unprocessed aluminium and alumina from January to March was 447,432 tonne, down 3.5 per cent Y-o-Y.
3. According to data from the General Administration of Customs, China imported 16.47 million tonnes of bauxite and its concentrates in March 2025, up 14 per cent M-o-M and 39.1 per cent Y-o-Y. The cumulative import from January to March was 47.07 million tonnes, up 29.9 per cent Y-o-Y.
4. Recently, Tangshan City has made significant breakthroughs in industrial layout, with two major aluminium hydroxide projects with a total investment of over RMB 43.5 billion successively launched, each with an annual planned capacity of 7.4 million tonnes.

Basis Report: According to SMM data, on April 18, the SMM alumina index was at a premium of RMB 54 per tonne against the most-traded contract's latest transaction price at 11:30.

Warrant Report: On April 18, the total registered alumina warrants decreased by 6,588 tonnes to 287,700 tonnes compared to the previous trading day. The total registered alumina warrants in Shandong remained unchanged at 3,307 tonnes. The total registered alumina warrants in Henan decreased by 600 tonnes to 11,100 tonnes. The total registered alumina warrants in Guangxi remained unchanged at 43,200 mt. The total registered alumina warrants in Gansu remained unchanged at 16,500 tonnes. The total registered alumina warrants in Xinjiang decreased by 5,988 tonnes to 213,500 tonnes.

Overseas Market: As of April 18, 2025, the FOB alumina price in Western Australia was USD 348 per tonne, with an ocean freight rate of USD 20.55 per tonne. The USD/CNY exchange rate selling price was around 7.32, translating to a domestic mainstream port selling price of approximately RMB 3,127 per tonne, RMB 257 per tonne higher than the domestic alumina price, keeping the alumina import window closed.

Summary: Due to concentrated maintenance at alumina refineries in April, the operating capacity of alumina has continued to decline, dropping to 82.88 million tonnes per year as of last week. The tightening supply of alumina in the short term has slowed the decline in alumina prices, with a slight rebound in northern alumina prices. However, as maintenance gradually ends and new capacities come online, the operating capacity of alumina is expected to rebound. In the medium and long term, alumina prices remain under pressure. In the short term, alumina prices may enter a phase of volatile adjustment.

Note: This article has been issued by SMM and has been published by AL Circle with its original information without any modifications or edits to the core subject/data.