China’s aluminium ingot inventories approached 850,000 tonnes last week as per SMM’s prediction

Over the weekend, inventories grew by 4,000 tonnes and stood 356,000 tonnes higher than the pre-holiday level. But despite the recent uptrend, inventories stayed at a low level for the same period of the past seven years. Nevertheless, inventories advanced towards 850,000 tonnes, as predicted before the holiday.

According to SMM data, the outflow of aluminium ingots from warehouses in the fourth week after the holiday was 109,000 tonnes, down by 6,900 tonnes W-o-W, contributing primarily to the rise in inventories. One of the primary reasons behind the decreased outflow from warehouses was the lower volume of railway cargo in transit.

However, the overall aluminium ingot outflow from warehouses remained stable till the second week of March 2024 to meet the growing downstream demand, given that fresh primary metal production has taken a back seat due to the ongoing dry season. SMM believes that the rise in aluminium ingot inventories last week was intermittent and would drop in the short term.