SHANGHAI, Sep 22 (SMM) - SMM aluminium ingot social inventory stood at 666,000 mt as of Thursday September 22, down 9,000 mt from a week ago and 19,000 mt compared with this Monday September 19. The figure was 122,000 mt less than the same period last year and 11,000 lower than the level recorded by end August. In detail, the reductions were mainly found in Wuxi, Nanhai and Hangzhou. The arrivals in Wuxi and Gongyi were affected to varying degrees due to pandemic control measures that restricted rail transportation in Xinjian. In addition, the shipments of aluminium billet from Xinjian were also contained. The inventory in Nanhai fell mainly as a result of the production cuts in Yunnan province. Nonetheless, the open import window will supplement the domestic supply cuts to some extent, but the scale will be limited as the bonded zone inventory is merely 30,000 mt in addition to some direct imports and those in transport. Looking into next week, if the downstream restocking demand is released intensively ahead of the National Day holiday, aluminium ingot social inventory will remain low or fall slightly.
SMM aluminium billet inventory fell 8,800 mt from a week ago to 106,100 mt as of Thursday September 22. Specifically, the inventory in Foshan lost 7,800 mt or 10.64% on a weekly basis due to contracting shipments from places afar like Xinjiang which are with higher freight cost when the local aluminium prices were basically flat from those in east China. In Wuxi and Changzhou, the regional inventory saw a weekly gain of 300 mt and 500 mt respectively, and the buyers still purchased on rigid demand. The inventory in Huzhou fell 2,000 mt amid rising demand before the National Day holiday. The inventory recorded an increase of 200 mt in Nanchang as downstream demand has not yet improved palpably. On the whole, the market sentiment was relatively stable this week as aluminium prices fluctuated narrowly, while pre-holiday restocking pulled down the social inventory to some extent. It is expected that the billet inventory will keep falling slightly in the last trading week ahead of the National Day holiday, when the downstream players are expected to carry on the restocking activates.
