SHANGHAI, Dec 29 (SMM) - Aluminium ingot: The aluminium ingot social inventories across China’s eight major markets totalled 493,000 mt as of December 29, up 18,000 mt from a week ago. Nevertheless, the figure was down 23,000 mt from the end of November and 306,000 mt less than a year ago. Wuxi led the overall growth, with an increase of 24,000 mt from a week ago to above 110,000 mt. The inventory in Gongyi exceeded 80,000 mt after two consecutive weeks of rise, but the increase was relatively slow. The inventory in Foshan remained at a low level due to limited arrivals and output production in Guizhou, and this situation is expected to continue for some time. Increased aluminium ingot output combined with poor downstream consumption in the off-season are likely to push the social inventory into the cycle of seasonal accumulation. However, in view of the production cuts in Yunnan and Guizhou, market attention should be focused on the pace of cargo arrivals and magnitude of inventory accumulation.
Aluminium billet: The domestic aluminium billet social inventory stood at 60,900 mt as of December 29, up 5,100 mt from a week ago. Despite falling demand, the inventory in Foshan dropped 1,500 mt on a weekly basis as many billet plants reduced their shipments to this region. Wuxi (+4,400 mt) and Huzhou (+3,000 mt) were major contributors to the overall inventory accumulation, while inventories in other regions saw only small changes. Affected by falling orders and soaring pandemic, there were massive output cuts among billet plants. The orders and production of aluminium extruders also declined. The overall billet supply remained abundant. The inventory in south China is expected to gradually grow in the future, while that in east China may rise significantly as relatively higher conversion margins and stocking demand will attract billet plants to ship their cargoes to this region.
