SMM

Aluminum billet inventory dropped to 64,900 mt on December 21, down 10,500 mt from last Monday and 17,300 WoW, marking a near 3-year low and accelerating depletion. Midweek saw record lows amid active supply and demand. Supply-side, since December, a northern group's cut in billet production eased early-month supply pressure. The arrivals of aluminium billets in the three major consumption areas have remained tight. Demand-side, billet processing fees have notably pulled back, stopping downstream factories from substituting ingots for billets short-term, thus improving billet outflow from warehouses last week.