According to data from the Shanghai Metal Market, primary aluminum inventories in eight major consuming regions in China fell by 29,000 tons week-on-week, including SHFE warrants. Thus, on Thursday, Nov. 24, inventories totaled 518,000 tons, a plunge of 12,000 tons compared to the third Monday of the month (Nov. 21). To date, inventories have fallen by 500,000 tons in November and are down by 96,000 tons on a monthly scale compared to the same period last year.
Stocks in Wuxi marked a new low as cargo arrivals continued to fall, which, as sources confirmed, will also occur next week. Logistical problems were dealt with in Gongyi, however, the logistics sector had less cargo than usual. Considering that production in downstream agencies in Henan is not continuous, the inventory in Gongyi needs to be at full capacity next week. In Foshan, there was a tightening of inventory quantities due to strong trading. The possibility of rising inventories in the coming days is ambiguous due to the decrease in the production of aluminum smelters and the increase in the proportion of aluminum liquid production.SMM data shows that the total aluminum liquid production of smelters fell by 69.8% in October. It can be predicted that the social inventory of aluminum will remain at a low level in the near future.
Last week, i.e. Nov. 17, primary aluminum stocks were 547,000 tons, slipping in eight major consumption regions, and were 518,000 tons by Nov. 24 (Thursday), down week-on-week.
Inventories of aluminum ingots in Gongyi escalated by 2,000 tons to close at 63,000 tons on Nov. 24. Aluminum inventories in other Chinese provinces were unchanged or declined, such as in Wuxi, where stocks fell by 23,000 tons to stay at 119,000 tons, which can be considered a new low. In Nanhai, inventories of aluminum ingots fell by 7,000 tons to 125,000 tons as of Nov. 24. And in Shanghai, aluminum ingot stocks closed at 40,000 tons, down 1,000 tons in a week. Other Chinese provinces such as Hangzhou, Tianjin, Chongqing and Linyi recorded stagnant aluminum inventories, with no significant difference compared to the previous week.
The downstream sector of the aluminum industry witnessed limited but prominent events. According to the European Aluminum Foil Association (EAFA), aluminum foil supply in the third quarter of 2022 declined slightly year-on-year to 237,800 tons, but increased by 0.4% year-on-year. General Motors announced a $45 million investment plan for its Bedford, Indiana, aluminum die-casting plant. According to a company press release, the investment will be used solely to increase GM’s production capacity for aluminum unit castings that meet electric vehicle specifications to meet the growing demand for pickups that meet the same standards as the GMC Sierra EV and Chevrolet Silverado EV.
Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA) was awarded a clean energy certificate for 1.1 million MWh of electricity from the Emirates Water and Electricity Corporation (EWEC) to assist in the production of CelestiAL solar aluminum.
The European Aluminum Foil Association (EAFA) showed that deliveries of aluminum foil in the third quarter of 2022 fell slightly by 0.3% year-on-year to 237,800 tonnes, but were up 0.4% year-to-date (YTD) compared to a year ago.
Post time: Nov-28-2022