SMM News, March 27:
In the morning session, SHFE aluminum 2604 fluctuated downward, while its center was higher than the previous day. Affected by the rise in futures, shipment sentiment increased from yesterday today, though some sellers still held back from selling, and sellers showed a strong willingness to hold prices firm. Today, mainstream transaction prices in the market were concentrated at premiums of 10-20 yuan/mt against the SHFE aluminum 04 contract. Today, the shipment sentiment index in the east China market was 2.92, up 0.29 MoM; the purchasing sentiment index was 3.22, down 0.17 MoM.
Over the past two days, aluminum prices continued to fluctuate, with bullish and bearish sentiment intertwined in the central China market. As the weekend approached, downstream processing enterprises saw stockpiling demand fall short of expectations, and purchasing traders remained cautious, with no large-scale procurement or stockpiling. After 9:30, market trading became increasingly sluggish, with the market overall tending to expand discounts for transactions. Suppliers showed low willingness to hold prices firm, and final actual transaction prices were around parity with the central China price to a discount of 20 yuan against the central China price.
Today, the shipment sentiment index in the central China market was 2.65, up 0.01 MoM; the purchasing sentiment index was 2.38, down 0.03 MoM.
Inventory side, aluminum ingot inventory in major consumption regions increased 1,500 mt MoM today, with destocking mainly coming from Gongyi and Guangdong. In the short term, after the Chinese New Year, aluminum ingot inventory continued its seasonal buildup, and supported by bullish market sentiment, premiums are expected to remain on a narrowing trend.
