SMM, July 21:
In early trading, the center of the SHFE aluminum 2606 contract was lower than the same period of the previous trading day. Affected by the off-season, market purchasing sentiment remained relatively weak, and with ample circulating supply, the decline in aluminum prices failed to boost purchasing demand or price acceptance. The mainstream transaction price was a discount of 10-20 yuan/mt against the SHFE aluminum August contract. In east China, the shipment sentiment index stood at 3.08, down 0.08 from the previous trading day; the purchasing sentiment index was 2.90, down 0.02 from the previous trading day.
Today, futures aluminum weakened significantly compared with yesterday’s early-trading opening price. In central China, traders raised their offers again. However, constrained by low purchase willingness from downstream processing enterprises and the monthly average price of long-term contracts being lower than the current price, market spot circulation was ample, slightly suppressing actual transaction premiums. The final transaction price range in central China was around a discount of 110-140 yuan/mt against the SHFE aluminum August contract. In central China, the shipment sentiment index stood at 3.05, up 0.02 from the previous trading day; the purchasing sentiment index was 3.00, unchanged from the previous trading day.
In terms of inventory, aluminum ingot inventory in major consumption regions fell 0.15 from the previous trading day, with destocking mainly in Guangdong and Wuxi.
