Looming Collapse Of Prebaked Anode Prices To Reduce Chinese Aluminium Smelters’ Costs Further In May

SHANGHAI, May 4 (SMM) – In May, prebaked anode prices are expected to slump nearly 1,000 yuan/mt, while alumina prices have shown no signs of bottoming out, thus there is still room for aluminium costs to decline in the future.

Weekly review: Alumina and coal prices both fell last week. Smelters with captive power plants saw their power costs drop slightly, but power grid tariffs and hydropower prices remained stable. The real-time full costs of smelters dipped 6 yuan/mt from a week ago to 16,882 yuan/mt as of last Friday, while SMM A00 aluminium prices kept falling and stood at 18,480 yuan/mt, reducing smelters’ profits by 544 yuan/mt to 1,597 yuan/mt.