SMM April 24 News:
[SMM] On April 24, SMM A00 aluminum (Foshan) was quoted at 24,530 yuan/mt, down 40, at a discount of 345 to the current-month contract, unchanged (unit: yuan/mt).
Aluminum prices continued to edge down today, with spot and futures markets generally in the doldrums and trading within a range. Futures prices and the spot-futures price spread weakened in tandem, and the price spread between northern and southern regions widened further, creating arbitrage opportunities for cross-regional cargo transfers. Slight destocking signs emerged on the inventory side, laying the groundwork for future market movements. Under the combined influence of multiple factors, holders' willingness to hold prices firm gradually strengthened, hold-back-from-selling sentiment heated up, and the room for spot price concessions narrowed, with only slight downward adjustments in quoted prices. Mainstream discounts were maintained at -20 to 0 yuan/mt, and pressure on cargo circulation eased notably. On the demand side, marginal recovery was observed as downstream enterprises took advantage of low spot prices to stockpile ahead of the holiday, purchasing in batches as needed, with rigid demand released steadily. In the trading segment, there was concurrent purchasing demand to complete current-month input invoices and fulfill long-term contract orders, and the overall market transaction atmosphere improved steadily. Mainstream transaction prices today were concentrated in the range of SHFE aluminum 05 contract plus -365 yuan/mt to SHFE aluminum 05 contract plus -325 yuan/mt.
