Futures Continue to Surge, Spot Premium Faces Pressure [SMM South China Spot Aluminum Daily Review]

Published: Aug 12, 2026 11:38

Save

SMM, August 12:

Today’s futures market continued to surge, and South China’s spot aluminum faced pressure from “three mountains.” First, high absolute prices combined with high premiums prompted suppliers to rush to sell for cash, at one point causing a slight price collapse as lowering discounts failed to stem the decline; second, demand support was clearly insufficient, with downstream users only making passive just-in-time procurement and traders slowly entering the market to push for lower prices and buy low; third, the emergence of partial bearish sentiment further exacerbated the imbalance of the first two factors. Mainstream quotations were discounts of 30–10 yuan/mt, and in circulation discounts were rampant with a fair number of extremely low prices, while transactions increasingly showed a pattern of quoted prices with few deals. Spot transaction prices were concentrated at premiums of 100 to 140 yuan/mt against the SHFE aluminum 2608 contract.

Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM's internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.

For any inquiries or for more information, please contact: lemonzhao@smm.cn

For more information on how to access our research reports, please contact:service.en@smm.cn

Related News

1 hour ago

Aluminum Futures Rise Despite Sluggish Buying Sentiment in Central China Market

Aluminum futures prices rose for several consecutive days, while buying sentiment in the central China market remained sluggish. Downstream processing enterprises, constrained by factors such as insufficient off-season orders and high in-factory inventory, compounded by elevated aluminum prices, kept their buying sentiment at low levels, with a further declining trend. As aluminum prices climbed and premiums eased somewhat, suppliers' willingness to sell recovered slightly. Ultimately, the actual transaction price range in the central China market was centered around a discount of 100-140 yuan/mt against the SHFE aluminum August contract.

1 hour ago

Futures surged consecutively, premiums squeezed [SMM South China Spot Aluminum Daily Review]

1 hour ago

3 hours ago

[Aluminum climbs above $3,300 as stalled Hormuz talks and record-low inventories fuel supply fears]

LME aluminium hit its highest level since June, trading around $3,337 per tonne on August 11, up more than 8% since the end of June, as stalled US-Iran negotiations over reopening the Strait of Hormuz—a route that once carried around 10% of global aluminium production, raise fears of prolonged Middle East supply disruption; the concern is amplified by LME warehouse inventories sitting near 250,000 tonnes, their lowest since November 1990, with new supply from China and Indonesia unable to offset the decline, while Norsk Hydro has warned the global aluminium deficit could exceed 900,000 tonnes this year if Hormuz trade isn't normalized, leaving the market caught between fresh Asian supply and a shrinking inventory cushion against further Middle East shocks.

3 hours ago