Circulation generally under control, transaction pace steady [SMM South China Spot Aluminum Daily Review]

[SMM Aluminum Express News] Ukraine's Nord-Est begins aluminum recycling operations at US$300,000 facility, targeting 1,680 mt/year capacity. Ukrainian company Nord-Est has commenced trial operations at its aluminum recycling facility in the Solva-Tech Industrial Park in Zakarpattia, western Ukraine. The plant will process aluminum scrap into ingots, with a planned capacity of 140 mt/month, equivalent to approximately 1,680 mt/year. According to Ukrainian lawmaker Dmytro Kysylevskyi, the project involved approximately US$300,000 in investment to refurbish equipment that had been idle since 2012. Full-capacity operations are targeted for spring 2027. The facility will source part of its scrap from a nearby window manufacturing operation. Nord-Est also plans to expand into higher-value aluminum products for the food, automotive and energy equipment industries in 2027. Although the project's capacity is relatively small, it represents an addition to Ukraine's domestic secondary aluminum processing industry, with no direct impact on primary aluminum production.

[SMM Domestic Bonded Zone Aluminum Ingot Inventory] On October 12, SMM statistics showed aluminum ingot inventory in Shanghai bonded zone at 90,100 tonnes and in Guangdong bonded zone at 25,000 tonnes, with total inventory at 115,100 tonnes, up 500 tonnes from last week.