Aluminum ingot inventories dropped mid-week

On May 16, 2024, SMM data showed that the social inventory of aluminum ingots in China’s eight major markets was 747,000 mt, (the amount for sale stood at 621,000 mt), down 31,000 mt WoW, down 31,000 mt compared with May 13 but up 7,000 mt YoY. Inventories dropped mid-week, mainly contributed by Gongyi and Wuxi, with each seeing decline of over 10,000 mt compared with May 13. Inventories in other consumption areas also dropped slightly. According to SMM analysis, China's aluminum ingot inventory dropped mid-week mainly due to: (1) the continued closure of the import window; (2) the inventory pressure of upstream aluminum plants eased, and the arrivals in mainstream consumption areas were relatively small; (3) Low ingot volume due to high proportion of aluminum liquid. (4) Downstream purchases in Gongyi and other areas increased slightly mid-week. With expected increase in ingot casting volume in May, supply pressure increased slightly. With the gradual transition to the off-season, demand was mediocre. However, as primary aluminum import business still suffered severe losses, and there were limited inflows of imported goods in the market, domestic inventories may drop slightly.