China Aluminum Inventories Keep Growing, SMM Says

CME raised the margin requirements for some aluminum futures contracts to $5,000, with the new rules taking effect after the close on April 3 local time.

On March 31, the commissioning and trial production of the Green Technological Transformation Project for Aluminum-Based New Materials of Shandong Lubei Haisheng Biological Co., Ltd. was launched. Since construction began in 2024, the project had completed a cumulative investment of 455 million yuan. After the project is fully put into operation, it will save 128,000 mt of standard coal in comprehensive energy consumption annually, significantly improve the level of comprehensive resource utilization, and further consolidate the foundation for the enterprise's alumina capacity of 1 million mt/year.

Recently, construction officially began on the high-end rare earth aluminum alloy project in the Baotou Jinshan Economic Development Zone, with a total investment of approximately 500 million yuan and annual output of 100,000 mt. The project will be advanced in an orderly manner in two phases. Phase I will build a 30,000 mt high-end rare earth aluminum alloy production line, focusing on technology R&D and capacity release to rapidly achieve scaled-up production. Phase II will expand capacity by 70,000 mt, further extend, supplement, and strengthen the industrial chain, optimize the product mix, increase added value, and support Guyang in building a distinctive high-end rare earth aluminum alloy industrial cluster.