The outbound volume of the aluminium billet rose by 800 mt to 48,300 mt last week, an increase of 1.6%. Aluminium prices fluctuated at high levels, and downstream users were less willing to purchase.

The outbound volume of the aluminium billet dropped by 6,800 mt to 38,300 mt last week, a decrease of 15%.

China's aluminium extrusion exports in March 2021 were 58,000 mt, down 2% month-on-month and 22% year-on-year, latest customs data show.

SMM data showed that aluminium billet stocks across the five major consumption areas — Foshan, Wuxi, Huzhou, Changzhou and Nanchang — in China decreased 1.5% or 2,500 mt from a week ago to 162,800 mt as of Thursday April 22.

SMM data showed that stocks of 6063 aluminium billet across the five major consumption areas – Foshan, Wuxi, Huzhou, Changzhou and Nanchang – in China dropped 4,300 mt from the previous week to 193,800 mt as of Apr 1.

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Operating rates across major aluminium processors rose slightly last week as they had to accept high aluminium prices to deliver orders. End-users find it difficult to accept current high aluminium prices. As some end-users adopt quarterly or semi-annual pricing, high aluminium prices will not pass through to end-users until they complete Q2 pricing.

SMM has surveyed 41 aluminium processing enterprises across 12 provinces. Operating rates across major aluminium processors increased 19 percentage points from a week ago to 60.1% last week.

Shanghai Metals Market's CEO Adam Fan wishes all a healthy and bullish Chinese New Year!

Operating rates across major aluminium processors decreased 3.6 percentage points from a week ago to 71.8% last week. The decline was mainly due to less operations ahead of Chinese New Year and tightening of logistics.