Aluminium Ingot Social Inventory Dropped Slightly

SHANGHAI, Sep 5 (SMM) - The aluminium ingot social inventories across China’s eight major markets totalled 681,000 mt as of September 5, down 2,000 mt from last Thursday and 62,000 mt lower than in the same period last year. The figure changed little from the end of August. Each region saw only small fluctuations in their inventory. Inventory in Wuxi and Hangzhou each added 1,000 mt. Inventory in Foshan fell at a much slower pace than before, with a week-on-week decline of 1,000 mt. Despite power rationing-induced smelter shutdowns in Sichuan in August, the total social inventory did not fall sharply. Downstream purchases picked up after aluminium prices fell to 18,000 yuan/mt last week. Downstream orders have shown signs of improvement. The market shall closely watch whether demand recovery will be strong enough to absorb excessive inventory.