Imports of Unwrought Aluminium Alloy in Nov Gained Slightly MoM, but Continued to Drop YoY

SHANGHAI, Dec 27 (SMM) - Customs data showed that China imported 105,900 mt of unwrought aluminium alloy in November 2022, a year-on-year decrease of 11.4% and a month-on-month increase of 6.1%. Imports in the first 11 months of 2022 totalled 1.19 million mt, an increase of 15.6% on a yearly basis. In terms of export, China exported 18,900 mt of unwrought aluminium alloy in November, up 57.5% from the previous year and 3.5% from a month ago. The total exports from January to November amounted to 204,700 mt, a year-on-year growth of 44.3%.

In November, Pakistan replaced the Russian Federation as the fifth largest unwrought aluminium alloy suppliers to China. The top four suppliers were Malaysia, Thailand, South Korea and Vietnam, with import volume of 40,200 mt, 10,900 mt, 10,700 mt and 8,900 mt respectively. Imports from these four countries accounted for 38%, 10.3%, 10.1% and 8.4% respectively of the total imports, and the remaining countries accounted for about 33%. Imports of unwrought aluminium alloy from major source countries changed slightly in November. Specifically, the imports from Malaysia and South Korea were basically stable, the imports from Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan and India increased slightly by 1,000-4,000 mt, while the imports from the Russian Federation decreased by 1,000 mt. It should be noted that exports to Japan still remained below 10,000 mt.

China's top three importing provinces of unwrought aluminium alloy in November were Zhejiang, Guangdong, and Jiangsu. The import volume of stood at 44,000 mt, 21,900 mt, and 9,200 mt each, accounting for 41.5%, 20.6%, and 8.7% respectively. The imports of the rest provinces accounted for less than 30% of the total.

Overall, the domestic imports of unwrought aluminium alloy in November increased on the month but slipped year-on-year. At the same time, the exports climbed both year-on-year and month-on-month. In terms of imports, most of the aluminium alloy ingots arriving at Chinese ports in November were under orders placed in September and October. In September, the real-time import loss was less than 500 yuan/mt, but expanded to around 1,000 yuan/mt at the end of September when domestic aluminium alloy prices edged down. The offers of imported ADC12 secondary aluminium alloy from Malaysia and South Korea were basically maintained at $2,400/mt since December with small fluctuations. In addition, when the exchange rate of RMB against the US dollar fell below seven again, the import cost was reduced. However, the off-season was ongoing in the domestic market, and after the pandemic control was relaxed, many secondary aluminium plants and die-casting plants have seen an increasing number of infected employees. The normal production of enterprises was undermined, resulting in a decrease in downstream demand again. The weak demand and another wave of covid-19 dampened the enthusiasm of traders to sign new orders. As such, the arrivals of imported aluminium alloy ingots at ports in December are expected to decline.