SHANGHAI, Feb 14 (SMM) - Affected by the off-season and approaching CNY holidays, aluminium ingot social inventory entered an accumulation cycle in January, with a monthly increase of 493,000 mt. Since after the CNY holidays, the social inventory has kept growing. And the weekly increases during and after the holidays both exceeded levels in the same period of previous years. As of February 10, the social inventory had soared from 740,000 mt on January 19 to 1.19 million mt, the highest when comparing to the same period in the past three years. The inventory ballooned 446,000 mt or 60% from pre-CNY levels, and added 241,000 mt or 26% on a year-on-year basis.
The accumulation trend looks likely to extend until the end of February when the inventory is estimated to exceed 1.3 million mt. SMM will keep a close eye on when the market will enter a destocking cycle after downstream demand recovers.
