SHANGHAI, Apr 24 (SMM) - Aluminium smelters in south-west China purchased 4,000 mt of alumina at 2,800 yuan/mt last week, down 20 yuan/mt from the previous transaction. Alumina refineries in north China have maintained low operating rates since the beginning of this year to cope with meagre profits and other issues, thus their finished product inventories are limited, discouraging them from selling at much lower prices.
Aluminium smelters in Yunnan have curtailed 783,000 mt of capacity since February due to power rationing and remain at risk of additional cuts as the local power supply problem is still unresolved, triggering sell-off by some local alumina refineries who have relatively high inventories. Buyers had stronger bargaining power, thus spot prices went down.
