SHANGHAI, May 4 (SMM) – Aluminium ingots: The aluminium ingot social inventories across China’s eight major markets stood at 835,000 mt as of May 4, down 18,000 mt from a week ago and 197,000 mt from the same period last year. During the Labour Day holiday, the total inventory of aluminium ingots was still in a downward trend. According to feedback from market players and warehouse operators, the main reason for the destocking was low arrivals. Wuxi led the overall decline, driven by sharp drop in arrivals. In south China, both aluminium ingot and billet stocks rose slightly due to cargo arrivals during the holiday. In Gongyi, the inventory fluctuated little, but pre-holiday stocking in the region was lower than expected. A total of 142,900 mt of aluminium ingots were withdrawn from social warehouses across the eight major markets, up 14,600 mt WoW. In view of cargoes in transit and proportion of molten aluminium and ingots by smelters, SMM expects aluminium ingot social inventories to remain at a low level in the near future.

Aluminium billet: The domestic aluminium billet social inventory stood at 157,700 mt as of May 4, up 15,600 mt from a week ago. The growth was mainly due to arrivals during the Labour Day holiday and poor pre-holiday stocking. Smelters have sold an increasing share of molten aluminium to nearby billet plants, while demand was unable to keep up with supply increment. And demand declined in late April. As such, it will be difficult for aluminium billet inventory to fall.