Aluminium ingot inventory dropped at the end of March

In late March, with the arrival of the traditional peak season, the operating rate of aluminum downstream processing enterprises continued to rebound, boosting the performance of domestic aluminum social inventories. After domestic aluminum billets inventories began to drop at the end of February, aluminum ingot inventories also showed signs of declining at the end of March, which is in line with previous expectations. On Mar 28, SMM data showed that the social inventory of aluminum ingots in China’s eight major markets was 865,000 mt, (the amount for sale stood at 739,000 mt), down 5,000 mt or 0.6% from Mar 25, marking the first decline after CNY. Inventory in Wuxi dropped by 1,000 mt from Mar 25. Despite a slight decrease in arrivals, inventory pressure persisted as the outflow from warehouses in mid-week dropped by 2,200 mt WoW. Although the inventory in Shanghai dropped by 3,000 mt, the inventory growth was significant in Shanghai bonded zone, meaning more bonded ingots might flow into the market. On March 28, SMM statistics showed that the aluminum inventory in the Shanghai bonded zone was 16,000 mt, and that in the Guangdong bonded zone was 3,800 mt, totalling 19,800 mt, up 8,300 mt. The inventory growth reached 6,000 mt in Foshan mid-week, and the aluminum ingots continued to grow in south China. The outflow from warehouses didn’t pick up despite the pressure on arrivals eased. Near the end of the month, the spot discounts hit a new low. The inventory performance in Gongyi was the best among the three places, mainly as outflow from warehouses picked up and arrivals declined. Inventory fell by 6,000 mt in the mid-week. The inventories maintained a downward trend in Gongyi, deserving further attention.