Aluminum Inventory Updates: Social Inventory Down, Billet Inventory Up on January 16

SHFE aluminum futures rallied again, and with the September peak season underperforming, downstream processing enterprises in the central China market showed sluggish buying sentiment and strong wait-and-see sentiment, resulting in relatively thin market trading. Suppliers also tended to sell in large volumes when quoted premiums were raised, and selling sentiment weakened accordingly. Ultimately, actual transaction prices in the central China market were centered around a discount of 110-150 yuan/mt against the SHFE aluminum September contract.

Recently, Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest aluminum producer, has accelerated the digital transformation of its plants, deploying artificial intelligence, industrial IoT, advanced analytics, and intelligent safety systems at scale to build a next-generation connected smart manufacturing system and comprehensively enhance site safety, production efficiency, and operational resilience. Its digital transformation has already delivered tangible results across multiple business areas, including production and manufacturing, logistics and transportation, asset management, and on-site safety. In logistics management, the Korba smelter, Vedanta Aluminium’s core production site, has built an AI control tower that integrates GPS positioning, IoT vehicle tracking, video telematics, geofencing, and real-time data analytics to enable end-to-end intelligent monitoring of coal transportation, finished product warehouse withdrawals, fly ash disposal, and other logistics processes, significantly improving logistics scheduling and oversight. In safety development, the Lanjigarh site has focused its digital efforts on personnel safety training and emergency response capability building.

[Accelerated destocking of aluminum ingots in peak season supports aluminum prices to hold up well in the short term] Overall, amid intertwined bullish and bearish factors, aluminum prices are expected to continue to consolidate at highs.