SMM, July 28 –
In early trading, the price center of the SHFE aluminum 2606 contract remained below the same period of the previous trading session. Affected by weak end-use demand, overall market purchases today were mainly for essential restocking. Under pressure from falling aluminum prices, some traders became less active in selling, but market supply remained ample and price acceptance stayed weak. Mainstream transaction prices were mainly between a discount of 10 yuan/mt and a premium of 10 yuan/mt against the SHFE aluminum August contract. Today, the selling sentiment index in east China was 3.08, down 0.05 from the previous session; the buying sentiment index was 3.00, up 0.06.
Trading sentiment in the central China market remained sluggish today. The night session rebounded, and downstream processing enterprises maintained a wait-and-see stance. Weak off-season demand coupled with safety inspection restrictions kept downstream factories' purchase willingness low, with only some traders restocking in small amounts. Insufficient invoice quotas for this month among some traders boosted prices of cargoes with invoices dated this month, but overall trading volume was limited. Eventually, actual transaction prices in central China centered around a discount of 90-110 yuan/mt against the SHFE aluminum August contract. The selling sentiment index in central China was 3.11, up 0.02 from the previous session; the buying sentiment index was 2.86, down 0.05.
On the inventory front, aluminum ingot inventories in major consumption areas fell 0.4 from the previous session, with destocking mainly occurring in Guangdong and Wuxi.
![July aluminum foil exports pulled back 9.3% MoM, but the full-year target of 1.3 million mt remains achievable [SMM Analysis]](https://imgqn.smm.cn/usercenter/fFkYh20251217171651.jpg)
