Destocking in Chinese Aluminium Ingot Market Slows Down Considerably

SHANGHAI, Mar 30 (SMM) - The aluminium ingot social inventories across China’s eight major markets stood at 1.09 million mt as of March 30, down 20,000 mt from this Monday March 27 and 38,000 mt from a week ago. The figure was up 46,000 mt from the same period last year, though. The weekly decline slowed down significantly from the drop of 85,000 mt recorded in the week of March 20-26.  High aluminium prices, limited increase in downstream operating rates, coupled with a lack of confidence over future orders, turned downstream buyers cautious about buying. Output cuts by smelters and increased share of molten aluminium could threaten the production of aluminium ingots, which is expected to extend the destocking into April. However, by how much the stocks will drop depends on downstream operating rates and their purchase attitude.