SHANGHAI, Sep 13 (SMM) - The aluminium ingot social inventories across China’s eight major markets totalled 696,000 mt as of September 13, up 24,000 mt from last Thursday and 13,000 mt from the end of August. However, the figure was 49,000 mt lower than in the same period last year. The increase when compared with last Thursday was mainly contributed by Wuxi, Foshan and Gongyi. Cargoes arrived during the holiday, while the pick-up of cargoes slowed down, causing the inventory to accumulate. Moreover, downstream producers turned more cautious about buying at the current high aluminium prices. Trades in Gongyi were better than in other regions last week.
Smelters in Sichuan are now resuming their production, but at a slow pace. The government of Yunnan has not yet issued any written notice of output cuts to local smelters, with only a few receiving verbal notice about 10-20% output reduction. Considering the recent increase in rainfalls in the province, expectations for production cuts have eased. The market shall closely watch the actual recovery of downstream orders.
