SMM reported that in the morning of Thursday February 21, spot aluminium trades across east-China improved from the previous day as most downstream consumers returned after the middle of the first lunar month. Spot deals mostly occurred at CNY 13,420-13,440 per tonne in Shanghai and Wuxi, and CNY 13,410-13,430 per tonne in Hangzhou. Traded prices were up more than CNY40 per tonne from the previous morning.
The front-month aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange inched up from the prior day. Spot discounts in Shanghai stood at CNY 60-50 gainst the SHFE March contract, slightly narrower than CNY 70-60 on Wednesday morning.
The aluminium giant, the Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco), purchased about 2,000 tonne of spot aluminium in eastern markets this morning. This was not enough to deplete inventories held by traders.
