Aluminium stocks significantly down on persistent opening arbitrage window
Fastmarkets assessed
Shanghai-bonded aluminium stocks at 1,000-3,000 tonnes on Thursday December 31, down by 78.2% from 13,500-14,000 tonnes in November 2020 due to the persistent open arbitrage window in China.
The inventory level was also down by 71.4% from 10,000-11,000 tonnes year on year.
The aluminium import arbitrage window in China reopened on November 9 before it flipped to a loss on December 29 and December 30.
For each tonne of the light metal brought to China, the
aluminium import arbitrage was calculated at an average of $54.96 per tonne during November 1-30, according to Fastmarkets’ calculation.
China imported 188,973 tonnes of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products in November, marking a 158.6% increase year on year, according to China Customs data released on December 25.
Aside from the import profit,...
