Due to a number of variables, including China’s substantial increase in unwrought aluminium imports in 2023, aluminium prices saw a decrease of -1.17% yesterday, ultimately finishing at 202.5. China’s yearly imports more than doubled to 1.54 million metric tones, the second-highest amount since the century’s beginning and just shy of the record set in 2021.
China’s strong demand for primary metal is reflected in the import rise. The third straight month of expansion in factory activity was indicated by the unexpectedly stable 50.8 reading for the Caixin China General Manufacturing PMI for January.
This was in opposition to government data, which showed that the industrial sector was growing ahead of the Lunar New Year festival. In contrast, primary aluminium imports into Japan decreased by 26% to 1.03 million metric tones in 2023 the lowest amount since at least 1986.
The manufacturing and construction sectors’ sluggish demand is blamed for this fall. Japan establishes the benchmark premiums for primary metal shipments over the London Metal Exchange (LME) cash price for the area since it is one of Asia’s largest importers of aluminium.
