China's aluminum imports hit annual record high
2020-12-25 15:34:43 [Print]
China's aluminum imports have hit an annual record, surpassing the previous high set in 2009, even with a month to go, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs (GAC) on Wednesday.
China imported 188,973t of unwrought aluminum and aluminum products in November, GAC said.
According to the statistics, China's imports in November declined by 26.4% from October but increased by 158.6% from the same period last year. The imports from January to November totaled 2.44 million tons, a fourfold increase over the same period last year, exceeding the total imports of 2.32 million tons in 2009.
China rarely brings in big volumes of the metal from overseas but the country's swift rebound from the COVID-19 demand shock took aluminum prices in Shanghai well above London Metal Exchange prices. That opened up a so-called arbitrage window for cheap metal from overseas. The aluminum price gap between Shanghai and London peaked in July, when China became a net importer for the first time in more than a decade. Then the arbitrage window closed, but the metal continued to flow in.
While overall imports are higher than those in 2009, when a similar price gap occurred as Chinese demand recovered from the global financial crisis, the inflow of primary aluminum in 2020 (about 877,500t from January to October) is still well below the 1.5 million tons imported 11 years ago. This is because the surge in aluminum imports this year has been driven by an increase in unwrought and alloy-aluminum inflows of more than 1 million tons from January to October.
China imported 188,973t of unwrought aluminum and aluminum products in November, GAC said.
According to the statistics, China's imports in November declined by 26.4% from October but increased by 158.6% from the same period last year. The imports from January to November totaled 2.44 million tons, a fourfold increase over the same period last year, exceeding the total imports of 2.32 million tons in 2009.
China rarely brings in big volumes of the metal from overseas but the country's swift rebound from the COVID-19 demand shock took aluminum prices in Shanghai well above London Metal Exchange prices. That opened up a so-called arbitrage window for cheap metal from overseas. The aluminum price gap between Shanghai and London peaked in July, when China became a net importer for the first time in more than a decade. Then the arbitrage window closed, but the metal continued to flow in.
While overall imports are higher than those in 2009, when a similar price gap occurred as Chinese demand recovered from the global financial crisis, the inflow of primary aluminum in 2020 (about 877,500t from January to October) is still well below the 1.5 million tons imported 11 years ago. This is because the surge in aluminum imports this year has been driven by an increase in unwrought and alloy-aluminum inflows of more than 1 million tons from January to October.
Aluminum Ingot 99.7%min In warehouse Gongyi
Unit:RMB/mt
China primary aluminum producers' inventory to production ratio statistics by province by month
Unit: %
