CHINA sold all the aluminum ingots it offered from the State reserve at below market prices, according to the result of a tender posted yesterday on the Web site of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
A total of 117,671 tons were sold at an average price of 15,395 yuan (US$2,308) a ton through public auctions Nov. 23-24, said the State Bureau of Material Reserve, which is a department of the NDRC. The highest price was 16,000 yuan and the lowest 15,150 yuan, it said.
This was the second auction of aluminum the agency offered this month, having previously sold 95,767 tons. China has already sold zinc, lead, sugar, cotton, corn, paper pulp, and magnesium, from State inventories this year in an effort to ease shortages and curb price gains.
The result is in line with our expectation, and similar to the last tender, Liang Lijuan, an analyst at Cofco Futures Co., said in Beijing.
China authorities are easing power limits on aluminum producers, which may lead to plant restarts as early as next month, said Beijing-based analyst Wan Ling at CRU International Ltd. on Nov. 25. In Henan, the country s largest aluminum producing region, conditions improved after Nov. 10, she said, adding the energy cuts could still trim the country s output by 300,000 tons this year. (SD-Agencies)
