Spot aluminium spread returns to premium after futures delivery

SHANGHAI, May 16 (SMM) – Shanghai spot aluminium spread relative to the front month contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange returned to a premium of 10-20 yuan/mt after the SHFE May contract expired, compared to a discount of 20-10 yuan/mt on Wednesday morning.

With the SHFE June contract trading rangebound, spot deals in Shanghai were heard at 14,340-14,360 yuan/mt on the morning of Thursday, up 20 yuan/mt from the previous morning.

Trades occurred at 14,340-14,360 yuan/mt in Wuxi and 14,350-14,370 yuan/mt in Hangzhou this morning.

Higher spot prices and a premium over prices of futures kept sellers keen to offload cargoes, resulting in brisk transactions between traders across eastern markets. This, together with slightly improved purchasing enthusiasm among downstream consumers, brought overall trades across eastern markets greater than Wednesday morning.

Spot aluminium was traded at 14,380-14,390 yuan/mt in Guangdong this morning, with spreads over prices in Shanghai steady at 30 yuan/mt.

While selling interest across southern markets slightly cooled, purchases improved from previous days, and overall trades came in brisker than the previous day.