The Platts Australian alumina daily assessment at $336/mt FOB Wednesday, February 18, was unchanged from Tuesday, but down $1/mt on the week and $16/mt on the month.

The market has been under downward pressure, with low aluminum prices on the London Metals and Shanghai Futures exchanges, poor smelting margins and a week-long Lunar New Year holiday in China, prompting global alumina buyers to stay away.

In the last couple of weeks, alumina of Asian and Western origins have appeared to be available, although market participants said the global surplus was not at a critical level.

There were few bids and offers on Wednesday.

In recent days, potential buyers have indicated interest at circa $345/mt CIF China and $330/mt FOB Australia.

A trader said Tuesday he'd be interested only in opportunistic buys.

Early week, a Chinese importer may have been offered the chance to buy a March shipment at $348/mt CIF, but this couldn't be confirmed.

Prior to this, selling interest generally ranged from $350-353/mt CIF China.

On Tuesday, a supplier agreed the alumina market outlook and sentiment have softened in the last week, driven by sluggish demand and an unstable LME aluminum trend.

Platts assessed the handysize freight rate at $12.50/mt on Tuesday for a 30,000 mt shipment in March from Western Australia to Lianyungang.

Wednesday's assessment has not been finalized at the time of this report's writing. China's financial markets will be closed February 18-24 for the Lunar New Year.

Last week, Chinese participants had said they would expect the market direction post-Lunar New Year holidays to be be driven by SHFE aluminum.

In the longer term, another market driver may be how soon Chinese banks may be prepared to restore trade financing to the aluminum sector.