The Platts Australian alumina daily assessment was stable Thursday at $339/mt FOB, with trade stymied by a $5/mt bid/ask gap.

CIF China buying interest was around $350/mt, compared with sellers' guidance at $355-$360/mt. Spot discussions in Asia have mostly been in CIF China terms, rather than FOB Australia, sources said recently.

In the last week, Platts handysize freight assessment has ranged between $13.50/mt and $14.00/mt for a 30,000 mt shipment in the second-half of April from Western Australia to China's Lianyungang port. Thursday's assessment has still to be finalised.

A Chinese importer reported being offered the chance to buy a very small, bagged parcel from Brazil comprising 3,000 mt, to be shipped in April on a container ship. He said he would have been concerned about the high cost of freight.

Chinese market participants said the domestic market price remained directionless as local refiners and consumers continued to battle over a wide bid/ask spread.

While the SHFE aluminum price has posted substantial gains in the last two weeks, participants said Chinese smelting margins remained weak and alumina consumers continued to struggle with cash and credit constraints.

The Platts China alumina daily assessment for Henan province was stable at Yuan 2,630/mt ($423/mt) ex-works for 70:30 cash and credit payment terms.