Primary aluminum ingot from Chinese mills is being quoted in a US$2,375–3,500/ton band on Made-in-China supplier listings dated 2026-05-21, with a 4-ton minimum order typical for the lower-priced offers and 1-ton MOQ standard for higher-tier grades [S3]. That spread is wider than the underlying LME primary aluminum quote would suggest, because the figure rolls in alloying content, regional delivery, and the ingot-versus-billet format premium.
Die-casting alloy ADC12 — the workhorse of the Asia-Pacific pressure-die-casting industry — appears repeatedly in the supplier feeds alongside general-purpose A7/A8 primary ingot, while 6063 extrusion billet sits in a separate quotation band around US$3,100–3,500/ton on Shandong-factory listings dated 2026-06-04 [S2][S3]. A separate lead-ingot-overflow category (US$999–1,900/ton, 1-ton MOQ) listed in 2026-05-09 is a miscategorised scrap stream and should not be confused with primary aluminum specifications [S1].
Price Stack: What the Listed Ton Actually Contains
FOB-China ingot offers as of 2026-05-21 break into three observable tiers: low-end pure / remelt ingot around US$2,375–2,500/ton, mid-band alloy ingot in the US$2,500–3,000/ton zone, and specialty / extrusion-grade billet reaching US$3,100–3,500/ton [S2][S3]. The differential between the lowest and highest tier — roughly US$1,100/ton — is driven by alloying elements (silicon, magnesium, copper), iron-content ceilings, and hydrogen control for aerospace-and-can-stock grades, not by base aluminum content alone.
Buyers comparing these numbers against the LME 3-month primary aluminum quote must add a regional premium (Asia premium, CIF Mainland China), conversion cost for billet casting, and a 99.7% minimum purity premium for can-end stock. The Chinese domestic spot primary ingot price has historically tracked LME within a US$80–150/ton spread, with the gap widening when domestic smelter output is constrained by power-rationing policies in Yunnan, Sichuan, and Inner Mongolia — a structural risk any 2026 procurement contract has to price in [S4].
Grade Map: P1020, ADC12, 6063, A7
Four grades dominate the 2026 Made-in-China inquiry feed: P1020A primary (≥99.7% Al, the LME-deliverable form), ADC12 die-casting alloy (~10.5–12% Si, 1.5–3.5% Cu, EN AC-46100 equivalent), 6063 extrusion billet (0.2–0.6% Mg, 0.1–0.4% Si balance Al), and the Chinese-domestic A7/A8 designation (99.7% / 99.6% Al) used for general sheet and wire applications [S3]. A fifth stream — primary aluminum ingot destined for can-sheet rolling — appears on metal-window and shutter-adjacent listing pages and is typically tied to specific can-stock converters rather than spot trade [S6].
For buyers, the practical selection criteria break down as: castability (ADC12 wins for thin-wall die-castings; flow is rated against EN 1706 reference castings), extrudability (6063 billet, press speed typically 15–30 m/min on 50–80 MN presses for 2–4 mm wall sections), and conductivity (P1020A / A7 for busbar and cable applications, 61% IACS minimum). The purity ceiling on P1020A is the LME specification; the 99.7% minimum is the contractual line, not a marketing claim, and any sub-P1020 grade shipped against P1020 contracts is a rejection event under standard LME loadout rules.
Selection Criteria: Who Each Grade Is For
P1020A primary ingot suits smelter-feed buyers, remelters with rotary or reverb furnaces, and downstream wire/bar mills where conductivity and formability dominate [S1][S3]. It is the wrong product for foundries needing silicon-modified flow characteristics, and it carries a cost penalty of roughly US$150–300/ton over ADC12 in normal market conditions.
ADC12 die-casting alloy targets automotive structural parts, motor housings, and 3C electronics enclosures where the 10–12% silicon content delivers the low-melting-point (~570 °C liquidus), narrow freezing range, and minimal hot-tear tendency needed for high-pressure die casting operations using aluminum die casting machines in the 800–1,600-ton clamp range. ADC12 is unsuitable for structural welded assemblies because its copper content (1.5–3.5%) drives heat-affected-zone cracking; buyers needing weldable die-cast equivalents should look at EN AC-44300 or A356 instead.
6063 billet is the default specification for architectural and industrial extrusion; extruders feeding aluminum window and door production lines and aluminum ladder stock typically spec this grade, with a magnesium-to-silicon ratio kept near 1.73:1 to maximise the Mg₂Si precipitation response during T5/T6 artificial ageing. A7/A8 primary rounds out the spec map for general sheet, foil, and busbar production where the chemical ceiling matches but the LME brand-name requirement does not apply.
Comparison Table: 2026 China Spot Ingot Bands
The four grades line up against four decision criteria — typical FOB-China price, MOQ, end-use fit, and a key technical constraint — in the table below, drawn from the 2026-05-21 and 2026-06-04 supplier listings: [S1]
P1020A primary: US$2,375–2,500/ton, 4-ton MOQ, remelt and conductivity-grade applications, 99.7% Al minimum [S3]. ADC12 alloy: typically priced inside the alloy-ingot band above pure primary once silicon and copper are priced in, 1-ton MOQ common, die-casting for automotive and electronics, 10.5–12% Si / 1.5–3.5% Cu window [S3]. 6063 extrusion billet: US$3,100–3,500/ton, 1-ton MOQ, architectural profiles and industrial extrusions, 0.45–0.90% Mg₂Si target [S2]. A7/A8 primary: priced close to P1020A on Chinese-domestic contracts, 1-ton MOQ, sheet / foil / busbar feed, 99.6–99.7% Al [S3].
Risks and Constraints: What Buyers Underweight
Three failure modes recur in 2026 ingot procurement. First, silicon-content drift in ADC12: lots delivered at 12.5–13% Si instead of the 10.5–12% window are harder to feed in thin-wall dies, increasing die soldering risk. Second, hydrogen pickup during long-distance road transport of molten ingot — a 2025 spot-sample audit reported by the resources page flagged ADC12 lots arriving at Tier-1 auto-casting lines outside the 0.15 ml/100 g Al hydrogen ceiling [S4]. Third, primary-ingot substitution: secondary / remelt ingot sold against P1020 contracts is the most common rejection cause on LME-style loadouts and shows up at ultrasonic-testing and XRF-verification stages downstream [S3].
Geographic concentration is the second-order risk: Shandong, Henan, and Shanxi produce the bulk of China-domestic primary output, with Inner Mongolia smelters (typical cell current 400–500 kA) supplying the highest-volume low-cost tonnes. Any grid-rationing event in these provinces — historically a 5–8% output reduction per summer peak — moves the China domestic spot premium and tightens MOQ terms within weeks. Cross-checked price moves on the Aluminum Ingot Market Size 2026: Capacity, Price Stack, Sourcing Map feed show the same pattern surfacing in 2025 summer windows.
What to Watch Over the Next Two Quarters
Three trackable signals will move the 2026 ingot stack into Q4: (1) the LME primary aluminum 3-month settlement against the US$2,400/ton floor — sustained closes below that level would compress the China-domestic premium and force the FOB-ton spread on offer pages into a tighter US$1,800–2,200 band, while closes above US$2,700/ton reopen the 6063 billet upside; (2) any change in Yunnan / Sichuan smelter restart timing after the 2026 wet-season hydropower recovery — that determines whether the China-domestic spot primary quote re-converges with LME in October; (3) MOQ creep on Shandong and Henan alloy-ingot offers, which the China Aluminum Extrusion Suppliers 2026 sourcing feed has flagged as the early-stage signal of capacity tightening in the 6063 billet line. [S1]