Alcoa’s Bauxite & Alumina EBITDA falls in Q2 2017 on lower API and production

<p>Alumina Limited, the AWAC joint venture, has announced its second quarter results for Alcoa Bauxite and Alumina Segment. The 2017 EBITDA for Bauxite and Alumina fell to total $325 million.&nbsp;</p> <p style="text-align: center;"><img style="vertical-align: middle;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/ALUMINA%20LTD.png" alt="News" width="640" height="300" /></p> <p>According to Alumina Limited, the fall in earning was caused by lower production and higher maintenance costs in the segment.<br /> <br /> The Alumina segment, as said by the company was negatively impacted by an 11 per cent fall in the Alumina Price Index (API) or Australian Alumina FOB prices. However the negative effect was partially offset by higher sales and favourable currency movements.</p> <p>Alcoa has been focusing on restructuring its portfolio to leverage on low cost refinery assets and third party bauxite sales. This, the company believes will bring long term profitability to the company. <br /> <br /> Commenting on the results Alumina Limited&rsquo;s CEO, Mike Ferraro said, &ldquo;The benefit of restructuring the AWAC portfolio to focus on low cost refinery assets and increasing third party bauxite sales is evident in the strong second quarter performance of the bauxite and alumina segments, despite a significant fall in alumina pricing and higher caustic soda prices.&rdquo;</p> <p>{googleAdsense}</p> <p>AWAC&rsquo;s produced 3.1 million tonnes of alumina in second quarter 2017. The company reports bauxite production of 10.4 million BDT from wholly owned mines and equity interests. &nbsp;Since 1 January 2017 Alumina Limited received US$127.9 million of dividends, distributions and capital returns. Alumina Limited ends the second quarter with a net debt of approximately US$90.2 million.</p>