Australia’s alumina export in 2017 records at 17188 thousand tonnes; 2018 may see a plunge

With the faster growth in aluminium production, the world seems to see a continuous hike in demand for alumina, particularly in China and the Middle East. This in the future is expected to open up new trading opportunities for the alumina producing countries such as Australia, which is already the world’s largest producer of bauxite and alumina and also ranks as the world’s largest alumina exporter. So to say, Australia aluminium market is an export-oriented one and mostly limited to upstream sector.

According to Australian Aluminium Council, Australia exported a total amount of 17188 thousand tonnes of alumina in 2017. In 2016, this volume had stood a little down at 17183 thousand tonnes, as per the data revealed by the Council.

Consequently, Australia’s revenue from alumina export also grew year-on-year in 2017 to stand at Aus$ 7.3 billion. In the previous year, Australia had earned revenue of around Aus$ 5.5 billion, down by around 25 per cent.

However, according to the global export-import data, Australia’s alumina export in 2018 is expected to see a drop in volume to 11217 thousand tonnes (Approx). The reason could be the strike declared by workers at Alcoa’s alumina operation in west Australia.

Alcoa said production of alumina had been cut by a total of about 15,000 tonnes in August. The operations normally churn out about 9 million tonnes a year, or 25,000 tonnes a day. Hence, this strike threatens to stoke shortages of alumina, which has already been hit by a partial shutdown at the world’s largest refinery in Brazil and sanctions on global aluminum giant Rusal.