CBIX flat, alumina up, freight mixed

<p>CBIX remained flat over the week, closing at US$50.7/dmt with higher Value-in-Use (ViU)-priced material from Australia and Brazil balanced by some lower ViU-priced ore from Malaysia and India making a re-appearance. Malaysian material trickled into China at US$27.5/dmt FOB un-washed and US$39.5/dmt FOB for washed material.<br /><br />Chinese domestic alumina prices have continued their stellar run, with the north index up 4.3% (RMB123/t or US$17.8/t) to RMB2,976/t (US$430/t) and the south up 4.8% (RMB135/t or US$19.5/t) to RMB2,975/t (US$430/t). Tight supply, strong demand and some transportation bottlenecks continue to create tailwinds for alumina prices, as does the need to build higher levels of stocks heading into the depths of the northern winter period.</p> <p><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/bauxite.png" alt="News" width="517" height="226" /><br />Input costs have also moved higher, on the back of environmental audits forcing closures amongst some domestic bauxite mines and vehicle overloading continuing to be the target of a government crackdown. Delivered bauxite prices are now reportedly over RMB300/t in Henan and Shanxi, up as much as RMB100/t (USD15/t) from earlier this year. Miners in other provinces are also said to be taking advantage of the higher alumina prices. Despite some shakiness in the primary Al price, alumina prices are forecast to remain buoyant, so long as primary Al production continues at existing or slightly higher levels.</p> <p><strong>{googleAdsense}</strong><br /><br />Ship bunker (fuel) prices surged, up nearly 10%, pushing panamax freight rates on the North Australia to Shandong route up 4.6% (US$0.3/wmt) to US$6.4/wmt. On the Guinea-Shandong route, capesize freight rates fell 5.8% (US$0.8/wmt) to US$13.6/wmt with a decrease in vessel timecharter rates outweighing the bunker increase.</p>