China’s alumina export surges more than 3,700% YoY in December
China exported 177,430 tonnes of alumina in December, down 37.9 per cent month-on-month. The country’s export of alumina was at 285,696 tonnes in November. The volume was up more than 3,700 per cent from December 2017.
China’s total exports of alumina in 2018 stood at 1.46 million tonnes, according to data released by the General Administration of Customs on Wednesday.
Alumina producers cashed in on a favourable price arbitrage to international markets last year, as an outage at Hydro’s Alunorte alumina refinery, a strike at Alcoa’s alumina operations and sanctions on Rusal led to a global supply squeeze, Reuters reported.
International alumina prices decreased by around 30 percent over the fourth quarter, reducing the incentive for Chinese producers to export.
On the import side, China imported 50,000 tonnes of alumina in December. For the full year, total imports in stood at 510,000 tonnes, customs said.
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