China’s bauxite import inches down 4.59% M-o-M in May 2019

After recording a month-on-month rise in April 2019, China’s bauxite import in May declined 4.59 per cent from April to come in at 9.71 million tonnes, according to China Customs data. In April 2019, China’s bauxite import was at 9.77 million tonnes after rising 24.5 per cent from a month ago.

On a yearly basis, the bauxite import by China in the month of May stood up by 33.18 per cent, while in April the import volume was up 68.2 per cent from the same period last year.

This brings China’s total bauxite imports to 47.03 million tonnes in the first five months of the year.

The Republic of Guinea, Australia, and Indonesia remained the top three bauxite suppliers to China. The amount exported by them accounted for 92.12 per cent of China’s total bauxite import.

Shanghai Metals Market learned that tight supplies of domestic bauxite have prompted Chinese alumina refineries to step up the use of imported aluminium ore year on year. SPIC Shanxi Aluminium has finished the transformation of two alumina production lines with a capacity of 800,000 tonnes a year to the low-temperature mode which is suitable to imported bauxite.

Tianshan Aluminium’s alumina refinery in Guangxi’s Jingxi included a low-temperature production line with an annual capacity of 850,000 tonnes in its second stage.