China’s bauxite imports from Malaysia has grown 14 times since March

After the Indonesian bauxite export ban, China has imported nearly 14 times more bauxite form Malaysia in November as compared to March.

In March, 48,594 tons of bauxite was imported from Malaysia, a month earlier it was 640,200 and in November it rose by 6.1% to 679,287 tons says the data from customs administration released in Beijing on Monday. In the 8 months between March and November, 2.6 million tons were imported from Malaysia to China.

The Indonesia’s decision to curb mineral ore export despite being the third-largest supplier of bauxite hit the aluminium industry hard although it did help boost aluminium prices. Now Malaysia is soon becoming a strong exporter of bauxite which is assumed to 10 million tons next year.

Out of the 2.57 million tons of bauxite bought by China, 42% came from Australia while India stood as the third-largest supplier exporting 560,518 tons, according to customs data.

Malaysia’s bauxite production has grown healthily over the years, from a meagre 2,040 tons in 2004 to the 208,770 tons produced in 2013 says the Minerals and Geoscience data although they reveled no numbers for the 2014 production.