In April 2025, the world alumina production, including chemical and metallurgical-grade, totalled 12.407 million tonnes, reflecting a month-on-month downfall of 2.48 per cent from 12.723 million tonnes, found the International Aluminium Institute.
Of the total alumina output, metallurgical-grade production volume was 11.614 million tonnes, which was also down by 3 per cent M-o-M from 11.974 million tonnes. Meanwhile, the chemical-grade alumina production in April 2025 registered an increase of 5.87 per cent from 749,000 tonnes to 793,000 tonnes.
Even on an annual basis, the world’s chemical-grade alumina production grew by 3.12 per cent from 769,000 tonnes, and that of metallurgical-grade alumina output decreased by 3.83 per cent from 11.186 million tonnes.
The output of metallurgical-grade alumina decreased in April M-o-M despite a slight improvement in daily average production from 386,300 tonnes to 387,100 tonnes.
In the first four months of 2025, the world’s total alumina production amounted to 46.964 million tonnes, up by 5 per cent from 44.738 million tonnes produced during the corresponding period of the previous year.
The month-on-month decline in the world’s metallurgical-grade alumina production was primarily due to unanimous declines across the world’s leading alumina-producing regions, except Africa & Asia (ex-China), where the output of the ore in April stood at 1.173 million tonnes versus 1.123 million tonnes. On a year-on-year calculation, Africa & Asia’s alumina production was 30 per cent higher than 975,000 tonnes.
Otherwise, China, Americas, Europe, and Oceania – all witnessed a drop in April alumina output. In China, the declining rate was 3.23 per cent, reaching 7.015 million tonnes versus 7.249 million tonnes. However, on an annual basis, the production volume expanded by 5.5 per cent from 6.65 million tonnes.
During January to April, China’s alumina production pegged at 28.325 million tonnes, accounting for 60.3 per cent of the world’s total output.
The Oceania region, the world’s second-largest alumina producer, churned out 1.402 million tonnes in April 2025, down by 3.04 per cent from 1.446 million tonnes in March 2025. The Oceania’s alumina production in April 2025 also recorded an annual drop of 2.57 per cent from 1.439 million tonnes. Due to the continued year-on-year downfall in Oceania’s alumina production each month through April 2025, the region’s total alumina production in the first four months of the year dwindled by 4.14 per cent Y-o-Y from 5.961 million tonnes to 5.714 million tonnes.
In Europe, alumina production during April 2025 was 450,000 tonnes, which was 13.63 per cent down M-o-M from 521,000 tonnes, marking the second month out of four with output below 500k. Even on a yearly basis, Europe’s alumina production recorded a decline of 6 per cent from 479,000 tonnes. However, despite the month-on-month and annual downfall in Europe’s April alumina production, its total output In the first four months of 2025 remained relatively steady, standing at 1.929 million tonnes versus 1.923 million tonnes.
Until, the first quarter of 2025, China and Europe were the two regions that propelled the global alumina production. But in April, both the countries recorded downfall. China’s existing capacity of metallurgical-grade alumina was around 109.22 million tonnes, with the actual operating capacity decreasing by 3.22 per cent M-o-M and the operating rate at 78.76 per cent. Many capacities in China had to reduce their operating capacities by 2.87 million tonnes M-o-M due to the pressure of losses and seasonal maintenance activities. While the operating rate in Shanxi decreased by 6.5 percentage points M-o-M, the operating rate in Henan and Guangxi dropped by 3.77 and 3.61 percentage points, respectively.
