Guinea witnesses a surge in bauxite exports value in 2016, followed by Australia and Brazil

The year 2016 has been a year of transition for the global bauxite industry. While the sector fared slightly better than the alumina and aluminium industries- both of which faced severe pricing woes since 2016 beginning, numerous changes in the rankings, rather fluctuations, were noted as far as production of bauxite and exports to the international market was concerned.

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Malaysia, for example, though started the year on a positive note soon faced a setback as the government went on to impose ban on Pahang’s unregulated bauxite mining that was allegedly causing widespread environmental destruction in the region. Then there was Guinea putting up a strong competition against Australia to become China’s top bauxite supplier. Brazil zoomed in to the international market with its reasonably high bauxite supply. India too maintained its dominance with its moderate yet high-quality bauxite exports and an impressive project line-up.

Malaysia exported 24.31 million tonnes of bauxite worth US$1.11 billion in 2015; Australia sold 20.29 million tonnes of aluminium ore worth US$1.12 billion; Guinea shipped 19.07 million tonnes of bauxite worth US$0.8 billion; Brazil exported 9.1 million tonnes bauxite worth US$0.44 billion; and China shipped 0.67 million tonnes bauxite worth US$0.24 billion to the international markets during the last financial year.

In 2016, Malaysia’s contribution to the world bauxite market shrunk because of the mining ban that started in January. Nevertheless, the country managed to ship 20.1 million tonnes of bauxite worth US$0.54 billion, a major percentage being directed to China. Guinea’s bauxite exports edged higher to an estimated 19.1 million tonnes worth US$0.7 billion in 2016.

Bauxite exports from Australia also took a leap to total at 23.2 million tonnes worth US$0.73 billion in 2016. Brazil’s bauxite export is estimated to go up by 5.5 per cent while China’s total export of the ore is estimated to shrink by 3.3 per cent year-over-year in 2016.

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Value-wise, Guinea remained the highest bauxite exporting country in the world in 2016, followed by Brazil and then Australia. A strong project line-up in Australia, Guinea and India is expected to further boost the production of the aluminium in the next financial year.

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