Jamaica’s bauxite export nearing a 16% YoY decline in H2 2017

Bauxite exports from Jamaica is about to end the year 2017 in a drop. Totalling at 1.54 million tonnes during July-November (till date), the volume stands shrunk by 16 per cent from the year-ago period. This explains to a certain extent why the Jamaican government has stepped up its initiatives to rejig the domestic bauxite sector reforms.

As per global export-import data, Jamaica exported 1.6 million tonnes of bauxite in the first half of 2017, down from 2.29 million tonnes in the same period previous year. In the second half of the year, the volume is projected to decline further. Value-wise too, bauxite export from Jamaica is estimated to drop from US$41.3 million in H1 2017 to US$38.8 million in H2 2017. The value is also 20 per cent lower from the value of bauxite exported in H2 2016.

Currently, Jamaica is charting a growth path for its domestic bauxite industry that the government expects, will be driven by the recently opened of Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company (JISCO) Limited.

JISCO has proposed to invest US$3 billion over a period of three years in the upgrading of the 1.65-million-tonnes-per-annum plant. This will expand production capacity of the bauxite complex to two million tonnes per annum by the end of 2020.