Netherlands’ alumina imports from Jamaica and Ireland to grow in 2019 after a fall last year

The Netherlands is home to one of the notable aluminium smelting operations in the world - Delfzijl aluminium smelter in Farmsum, and is the ninth largest export economy in the world, of which aluminium accounts for US$ 1.74 billion on average. This indicates the requirement of a considerable amount of alumina in the Netherlands.

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Source: https://www.statista.com

As the graph above shows the Netherlands' alumina imports have been rising consistently over the years, let us here analyse the country's imports trends from two of the most significant suppliers - Jamaica and Ireland.

Jamaica has always been the top exporter of alumina to the Netherlands, irrespective of the fluctuation in volume. In 2016, the Netherlands had imported 276,788 tonnes of alumina from Jamaica, compared to 128,061 tonnes from Ireland. In 2017, the imports volume rose to 442,390 tonnes from Jamaica and 394,628 tonnes from Ireland, but in 2018 they fell to 389,254 tonnes and 334,515 tonnes from Jamaica and Ireland respectively. The data thus represents that despite the rise and fall in the Netherlands’ imports volume from Jamaica and Ireland, the former consistently stood as a mainstay.

This trend is likely to continue in 2019 as well, as the Netherlands is expected to import 92 per cent more of alumina from Jamaica than Ireland. The import volume from Jamaica is likely to come in at 663,113 tonnes while that from Ireland at 344,757 tonnes.

Also, in terms of the import cost, Jamaica stood in the leading position. In 2016, the Netherlands’ import cost of alumina from Jamaica was at US$62 million and that from Ireland at US$24 million. In 2017, the import costs from both the countries increased to US$116 million and US$96 million and continued to grow in 2018 as well to US$122 million and US$104 million, despite the drop in the import volume. In 2019, the costs are likely to grow even further to US$209 million and US$113 million, according to the global export-import data.

Spain, India, and China are the three other important alumina exporters to the Netherlands. In 2019, Spain is expected to export 270,244 tonnes at US$ 82 million, India 66,279 tonnes at US$28 million, and China 65,098 tonnes at US$28 million as well.