18 JULY 2011steelguru.com
Pricing change happening in the alumina market
Edited by : AL CIRCLE
1 min read
The preliminary snapshot of the June trade figures doesn't include bauxite imports but they recorded consecutive fresh all time highs above 4 million tonnes in both April and May. Cumulative January to May imports of 17.3 million tonnes were up by 56% YoY. In other words, China is swapping one aluminum raw material dependency for another. This is important for Western aluminum producers such as Alcoa who have long argued that China's explosive production of the light metal is not sustainable.
Indeed, the company pointed out on its Q2 conference call that 40% of China's alumina refineries are dependent on imported bauxite and that 20% to 30% of its own bauxite mines use underground mining techniques in stark contrast to the rest of the world.
Indeed, the company pointed out on its Q2 conference call that 40% of China's alumina refineries are dependent on imported bauxite and that 20% to 30% of its own bauxite mines use underground mining techniques in stark contrast to the rest of the world.
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