South Africa’s alumina import to see a YoY growth in 2018

Hillside Aluminium Smelter in South Africa uses alumina imported from Worsley Alumina operation in Australia to produce high-quality, primary aluminium. For more than 20 years Hillside aluminium has played a key role in South Africa’s aluminium industry. It produces 720 kilo tonnes a year, which makes it the largest producer of primary aluminium in the southern hemisphere.

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The global export-import data shows that South Africa has been seeing a year-on-year growth in alumina import since 2016. The data predicts that this year the country would import a total volume of 3004296 tonnes of alumina. In 2016 and 2017, South Africa imported 1392831 tonnes and 1393085 tonnes of alumina, respectively. This shows that the country this year is likely to see a growth by around 115 per cent from 2016 and 116 per cent from 2017.

Consequently, South Africa’s alumina import cost is forecast to see a growth this year to US$ 16147 million.

However, alumina export volume from South Africa is predicted to slump in 2018. Last year, the country exported a total volume of 35517 tonnes of alumina while this year, the country is forecast to export 32378 tonnes, -8 per cent down year-on-year.

Hillside Aluminium Smelter supplies a small portion of liquid metal to a local downstream Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment company, Isizinda Aluminium.