Vietnam’s alumina export expected to see a year-on-year rise in 2019

Vietnam, the emerging alumina producing hub on the shores of the South China Sea, has recorded an increase in its offshore alumina sales over the last three years. In fact, as suggested by the available international trade data, the alumina export by Vietnam has become more than double since 2015. The increase has been made possible due to enhanced overseas sales activities of Vinacomin, Vietnam’s largest mining company.

As per data, Vietnam in 2017 had exported 903,654 tonnes of alumina. In contrast to this, the export volume in 2018 was at 1.2 million tonnes, marking a year-on-year rise by 32 per cent. The year 2019 is expected to see further growth in Vietnam's alumina export volume to 1.49 million tonnes, up 65 per cent from 2017 and 24 per cent from 2018.

Of this total export, Vietnam ships a large share to India. In tandem to the overall alumina export increase from Vietnam to several parts of the world, the country’s export to India also found growing year-on-year. In 2017, Vietnam exported 339,459 tonnes of alumina to India, which after increasing by more than 100 per cent stood at 697,770 tonnes in 2018. The volume is estimated to increase further to 762,342 tonnes in 2019, up 124 per cent from 2017 and 9.52 per cent from 2018.

The above data represents that Vietnam exports more than 50 per cent of its total shipment to India every year.

China is another large alumina importing country from Vietnam. In 2019, the latter is expected to ship another major half to the former, totalled at 711,629 tonnes. In 2018, Vietnam’s export to China was at 485,209 tonnes while that in 2017 at 530,441 tonnes. This shows Vietnam’s alumina export to China is also rising year over year along with its overall growing export volume.