According to the International Aluminium Institute survey, the world’s alumina production in October 2024 reached a new high in tandem with the growth across all the major producing regions. The daily average output also exceeded all the previous records, reflecting a month-on-month increase of 2.26 per cent.
The monthly production stood at 12.61 million tonnes in October, up by 5.6 per cent from 11.94 million tonnes in September and 3.62 per cent more than 12.17 million tonnes in October 2023. This trend of monthly and year-on-year growth in alumina production is typical for this time of year. Historical data from the International Aluminium Institute (IAI) shows that global production of aluminium ore has consistently exceeded 12 million tonnes every October since 2022.
Daily average production in October was 407,000 tonnes, compared to 398,000 tonnes in September and 393,000 tonnes in October 2023.
From January to October 2024, the world’s total production of alumina was 121.5 million tonnes, up by 1.98 per cent from 119.1 million tonnes during the corresponding period of the previous year.
In China, the world’s largest producer of alumina, the output in October stood at 7.36 million tonnes, marking a month-on-month increase of 3.37 per cent. However, the production volume in the said month could not reach the high of 7.45 million tonnes seen in August 2024.
The growth in China’s monthly alumina production during October was primarily due to an additional operation day compared to the previous month, as backed by the daily average output data which remained unchanged at 237,000 tonnes, down by 3,000 tonnes from 240,000 tonnes in August 2024.
From January to October, China produced 70.66 million tonnes, accounting for 58 per cent of the global alumina output. Year-on-year, the total output through the first ten months of the year stood 3.05 per cent higher than 68.570 million tonnes.
Africa & Asia (ex-China) also saw a month-on-month increase but could not surpass the highest figure of 1.234 million achieved in March. Compared to September, Africa & Asia’s (ex-China) alumina production increased by 10 per cent from 1.115 million tonnes to 1.225 million tonnes. On a year-on-year basis, the output was 6.8 per cent higher than 1.147 million tonnes.
During January-October, China’s alumina production amounted to 11.734 million tonnes, up by 7 per cent from 10.946 million tonnes a year ago.
Among all the leading alumina producing regions, South America recorded a new high in October, reaching 1.07 million tonnes. That marked a month-on-month hike of 9.3 per cent from 979,000 tonnes and a year-on-year increase of 5.5 per cent from 1.014 million tonnes.
