MB 20th BAUX ITE & ALU MINA CONF: China’s alumina industry will be in deficit for a few years, analyst says
5 Mar 2014 11:21
(Minews): China’s alumina industry will be in deficit for a few years despite a
projected rise in imports, according to an analyst.
Imports of alumina will reach around 6.5 million tonnes by 2018, Sandy Kong, senior analyst at Beijing General Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, said at Metal Bulletin’s 20th Bauxite and Alumina conference in Miami.
But China’s demand for alumina will rise from 51 million tonnes in 2013 to 72 million tonnes by 2018, with production of alumina rising from 48 million tonnes to 65 million tonnes over the same period.
“Imported alumina will help meet the decreasing domestic deficit,” she said, noting that 600,000 tonnes of annual refinery capacity has been commissioned in Vietnam specifically for Chinese markets.
But Kong predicted a deficit of 1.6 million tonnes next year in China’s alumina market, with the market not returning to balance until 2018.
Alumina output fed by imported bauxite will fall slightly, from 15 million tonnes in 2013 to 14 million tonnes in 2018, Kong said.
Story Code: 4850