China's alumina export to rise on increasing price gap

SHANGHAI, Apr 16 (SMM) – China’s alumina export is likely to surge due to the increasing price gap between Chinese and foreign materials as prices of the latter are rising at a faster pace, SMM believes.

Australian alumina prices stood at $550/mt fob on Friday April 13, up 54.1% from $357/mt fob at the end of February. This was due to a 50% production cut at Norsk Hydro’s Alunorte in Brazil on environmental issues since late February as well as the US sanctions on Rusal last week which resulted in force majeure.

Alunorte’s operations see no sign of recovery as Norsk Hydro has also halved the production at its aluminium smelter Albras last week.

We believe alumina prices in the international market have more upward room as long as the US sanctions remain in place.

SMM’s alumina price stood at 2,764 yuan/mt on Friday April 13, compared with 2,819 yuan/mt at the start of March.

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