SHANGHAI, Sep 2 (SMM) – China’s imports of bauxite in the first seven months of the year expanded about 24.9% from the same period last year, showed Customs data, as Chinese alumina refiners improve their low-temperature production lines and use more seaborne materials.

The latest Customs data under HS code 2606000000 showed that China imported 9.66 million mt of bauxite in July, up 3.8% from June and 32.7% from July 2018.

This brought imports in January-July to 65.99 million mt, with a year-over-year increase of 24.9%.

The Republic of Guinea, Australia and Indonesia remained the top three bauxite exporters to China in July, and volumes from them accounted for close to 95% of the total.

About 4.54 million mt of Guinean bauxite entered China in July, down 2% from a month ago, while imports of Australian materials rose 3% to 3.37 million mt.

Imports of Indonesia bauxite climbed 12% month on month to 1.32 million mt.