Update: China's bauxite imports fell 2 months as Guinea in rainy season

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SHANGHAI, Oct 28 (SMM) – China’s imports of bauxite declined in September for a second straight month, due to a plunge in the volume from the major supplier, the Republic of Guinea which entered a rainy season in July.

Customs data under HS code 26060000 showed that China imported 6.75 million mt of bauxite last month, down 21.86% month on month and 2.08% year on year.

This brought imports in the first nine months of 2019 to 78.13 million mt, up 26.79% from the same period a year earlier.

In September, bauxite imports from Guinea dropped for a second month in a row, shrinking 50.89% from August to 1.79 million mt, while those from Australia rose 2.93% to 3.33 million mt. This helped the Pacific island country surpass the west-coastal country in West Africa to be the top bauxite supplier to China.

The rainy season starting from July was the main reason for subdued mining operations in Guinea, with data in the previous three years showing that China’s bauxite imports from the Guinea began to shrink from July and to recover from November.

Strikes at mines also contributed to fewer imports from Guinea last month, which declined 25.3% from a year ago.

Indonesia remained the third largest bauxite exporter to China, but with a larger share as Indonesian bauxite imports grew 6.93% from a month ago and 54.32% from a year ago to 1.21 million mt last month.

In September, China imported 287,600 mt of bauxite from Brazil, 102,200 mt from Solomon Islands, 28,300 mt from Jamaica and 100 mt from Guyana.