China’s bauxite imports expand 33% YoY in May

SHANGHAI, Jun 24 (SMM) – China imported 9.71 million mt of bauxite in May, down 4.59% from April but up 33.18% from May 2018, according to China Customs data under 10-digit HS code.

This brought imports in the first five months of the year to 47.03 million mt.

The Republic of Guinea, Australia and Indonesia remained the top three bauxite exporters to China, and volumes from them accounted for 92.12% of the total.

Tight supplies of domestic bauxite has prompted Chinese alumina refineries to step up the use of imported materials.

SMM learned that SPIC Shanxi Aluminum has finished the transformation of two alumina production lines with capacity of 800,000 mt/year to low-temperature mode which is suitable to imported bauxite.

Tianshan Aluminium’s alumina refinery in Guangxi’s Jingxi included a low-temperature production line with annual capacity of 850,000 mt in its second stage.