The shortage of bauxite will increase the cost of alumina production companies, but whether or not the price of alumina will rise further will depend on the supply and demand of the alumina market. Industry sources said that alumina-related companies may therefore jointly reduce production, stabilize the market, and jointly control the company's internal costs
The main source of imports of bauxite from China's alumina companies was blocked. This time, the victims were Indonesia.
At present, 95% of China's bauxite is from Indonesia. Yesterday, the "First Financial Daily" was informed that the Indonesian government began to strictly control the export of domestic bauxite due to environmental issues. China's alumina companies revealed that this will lead to a substantial increase in domestic alumina costs, which will in turn increase the domestic and international alumina prices.
Yesterday, a sales manager of an alumina company in Shandong told reporters that two ships loaded with about 60,000 tons of bauxite for shipment to China have recently been forcibly detained on the Indonesian island in Bintan, Indonesia, and many ships that should be loaded Bauxite has also been stranded in Indonesia. Local sources said that due to the need for bauxite mining before the export of bauxite, causing serious pollution to local water resources, in order to strengthen environmental governance and protect the country's bauxite resources, the Indonesian government has taken measures to prevent the shipment of aluminum crucibles. The soil ships go abroad to control the export of bauxite. The government is also developing relevant policies to limit excessive exports of bauxite.
Bauxite is the main raw material for the production of alumina. China produces 12 million tons of alumina per year depending on imported bauxite, which accounts for 45% of national alumina production. The raw materials of Shandong Weiqiao Aluminum Power Co., Ltd., Fuping Xinfa Huayu Alumina Co., Ltd., and Shandong Nanshan Aluminum Co., Ltd. all depend on imports. And Indonesia has become one of the major bauxite exporters in the world. Due to the recent distance, 95% of China’s imports of bauxite come from Indonesia.
“The supply of bauxite has long been manifested. Now many alumina manufacturers have a lot of bauxite to enter.” Liu Wei, Shandong Weiqiao alumina sales company, told reporters that the supply of bauxite has caused tension The purchase price rose. The CIF of imported bauxite has increased from 35-36 U.S. dollars per ton to more than 50 U.S. dollars per ton at the beginning of the year. "The cost of bauxite accounts for 45% of the alumina production cost, so the alumina enterprise The cost is also rising dramatically."
At present, many alumina companies are looking for new import channels to replace Indonesian mines. However, if imported from India, the freight rate will increase by US$10/tonne. Due to the differences in production equipment and technology, the amount of bauxite that is not available in China cannot be used as a substitute.
However, the shortage of imported bauxite has already led to a rise in domestic prices of bauxite, which has increased from more than 120 yuan/ton at the end of last year to more than 200 yuan/ton currently.
In fact, due to the large increase in demand, the global supply of bauxite has become tense, and it has become more difficult to explore the proven bauxite mineral deposits. Usually, three tons of bauxite can smelt one ton of alumina. According to Nikhil Shah, an analyst at CRU, China's bauxite reserves are clearly insufficient to meet demand. At present, most bauxite export destinations in Indonesia have limited reserves and cannot meet China's demand. The production of bauxite in Vietnam and Guinaia is increasing. However, it takes several years for the production to take shape.
According to sources from the China Chemical Industry Network, this situation will inevitably affect the supply of bauxite to some of the large alumina producers at home and abroad, which will push up the price of bauxite, which is likely to push the prices of alumina at home and abroad to be significantly higher again. rise.
In the past few days, several alumina companies in China have begun to communicate and brewing alumina prices. After experiencing continuous declines last year, the current price of alumina has started to rise.
Lang Dazhan, deputy director of the aluminum division of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, said yesterday that the shortage of bauxite will indeed increase the cost of alumina producers. However, whether alumina prices will increase further depends on the supply and demand of the alumina market. Happening. Aluminium companies also said that related companies may also reduce their joint production.
In order to control the blind expansion of the aluminum industry, the National Development and Reform Commission recently issued an emergency notice that it will further increase the macro-control of the aluminum smelting industry to curb the rebound in investment in aluminum smelting. Just last weekend, 13 domestic “non-China Aluminum” alumina producers had reached a consensus to strengthen the information communication of raw material procurement and jointly control the internal costs of the company.
