Chinese demand for Malaysian bauxite climbs up steadily
2015-02-27 10:19:47 [Print]
BEIJING (Asian Metal) 27 Feb 15 - More and more Chinese alumina refineries began accepting Malaysian bauxite in spite of the low Al2O3 content. In view of the rising demand, Malaysian bauxite supply will increase steadily from March.
A Chinese alumina refinery, with monthly consumption for imported bauxite at around 1 million tonnes, revealed that they will import 400,000-500,000t of Malaysian bauxite per month in the future. “We mainly cooperate with a few of major Malaysian bauxite owners by long-term contracts,” said the source.
The refinery is a new consumer of Malaysian bauxite and depended on Australian and Indonesian bauxite before. “We will mainly import Malaysian bauxite Al 42-43%, and the price is a bit higher than USD31/t FOB Malaysia,” said the source.
Another Chinese alumina refinery, whose annual capacity is 500,000t, confirmed that they also have interest in Malaysian bauxite and will import some of the material in the near future. “We mainly consumed Australian bauxite before,” said the source, adding that some Malaysian bauxite suppliers offered USD31-32/t FOB Malaysia for bauxite Al 40-41% recently.
From early this year, Chinese alumina market kept moving down, so the refinery may not put the second line into operation in the near term. Meanwhile, they hold more than one million tonnes of bauxite in stock now. However, they need make preparations for new resources, so they also plan to import a few of Malaysian bauxite.
A Chinese alumina refinery, with monthly consumption for imported bauxite at around 1 million tonnes, revealed that they will import 400,000-500,000t of Malaysian bauxite per month in the future. “We mainly cooperate with a few of major Malaysian bauxite owners by long-term contracts,” said the source.
The refinery is a new consumer of Malaysian bauxite and depended on Australian and Indonesian bauxite before. “We will mainly import Malaysian bauxite Al 42-43%, and the price is a bit higher than USD31/t FOB Malaysia,” said the source.
Another Chinese alumina refinery, whose annual capacity is 500,000t, confirmed that they also have interest in Malaysian bauxite and will import some of the material in the near future. “We mainly consumed Australian bauxite before,” said the source, adding that some Malaysian bauxite suppliers offered USD31-32/t FOB Malaysia for bauxite Al 40-41% recently.
From early this year, Chinese alumina market kept moving down, so the refinery may not put the second line into operation in the near term. Meanwhile, they hold more than one million tonnes of bauxite in stock now. However, they need make preparations for new resources, so they also plan to import a few of Malaysian bauxite.
Alumina 98.5%min EXW China
Unit:RMB/mt
China alumina producers' sales to production ratio statistics by province by month
Unit: %
