AM Statistics: China's imported bauxite inventories down by 4.4% MOM in late July

BEIJING (Asian Metal) 2 Aug 16 - Based on Asian Metal Database, China’s imported bauxite inventories dropped by 4.4% MOM to around 31.7 million tons until late July. The consumption volume in July was round 5.1 million tons, up by 9.3% YOY.

Unit: KT

China’s imported bauxite inventories by month

The above graph shows that imported bauxite inventories continued going down for three months. According to the database, 5 alumina refineries witnessed imported bauxite stocks decline in July, up from 3 in June.

Malaysia maintained bauxite mining ban in July, which will last until mid-September. China only imported around 940,000t of bauxite from Malaysia in Q2, down by 78.9% compared with that in Q1. Although the bauxite from Guinea increased significantly in Q2, it cannot meet most refineries’ demand. Because of inventories decline, demand for imported bauxite increased from July. For example, demand for Indian bauxite rebounded.

According to Asian Metal Database, current inventories will be enough for consumption in 186 days, down from 199 days in June.

Unit: days

Chinese alumina refineries’ days consumption of inventory for imported bauxite