Present Situation of World Bauxite Market

Firstly, many alumina manufacturers express that the consumption growth of the global aluminum boosts the demand of bauxite and alumina.

Bauxite and alumina are like a conjoined twins, but now many mining companies often separate the two. They are only engaged in mining or alumina production activities. Alumina prices change with LME aluminum prices changing, and the industry demand pulled by transport and other applications continues to grow strongly, and structural changes in the aluminum industry also continue to exist. Global aluminum annual growth rate is of 6% in 2004-2012, and it is estimated that it will be as high as 7.5% in 2009-2015. Experts predict that the global aluminum demand will exceed 70 million tons by 2020.

Secondly, the supply situation of global bauxite: Major countries in the world possess bauxite resources are Guinea, Australia, Brazil, Jamaica, China, Indonesia, India, Ghana, Dominica, Fiji, Malaysia, Vietnam, Russia, etc. World bauxite resources are about 550-550 tons, and its reserves are of about 28.1 billion tons, which can be used more than 100 years.

Look from the reserves, bauxite supply is not the problem, but there are still a few drivers need to be considered, such as geographical location, taste, national policy, infrastructure, capital, investment and security. The Asian countries, in particular, have their processing policy purposes. Therefore, industry structure may change along with the transfer of the production centre.

Thirdly, the change of global bauxite pattern:

China is a great importer of bauxite, and in 2014, China's alumina production accounted for 45.6% of global production of alumina. Before 2014, bauxite seaborne trade mainly focus on Indonesia and Australia, but the pattern changed a lot after the ban, and the channels have become multiple since then.