World alumina production in Sept'23 falls by 3.2% m-o-m: IAI

The International Aluminium Institute (IAI) data showed the world alumina production in September 2023 stood at 12.004 million tonnes (mnt) compared with 11.787 mnt in September 2022. This represented that production in September 2023 grew by 1.8% y-o-y, following a drop of 3.2% in the month earlier from 12.399 mnt in August 2023.

In the period from July to September 2023, the global alumina production reached a total of 36.567 million metric tonnes (mnt). This represented a modest increase of 0.4% compared to the production of 36.422 mnt during the same period the previous year. These figures indicated that the alumina production remained relatively steady, with a slight growth trend during this specific quarter.

During the initial nine months of the year, global alumina production reached a total of 106.012 mnt. This figure represented a marginal 0.5% decrease when compared to the alumina production of 106.596 mnt during the corresponding period in the last year (CPLY).

In September 2023, China, which holds the position of the world's top producer of aluminium oxide, manufactured around 7 (mnt) of alumina. This production figure indicated a 4.1% decline when compared to the previous month's output of 7.3 mnt. However, when viewed on a y-o-y basis, there was a 2.6% increase from the 6.82 mnt produced in September of the previous year. This data reflected the dynamic trends in China's alumina production industry.

The monthly average price for Australian alumina stood at $342/t FOB on September 2023, stable as against the last month's average price.

Region wise production

In September 2023, several regions across the world contributed to the production of alumina. Notably, Africa and Asia (excluding China) combined to produce approximately 1.15 million metric tonnes (mnt) of alumina during this period. Oceania followed closely with a production volume of 1.6 mnt, while South America contributed 1.03 mnt to the global alumina production.

Additionally, Europe, including Russia, played a part with an output of 0.55 mnt. These figures reflected the diverse geographical sources of alumina production in the global market for September 2023.