Africa & Asia going strong with alumina production, up 6.5% in 2024; outlook remains bullish with India’s output set to reach 9.7 MT

Africa & Asia (ex-China) ranks as the world's third-largest alumina-producing region after China, Oceania, and South America, accounting for nearly 10 per cent of the world's output annually. In 2024, the region's share of global alumina production increased slightly to exactly 10%, up from 9.65% in the previous year.

The contribution has grown in line with the increase in production volume from 13.014 million tonnes in 2023 to 13.859 million tonnes in 2024, reflecting a Y-o-Y rise of 6.49 per cent, according to the data revealed by the International Aluminium Institute. Throughout 2024, Africa & Asia's (ex-China) alumina production stood between 1.12-1.19 million tonnes. There were only three months when production exceeded 1.2 million tonnes, such as in March, June, and December.

According to IAI, Africa & Asia's (ex-China) alumina production in December 2024 saw a monthly rise of 2.62 per cent, amounting to 1.212 million tonnes versus 1.181 million tonnes in November. On a year-on-year basis, the December output edged an increase of 2.19 per cent from 1.186 million tonnes.

The daily average production in December saw a month-on-month drop of 0.8 per cent from 39,400 tonnes to 39,100 tonnes. However, one additional operational day in the said month counterbalanced the total production in December. On an annual basis, the daily output in December 2024 experienced an increase of 2.1 per cent from 38,300 tonnes.

In Q4, Africa & Asia's (ex-China) total alumina production stood at 3.59 million tonnes, up by 3.76 per cent from 3.46 million tonnes in Q3 2024 and 4.66 per cent higher than 3.43 million tonnes in Q4 2023, marking the second consecutive sequential growth, following a rise of 5.8 per cent in Q3 from 3.27 million tonnes. Only the year's second quarter witnessed a Q-o-Q fall of 7.6 per cent from 3.54 million tonnes.