Alumina output in South America grows 6.5% in H2 2022 yet records a fall in full-year

According to the International Aluminium Institute (IAI), alumina production in South America grew by 4.83 per cent month-on-month to stand at 1.042 million tonnes in December 2022. That brought South America’s total output in Q4 2022 to 3.05 million tonnes, up by 3.35 per cent Q-o-Q from 2.951 million tonnes and 3.95 per cent Y-o-Y from 2.934 million tonnes.

Going by the IAI data, South America’s alumina output in December 2022 edged a year-on-year hike of 3.78 per cent from 1.004 million tonnes.

In the year's second half, alumina production in South America totalled 6.001 million tonnes, reflecting an increase of 6.53 per cent from 5.633 million tonnes in H1 and a hike of 4.11 per cent from 5.764 million tonnes in H2 2021.

In the entire year of 2022, South America’s alumina output amounted to 11.634 million tonnes, which was, however, down by 3.94 per cent year-on-year from 12.111 million tonnes despite an increase in production during H2 2022.

Alumina production in North America, on the other hand, recorded a month-on-month fall by 7,000 tonnes or 3.18 per cent from 220,000 tonnes to 213,000 tonnes. On a year-on-year calculation, the output marked a drop of 3,000 tonnes or 1.40 per cent from 216,000 tonnes.

In Q4 2022, the total alumina output in North America stood at 646,000 tonnes, up by 10.43 per cent from 585,000 tonnes in Q3 and 1.57 per cent from 636,000 tonnes in Q4 2021.

In the full year 2022, North America produced 2.414 million tonnes of alumina compared to 2.523 million tonnes a year ago.