World alumina production drops by 5% Q-o-Q to 34.332 Mt in 1Q2022 despite a rise in March by 7%

According to the latest data revealed by the International Aluminium Institute, the world alumina production amounted to 10.863 million tonnes in March 2022 (including metallurgical and chemical), an increase of 7.38 per cent month-on-month from 10.116 million tonnes. That brought the total global alumina production in the first quarter of the current year to 32.608 million tonnes, which was, however, down by 5.02 per cent from 34.332 million tonnes in the previous quarter.

The reason for the quarter-on-quarter downfall in world alumina output despite a rise in March was a sharp fall of production in February from 11.629 million tonnes to 10.116 million tonnes (M-o-M). As per the calculation, that was a plunge of 13.01 million tonnes, following a drop of 1.18 per cent in the previous month from 11.768 million tonnes in December 2021.

World alumina production in March 2022 registered a downfall of 8.07 per cent on a year-on-year calculation, and so the quarterly output by 3.91 per cent from 33.934 million tonnes.

In China, alumina production in March 2022 stood at 5.770 million tonnes, up by 10.75 per cent from 5.210 million tonnes in February but down by 9.98 per cent from 6.410 million tonnes in March 2021. Total production in three-month time amounted to 17.290 million tonnes, recording a quarter-on-quarter decline of 7.29 per cent from 18.649 million tonnes and a year-on-year downfall of 5.78 per cent from 18.350 million tonnes.

In the Oceania region, alumina production stood at 1.724 million tonnes last month, reflecting a month-on-month increase of 0.41 per cent from 1.717 million tonnes but a year-on-year drop of 2.82 per cent from 1.774 million tonnes. In 1Q2022, alumina output in Oceania totalled 5.194 million tonnes, up by 1.01 per cent from 5.142 million tonnes from Q4 2021 and 1.07 per cent from 5.139 million tonnes in Q1 2021.