World alumina production in H1 2020 grows by merely 1% over the year, output in June drops 2.83% M-o-M

The global alumina production in June 2020 decreased on a monthly basis by 2.83 per cent to stand at 10.98 million tonnes versus 11.3 million tonnes in May, found the International Aluminium Institute. On a year-on-year comparison, the production in June stood flat as the world alumina output during the same period last year was 10.95 million tonnes.

The total production in the first half of 2020 came in at 66.05 million tonnes, up by 1 per cent from 65.59 million tonnes in H1 2019.

In the second quarter of 2020, the global alumina production stood higher by 1 per cent quarter-on-quarter from 32.86 million tonnes to 33.19 million tonnes. On a year-on-year basis, the output in Q2 was up by 1.37 per cent from 32.74 million tonnes.

China, being the world's largest producer of alumina, churned out 5.67 million tonnes in June, down by 3.24 per cent month-on-month from 5.86 million tonnes and 4.06 per cent year-on-year from 5.91 million tonnes. In the first half of 2020, China produced 33.86 million tonnes of alumina compared to 35.77 million tonnes during H1 2019, meaning China’s aluminium ore production in H1 2020 edged lower by 5.34 per cent over the year.

In Oceania region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia, the alumina production in June stood at 1.73 million tonnes, down by 4.41 per cent from 1.81 million tonnes in May. When compared to the same period last year, the production in June 2020 was up by 4.85 per cent from 1.65 million tonnes. In the first six months of the year, the alumina production in Oceania region totalled 10.44 million tonnes, up by 2.55 per cent from 10.18 million tonnes during the corresponding period last year.

Africa and Asia (ex-China) produced 1.01 million tonnes of alumina in June, flat in comparison with the output in the previous month. However, over the year, Africa and Asia’s alumina production in June edged higher by 17.6 per cent from 859,000 tonnes. In the first half of 2020, the total alumina production there stood 6.10 million tonnes, up by 18.22 per cent from 5.16 million tonnes in H1 2019.