China's imports of bauxite, the primary feedstock for alumina refining, totalled 171 million tonnes during January-October, marking a 30.1% increase from the same period last year, according to new data released by the country's General Administration of Customs (GACC).
Over the same ten-month period, China's alumina production reached 76.3 million tonnes, representing an 8% on-year increase, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. Since the growth in bauxite imports outpaced that of alumina output, the figures signalled an oversupply of bauxite in the domestic sector, market watchers pointed out.
In October alone, China imported 13.8 million tonnes of bauxite, a decline of 13.3% from September but still 12.5% higher compared with a year earlier, according to the GACC. Guinea and Australia remained China's two mainstream sources of imported bauxite, accounting for 65.4% and 27.8% of total arrivals last month respectively.
Guinea, China's largest supplier of imported bauxite, delivered 9 million tonnes in October, down 14.2% on month but up 19.2% on year. Last month's drop was largely attributed to the West African country's rainy season, which typically lasts from May to October each year, with peak rainfall occurring from July to September this year. Heavy rainfall and strong winds in mid-August and mid-September disrupted mining activities and port operations, resulting in lower arrivals in China in October, according to market analysts.
Despite the on-month decline, China's bauxite imports from Guinea rose sharply by 38.5% on year to 127 million tonnes during the first ten months. Market watchers noted that events such as the large-scale revocation of mining licenses in May did not significantly impact the expansion of Guinea's bauxite sector. Production has continued rising and is expected to increase further once suspended mines resume operations and new projects begin shipping bauxite, they added.
Meanwhile, Australia supplied 3.8 million tonnes of bauxite to China in October, up 2.3% from the previous month and 3.5% from a year ago. China also imported around 940,000 tonnes from non-mainstream suppliers last month, primarily from Guyana, Laos, and Ghana.