Global alumina production in the first three quarters was flat from a year earlier
Global alumina production in September 2020 was 10.717 million tonnes, down 6.0 per cent from August and 1.1 per cent from September 2019, according to the International Aluminium Association (IAI).From January to September 2020, the world produced 98.89 million tons of alumina, only 0.3% more than the same period last year. Production in the third quarter was 33.268m tonnes, almost the same as last year.
In the january-September period, China produced 51.728 million tons of alumina, accounting for 52.3 percent of the world's total alumina production, 3.7 percent less than in 2019. China produced 5.855 million tons of alumina in September, down 0.4 percent from the same month in 2019.
The main growth areas for alumina were in Africa and Asia (excluding China), where a total of 9.241 million tonnes of alumina was produced in January-September, up 20.3 per cent from the same period last year. In September alone, growth was 21.7 per cent.
South American countries also increased production, registering an increase of 12.7 per cent to 8,738M tonnes, according to the results for the three quarters, due to full capacity at the region's largest plant in Alunorte, Brazil. But September was down 20.2 percent from a year earlier.
Oceania countries increased alumina production in the first nine months of the year by 3.5 per cent to 15.706 million tonnes, while central and Eastern Europe increased by 2.2 per cent to 3.368 million tonnes.