Panic Grows in Alumina Market as Prices Spike Toward a Record
- Block on EGA’s bauxite shipments highlights supply fragility
- China depends on Guinea to feed vast aluminum sector
To make aluminum, raw ores known as bauxite are refined into alumina, which is then smelted into pure metal.
Photographer: Vincent Mundy/Bloomberg
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The key raw material needed to make aluminum is tearing toward a record high as buyers race to secure supplies, following an export disruption in top-miner Guinea that has rippled through to China.
Prices for alumina have surged by more than 20% so far this month and are now within striking distance of the record of $707.75 set in 2018, according to pricing agency Fastmarkets Ltd.