According to Database from Asian Metal, Chinese consumption for imported bauxite climbed up by 22.3% YOY to about 25 million tonnes in the first half of 2015. Imported bauxite inventories dropped by 2% MOM to about 29.5 million tonnes in late June, which may be enough for consumption in seven months based on current monthly demand volume.

The above graph reflects that the demand for imported bauxite continued to move up in June, because of new alumina projects in Shandong province. Meanwhile, the graph shows that Chinese demand for imported bauxite in H1 2015 is much higher than that in H1 2014.

Chinese bauxite import volume from Malaysia kept increasing from January to April of 2015, but the volume began declining from this May due to the strict bauxite transportation control policy in Malaysia. It is predicted that the volume from Malaysia will continue to slide down in Q3, as many illegal mine owners have stopped production.