Data show that China’s consumption for imported bauxite increased by 3.4% than last month in December 2016, up to 5.29 million tons. China's inventory of imported bauxite decreased by 0.2%, dropping to 29.5 million tons.

In December, influenced by rising alumina prices, alumina producers in Shangdong continued to expand the production, and at the same time, a plant in Henan increased the consumption for imported bauxite. Because the alumina market is still strong, China’s consumption for imported bauxite is expected to continue to remain high early in 2017.

But, for small and medium sized alumina plants, the undersupply of imported bauxite is still a problem. Malaysia announced that the bauxite mining restrictions will be extended to the end of March 2017, and at the same time, the rainy season in Malaysia also makes bauxite transportation difficult.