Aluminum Corp of China (Chalco), the world's second-biggest producer of alumina, raised its spot alumina price by 10.5 per cent yesterday, the second increase in the past month, to reflect tightening supply and higher production costs.
The Beijing-based company boosted the price to 4,200 yuan a tonne from 3,800 yuan. Together with the 8.5 per cent increase on November 27, Chalco had lifted the price 20 per cent in less than a month.
The import price for alumina, including freight costs and insurance, was about US$470 a tonne at present, Chalco said.
The increase was due to rising prices of imported bauxite as the Indonesian government had imposed more restrictions on exports and halted production at unlicensed local mining firms, Sabrina Xie Lulu, analyst at Guotai Junan, said.
Bauxite is a raw material in making alumina, a semi-refined metal to be processed into aluminium and related products for sale to manufacturers such as carmakers and construction firms.
As most bauxite reserves on the mainland are controlled by Chalco, other refiners mainly depend on imports to make the metal.
Bauxite imports from Indonesia account for more than 65 per cent of the country's total import of the raw material.