The market for calcined bauxite and fused alumina carries on in a state of limbo at the beginning of the fourth quarter due to a continued lack of clarity on the extent of the supply issues in China.<\/p>\n
Participants are facing hard questions about issues of continuity of supply from China amid a slowdown in demand from consumers in Europe and other areas.<\/p>\n
Limited availability remains a problem that is ever present as much as it is proving difficult to quantify. This is resulting in wider spreads on some market prices \u2013 particularly for bauxite \u2013 while other grades remain firm or adjust on slow trading.<\/p>\n
Fastmarkets IM assessed the price of calcined bauxite 85% at $400-435 per tonne fob China on Thursday October 18, compared with $420-435 per tonne previously.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the price of calcined bauxite 86% stood at $435-450 per tonne fob China on Thursday, adjusting from $435-445 per tonne earlier.<\/p>\n
Finally, the price of calcined bauxite 87% remained unchanged at $450-480 per tonne fob China, and the price of calcined bauxite 88% also held at $490-500 per tonne fob China.<\/p>\n
Most data points collected point to a widening of the spreads, as in the case of the 85% and 86% price, and are testimony to the lack of clarity the industry is seeing at present.<\/p>\n
\u00abYou hear numbers that are all over the place right now,\u00bb a consumer commented.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The market for calcined bauxite and fused alumina carries on in a state of limbo at the beginning of the fourth quarter due to a continued lack of clarity on the extent of the supply issues in China. Participants are facing hard questions about issues of continuity of supply from China amid a slowdown in … <\/p>\n