Numbers released last week by the International Aluminium Institute showed that alumina production in Europe (including Russia) increased in May over totals from the prior month but fell from production totals from the previous year.
IAI said that Europe’s production in the year’s fifth month rose to 560 thousand metric tons, besting the prior month’s total by over ten percent, or 55 thousand metric tons. Alumina production in May represents a bounce back from a drop of over 9 percent in March, when total production came to 557 thousand metric tons.
Compared to May of last year, Europe’s alumina production fell by 22 percent, down from a total of 722 thousand metric tons.
Average production in May totaled 18.1 thousand tons in May, rising by 7.7 percent over April’s daily average of 16.8 thousand metric tons. As compared to last May’s alumina production total, this year’s May total fell by 22 percent from last May’s per diem production average of 23.3 thousand metric tons.
For the first five months of 2023, European refineries produced 2.631 million metric tons of alumina, off by 31 percent from 2022’s first five month alumina production total of 3.835 million metric tons.
Globally, alumina refiners churned out 11.918 million metric tons of alumina, better by 4 percent over April’s total of 11.425 million metric tons, but down 2 percent from last May’s global alumina production total of 12.204 million metric tons.
Through the first five months of this year, global alumina production came to 56.715 million metric tons, off by just under 1 percent from last year’s first five month alumina production total of 57.282 million metric tons.