Overview of Brown Fused Alumina Market in July

In July, the market of brown fused alumina, white fused alumina and silicon carbide still keeps running smoothly. The price of flake graphite in Shandong district has dropped 100 RMB/tons. The price of domestic alumina drops slightly about 50 RMB/ton and fused magnesia decreases by 50-100 RMB/ton. The price index (RMPI) of refractory raw material is 124.47 points, which is 1.14% lower than in the 1st quarter and down 4.5% year on year.

The downstream market demand of brown fused alumina doesn’t have no evidence of getting any better in July. The demand remains weak but the price keep stably. Recently, the market price of brown fused alumina Al₂O₃≥95% dumping furnace section sand in Shanxi region is about 4000-4200 RMB/ton, and the market mainstream price is about 4150-4250 RMB/ton.

According to the survey about the operation situation about 32 sets of smelting furnaces of 11 brown fused alumina enterprises in Shanxi, we can get to know that only 20 sets of smelting furnaces maintain normal operation, and the operation rate can reach about 62.50%. According to the report of local companies in Shanxi, although the market price of brown fused alumina is fair at this stage, the actual transaction price is too low, and some products enterprises force prices down quite seriously. 

On the other hand, the comprehensive production cost of some raw materials, coal and iron is still high, which is the main cause that the operation rate is generally low. In addition, in the 27 sets of smelting furnaces of eight brown fused alumina production enterprises in Guizhou, there are only 13.5 sets of smelting furnaces keep running, whose operation rate can reach about 50%. Based on the consideration of transportation cost, brown fused alumina in Guizhou are mainly sold to the south market at present, which are mainly sold to abrasives, ceramics, refractories and other industries, and the proportion of refractory material is smaller as a whole.

In the first half of 2015,  the gross volume of export of domestic brown fused alumina is 279200 tons, which drops 9.2% year on year. The exports is of $196.37 million that has declined almost 8.0% year on year. The export volume of domestic brown fused alumina is 48900 tons in June, which fell 22.8% year on year, but rise about 7.95% from the prior month. At present, domestic brown fused alumina is mainly exported to the United States, Japan, India and other countries, and the demand in the United States is the largest. Among them, The export volume of brown fused alumina exported to the United States is about 8200 tons in June, which fell 56.1% year on year; Japan's export volume is about 8000 tons that goes up almost 37.8% year on year.