Feb. 14, 2011 - It's reported that the world's largest seller of alumina roared back to profit in 2010, with Alumina Limited turning 2009's USD 26 million loss into USD 35 million net profit as the commodity started to loosen its tether to the price of aluminum.
Mr John Bevan CEO of Alumina said that the market for the commodity is set to grow 12% over the coming year. The global alumina market is entering a growth phase due in part to the rising demand for alumina from independent, non integrated smelters including many in China.
The company said that sale prices for the company's alumina rose 28% on the previous year, but a stronger Australian dollar cut into profits. Australia accounts for 60% of global production from the Alcoa World Alumina & Chemicals JV majority owned by US based Alcoa Inc and in which Alumina has 40% stake.
In the year to December 31, the JV produced 15.2 million tonnes of alumina with quarterly production in the fourth quarter hitting a record. The company paid a final dividend of 4 US cents per share, with a total for the year of 6 cents including the company's H1 dividend compared to 1.8 cents in 2009.
Alumina is a chemically refined commodity produced from bauxite ore, which is then further refined in smelters to produce aluminum metal. The commodity has traditionally been priced at around 12% to 15% of benchmark aluminum prices, but at half year results last year Mr Bevan said that the company had started moving its contracts to independent pricing.
The move which would see alumina priced off a markets-based index instead should be complete once all long-term contracts had been revised around 2015. Similar pricing changes have seen booming prices for iron ore and coking coal over the past year, as the commodities have responded more closely to fluctuations in supply and demand.
Mr John Bevan CEO of Alumina said that the market for the commodity is set to grow 12% over the coming year. The global alumina market is entering a growth phase due in part to the rising demand for alumina from independent, non integrated smelters including many in China.
The company said that sale prices for the company's alumina rose 28% on the previous year, but a stronger Australian dollar cut into profits. Australia accounts for 60% of global production from the Alcoa World Alumina & Chemicals JV majority owned by US based Alcoa Inc and in which Alumina has 40% stake.
In the year to December 31, the JV produced 15.2 million tonnes of alumina with quarterly production in the fourth quarter hitting a record. The company paid a final dividend of 4 US cents per share, with a total for the year of 6 cents including the company's H1 dividend compared to 1.8 cents in 2009.
Alumina is a chemically refined commodity produced from bauxite ore, which is then further refined in smelters to produce aluminum metal. The commodity has traditionally been priced at around 12% to 15% of benchmark aluminum prices, but at half year results last year Mr Bevan said that the company had started moving its contracts to independent pricing.
The move which would see alumina priced off a markets-based index instead should be complete once all long-term contracts had been revised around 2015. Similar pricing changes have seen booming prices for iron ore and coking coal over the past year, as the commodities have responded more closely to fluctuations in supply and demand.
