Asia recorded the highest proportional increase in aluminium output almost reaching 2.48 Mt in 2003 compared to 2.26Mt in 2002 due to increased Indian production. India's increased by 38% making the West's fifth-largest consumer.Dubai Aluminium produced just over 560,000 t in 2003, compared with
536,000 t in 2002, the increase is accorded to the completion of its expansion project at its Jebel Ali
smelter.
Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) reported that it produced 530,000 t of aluminium in 2003, an increase of 2.5% on the 517,000 t produced in 2002. The higher output was attributed to capacity creep and low activity in pot relining in 2003.
Inda intends to increase the capacity at its Hirakud smelter in Orissa from 65,000 t/y to 100,000 t/y, through a combination of moving equipment from its closed Belgaum smelter in Karnataka, and raising the plants efficiency.
In Indonesia,Nippon Asahan's Kuala Tanjung smelter in northern Sumatra recorded ouput of 106,000 t in the April-September 2004 period a 31% increase on the 81,000 t produced a year earlier.
Russia produces in the region of 3 - 4 Mt of bauxite each year, and is the
world’s 9th largest producer, with most of the production centred on the
Urals. The Siberian-Urals Aluminium Company (SUAL) has begun construction of
Sredne-Timan bauxite field; Russia's biggest, in the Komi republic. The field
contains a proven 260 million tonnes of bauxite, 20% of Russia's entire
reserves.
Russia produced 3.84 Mt of aluminium in 2003 (compared to 3.35 Mt in 2002) as production increased at most of the country's existing smelters and a new plant.
AOA Rusal is spending an estimated IS$350 million on modernisation programmes at its Krasnoyarsk and Sayansk smelters which will raise their combined capacity by over 100 000 t/y by 2007.
India has large resources of high-grade bauxite deposits of the order of 3
037 million tonnes. These reserve estimates place India as 5th largest in the
world (after Australia, Guinea, Brazil and Jamaica). Reserves should provide
India’s bauxite industry for the next 350 years.
India’s National Aluminium Company (NALCO), has several producing
mining operations and smelting facilities. The Indian Government intends privatising several companies.
China is the world's second largest consumer of aluminium expanding to 5.1 Mt in 2003. Production has risen slowly through the years but it has struggled to match demand with the result that the country has been a net importer through out the decade, however, this situation changed in 2001 when the country became a net exporter. In 2003 it exported almost 1.04 Mt an increase of 67.2% from 2001 and imported 545,000 t. The Chinese industry is extremely fragmented by Western standards. There are currently no large smelters in China and the majority of its output comes from a consortium of small plants around the country. Only six smelters individually produced in excess of 200 000 t in 2003 and just ten others produced over 100 000 t. A number of Chinese projects have been delayed by power constraints, high alumina prices and financing problems. A number of producers are developing links woith poer companies or have their own power plants and more producers are expected to pursue this arrangement. There have also been a number of examples of power companies entering the aluminium market.
Kazakhstan’s aluminium and bauxite industry is dominated by Aluminum of
Kazakhstan, which has two bauxite mining operations.
