As of the end of October 2017, China had imported 562,924 tonnes of bauxite from Indonesia since July when
the first shipment from PT Aneka Tambang (PT Antam) reached China in four years, according to Chinese customs data.
In January 2017, Indonesia’s Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources announced that it would allow the export of several minerals, including bauxite, to
resume under certain conditions.
PT Antam was the first to secure an initial
export quota of 850,000 tonnes of bauxite; by November 2017, more than 10 million tonnes of bauxite export quotas had been granted to local miners, according to market participants.
Alumina refineries in China's Shandong province in particular were quick to resume bauxite imports from Indonesia in 2017 and are looking to boost volumes further still in 2018, participants said.
Indeed, such has been the demand that now traders are...
