What is it?
A fine white powder of aluminium oxide, the halfway product between bauxite rock and aluminium metal.
Why does it matter?
Alumina refining is where most of the bauxite chain's cost, energy and red-mud waste sits.
Deeper written sections for this material have not been published yet. Everything below is drawn straight from the source datasets and is complete.
Who produces it
See it on a map →Alumina, refinery production
Alumina, refinery productionthousand metric dry tons 2025 (estimated) World total 150,000 thousand metric dry tons
USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · Gross weight of alumina (Al2O3), roughly half of which is aluminium by mass. · source ↗
Scroll the table sideways for the remaining columns.
| Country | Production | Share of world |
|---|---|---|
| China | 93,000 | 62.0% |
| Australia | 17,000 | 11.3% |
| Brazil | 11,000 | 7.3% |
| India | 8,200 | 5.5% |
| Russia | 2,900 | 1.9% |
| United Arab Emirates | 2,300 | 1.5% |
| Saudi Arabia | 1,900 | 1.3% |
| Ireland | 1,700 | 1.1% |
| Jamaica | 1,500 | 1.0% |
| Vietnam | 1,500 | 1.0% |
| Kazakhstan | 1,500 | 1.0% |
| Indonesia | 1,500 | 1.0% |
| Canada | 1,500 | 1.0% |
| Other countries | 1,300 | 0.9% |
| Greece | 850.0 | 0.6% |
| Spain | 810.0 | 0.5% |
| United States | 710.0 | 0.5% |
| Germany | 460.0 | 0.3% |
| Guinea | 360.0 | 0.2% |
| Turkey | 310.0 | 0.2% |
| World total | 150,000 | 100% |
“Withheld” means the USGS suppressed the figure to avoid disclosing an individual company's data — it does not mean zero. Country rows do not always sum to the world total because the source rounds each figure independently and does not always break out an “other countries” line.
Price
average unit value of imports, f.a.s., dollars per metric ton
Annual averagedollars per metric ton
Basis: average unit value of imports, f.a.s., dollars per metric ton. Annual averages as published in USGS Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026 · source ↗. These are reference annual averages, not a live market quote.
Where it is processed and refined
| Plant | Kind | Stage | Country | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bayer-Process Alumina Refineries, Western Australia | Refinery | Processing | Australia | Output |
Follow it across the borders
All journeys →Where a consignment of this material actually goes — every country, every custodian, and what is left behind at each step.
Guinean bauxite to an aluminium window frame Four tonnes of tropical soil, two tonnes of white powder, one tonne of metal — and the metal is made wherever the power is…