Alumina Ltd’s joint venture AWAC plans to increase its alumina as well as aluminum production in 2020.
Coming off a strong year, where it produced a record 12.6mn mt of alumina through its global refineries, the Australian company has projected to keep pace in 2020 with a production guidance of 12.7mn mt for alumina and 162,000mt for aluminum.
The company’s Ma’aden joint venture operated at 102pc capacity during the year to produce 1.839mn mt of alumina of which AWAC’s share of production was 462,000mt. The company’s aluminum production through its Portland, Australia refinery, however, decreased by 1.8pc in 2019 compared with the prior year period.
In 2019, the company’s realized alumina pricing decreased to $336/mt, down by $111/mt from the previous year, reflecting a lower global demand for the metal.
However, increased output from its refineries meant that the lower pricing was offset by improved cash costs of producing the material. AWAC reported a 7.1pc improvement in its cash cost of alumina in 2019 to $210/mt compared with $334/mt in 2018.
Charges related to the company’s Point Comfort refinery closure as well as low prices impacted its overall profits which fell to $565mn in 2019 from $1.64bn in 2018. The company’s EBITDA also fell to $1.59bn in 2019 compared with $2.79bn in the prior year period.