Nippon Light Metal to Hike Alumina and Related Products in February

Nippon Light Metal announced on Thursday the firm raises its selling price for aluminium hydroxide and alumina by 5-15 yen per kilogram effective for shipment on and after 1 February. The firm will raise the selling price by 5 yen per kg for aluminium hydroxide of common usages, by 10 yen per kg for aluminum hydroxide of the other usages and by 15 yen per kg for alumina including raw soda alumina and fused alumina.The firm has raised the selling price of alumina and the related products 7 times since 2003 and the previous hike was 7 months ago. The backgrounds are that bauxite price is surging and that alumina production costs are increasing with lower grade ores. Freight expansion has also impacted the profitability.Bauxite price is stimulated by the sharp demand growth in China. China seemed to import above 23 million tonnes of bauxite through 2007, more than 10 times as much as 2 years ago. China recently purchases bauxite not only from Indonesia but from India. Due to the steep expansion of bauxite mining, ore grade is lowering.Nippon Light Metal produced alumina at 350,000 tonnes per annum in fiscal 2006 ended March 2007. The firm estimates its annual alumina output might decrease to 330,000 tonnes in fiscal 2007 and 300,000-310,000 tonnes in fiscal 2008 due to the lower productivity. Among other Japanese alumina makers, Showa Denko announced the price hike for aluminium hydroxide and alumina for February shipment.