Rising raw material costs for the production of brown and white fused alumina in China are expected to push prices higher in the coming weeks, while intensifying anti-pollution control in Henan province will further compound supply constraints.

The company aims to have its fused magnesia line ‘up and running’ in Norway before year-end. Austrian refractory maker RHI is aiming to restart fused magnesia (FM) production at its partially-mothballed facility in Norway in December, the company told IM. After an initial announcement at the beginning of October, RHI said it is confident the …

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The Henan government has ramped up efforts to combat pollution by implementing yet more shutdowns of brown fused alumina production later this year. This is set to cause more global supply disruptions since output was already intermittent in recent months. The government of Henan province in China will enforce large-scale brown fused alumina production stoppages from November 2017 …

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The latest surge in prices follows extreme tightness in availability of material from European producers, and compounds the shortage seen in China. Prices of European fused magnesia (FM) have surged to exceed the $1,000/tonne mark this week, following repeated upticks in Chinese prices and extremely tight availability of material reflecting on international demand flows. While the European …

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Further crackdown on environmental rule-breaking plants in Shanxi have slashed calcined bauxite output, pushing prices up over the past fortnight. Chinese calcined bauxite spot prices increased over the past fortnight as the already tight supply dwindled further amid more governmental shutdown of production facilities. The Shanxi government announced 11 August that all plants that breached environmental standards …

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