GACC: China's Sept bauxite imports jump 38% YoY despite on-month decline

Over January-September this year, China's total bauxite imports reached 157.6 million tonnes, an increase of 32% from the corresponding period in 2024, the Customs data showed.

Guinea remained China's dominant overseas bauxite supplier last month, exporting 10.5 million tonnes and accounting for about 66% of China's total imports. Although September's volume was 14.9% lower on month, it was still 58.2% higher on year, according to the GACC figures.

The on-month decline in Guinean bauxite imports was largely due to seasonal and regulatory factors. The West African country's rainy season, together with the Guinean government's cancellation of mining licenses since late May, impacted both mining operations and shipments during July and August, market analysts explained.

Because it requires around 45 days to ship bauxite from Guinea to China, supply interruptions in mid-July to mid-August had a lagging impact, dragging down arrivals through September, they added.

Despite the recent slowdown, strong growth in imports from Guinea earlier this year offset the disruptions. Over the first nine months of 2025, China imported 118.42 million tonnes of bauxite from the West African country, higher by a significant 40.3% from the same period last year, the GACC data showed.

Meanwhile, China's bauxite imports from Australia, the country's second-largest supplier, totalled 3.7 million tonnes in September, accounting for 23.5% of the total. The imported volume represented a 15.6% decline from August and a 7.6% decrease from September 2024.

The Customs figures also show that China imported 1.64 million tonnes of the ore from non-mainstream supplying countries, higher by 7.4% from August and by 103.7% from a year earlier. The top non-mainstream suppliers included Turkey, Sierra Leone, Malaysia, and Laos.

Written by Iris Pang, pangjunyu@mysteel.com