The International Aluminium Institute (IAI) has released its annual global statistics for both primary aluminum and alumina production, covering the year 2020.
The latest dataset is available on the IAI website.
Primary Aluminum Production
The IAI data shows that Covid-19 did not lead to a reduction in global aluminum production in 2020. Production in China and North America increased by over 4% compared to the previous year (2019), while that of South America and Other Asia dropped by 6%. Other regions remained stable throughout 2020.
The data per region is as follows:
- Global primary aluminum production was estimated to be 65,296 kt at a daily rate of 178.4 kt. The production daily average increased by 2.29% compared to 2019.
- Estimated Chinese production was 37,337 kt
- Africa production was 1,605 kt
- North America was 3,976 kt
- South America was 1,006 kt
- Asia (ex China) was 4,140 kt
- Western Europe production was 3,334 kt
- East & Central Europe was 4,153 kt
- Oceania was 1,912 kt
- GCC (Gulf) production was 5,833 kt
Overall, global aluminum production in 2020 saw a 2.6% increase year-on-year, and 1.8% compared to 2018 (which had the highest production rate).
Over the last decade, global primary aluminum production has increased by over 50% in total, driven mainly by China and the Gulf.
The IAI noted that over the coming decades, global demand for primary aluminum will increase by over 40% through to 2050 as economies grow, urbanize, consume more goods, and build up their infrastructure.
According to the IAI, the continued increase in aluminum demand is a reflection of a growing appetite for environmentally friendly solutions in transport, building, infrastructure, energy and food security. It is also a testament to the relevance of aluminum in new applications such as medical devices and the digital technologies on which we increasingly rely.
Alumina Production
Global alumina production was estimated to be 134,432 kt at a daily rate of 367.3 kt, representing an overall increased by 2% year-on-year in 2020. Alumina production in Africa & Asia (ex China) and South America increased by 20% and 10% respectively. North America appeared to be the only region that saw a significant reduction during the pandemic — a drop of 9%.
Similar to primary aluminum, in the last 10 years global alumina production has seen a total increase of close to 50%.