Aluminium: Characteristics
Light, conductive and rust-proof: the alloy toolkit
What this tab covers The supply and physical characteristics of the commodity. Supply: current production, inventories and stocks, capacity utilisation, geographic and producer concentration, how fast supply responds to price, the project pipeline and capital spending, and logistics and export flows. Material: the physical and chemical properties that set its grade, price and end uses (for example purity and conductivity for metals, API gravity, sulfur and energy content for fuels, moisture, protein and fibre quality for crops).Supply volume characteristics
| Characteristic | Figure | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Current production volume | about 74 Mt primary aluminium (2025e); 150 Mt alumina; 440 Mt bauxite | China produced 45 Mt, about 60% of the world. India was second with 4.2 Mt. The IAI counted 73.8 Mt of primary output in 2025. | USGS MCS 2026; IAI |
| Inventory and stock levels | US industry stocks 1.8 Mt at end-2025, about 4 months of US use; LME US warehouses only 8 kt | World stocks are spread across producers, traders and LME, SHFE and off-warrant warehouses, and are not fully published. At about 74 Mt of primary output a year, 1 Mt of stock equals about 5 days of world primary supply (derived). | USGS MCS 2026; derived |
| Capacity utilisation | about 93% of world smelter capacity (74.0 Mt output against 79.7 Mt capacity, 2025e) | China ran at about 100% of its 45 Mt capacity, which matches its policy cap of about 45 Mt (indicative). India ran at about 100% of 4.2 Mt. The US used only half of its 1.31 Mt, with two smelters idle. | USGS MCS 2026; China cap indicative |
| Geographic and producer concentration | China 60.0%, top-3 (China, India, Russia) 71.4%, HHI 3,719 (smelting); bauxite: Guinea 34.2%, HHI 2,106; top-5 companies about 32% | Chalco (8.08 Mt), China Hongqiao (5.82 Mt), Rusal (3.99 Mt, 2024), Rio Tinto (about 3.3 Mt) and EGA (2.84 Mt) make about 24 Mt (derived). Guinea and Australia mine 58% of bauxite. | World Mining Data 2026; company reports via this tile's lessons |
| Supply elasticity | medium: idle smelters restart in 6-12 months; new smelters take about 3-4 years | Supply depends on power. Smelters close when power is costly, as in Europe in 2022, and restart when it eases: San Ciprian in Spain restarted in 2025. China's cap stops its supply from responding to price. | USGS MCS 2026; this tile's lessons (indicative) |
| Project pipeline and CapEx | new smelter capacity mainly in Indonesia, India and the Gulf (indicative) | Named projects: a 500 kt/yr smelter in North Kalimantan, Indonesia; a restart of more than 50 kt/yr at a 229 kt/yr South Carolina smelter by mid-2026; new potlines in Guangxi, Guizhou, Qinghai, Sichuan and Yunnan; a 1 Mt/yr alumina refinery at Mempawah, Indonesia. In India, Vedanta is expanding BALCO and Hindalco its Aditya smelter (indicative). | USGS MCS 2026; company announcements (indicative) |
| Logistics and export flows | unwrought aluminium exports worth $56 billion in 2024; China took 87% of bauxite imports by value | Guinea ships bauxite from Boke and Kamsar to China, and Australia from Weipa and Gove. The Gulf and Indian smelters export ingot and billet by sea. Bauxite supply is exposed to Guinean policy, as in 2025 when licences were revoked. | UN Comtrade 2024; USGS MCS 2026 |
Material characteristics Metal / hard commodity
Aluminium is light (a third of the density of steel), conducts electricity well for its weight, resists corrosion through a thin oxide film and is easy to cast, roll and extrude. Purity sets exchange deliverability; alloying with magnesium, silicon, zinc or copper sets strength. Bauxite is valued on alumina content and reactive silica, which wastes caustic soda.
| Property | Value / specification | Why it matters | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purity / grade | LME P1020A: at least 99.7% Al, at most 0.10% Si and 0.20% Fe | Sets deliverability on the LME and the base for alloy making | LME |
| Density | 2.70 g/cm3 | Lightweighting in vehicles, aircraft and packaging | ASM Handbook |
| Electrical conductivity | about 61-62% IACS for EC grade (1350) | Per kg it conducts about twice as well as copper, so overhead lines use it | ASTM B230 (indicative) |
| Strength | pure aluminium about 90 MPa; 6061-T6 about 310 MPa; 7075-T6 about 570 MPa tensile | Alloys reach steel-like strength at a third of the weight | Aluminum Association (indicative) |
| Thermal conductivity | about 237 W/m K for pure metal | Radiators, heat sinks and cookware | ASM Handbook (indicative) |
| Bauxite grade | about 40-60% Al2O3; low reactive silica, typically under 5-8% | Sets alumina yield and caustic soda use in the Bayer process | Industry practice (indicative) |