Metal Bulletin's daily fob Australia alumina index settled at $672.50 per tonne on Wednesday April 18, up 16.2% compared with the previous day's calculation, and the highest number recorded since the index launched in August 2010.
Since the start of the year the alumina price has surged, with levels to date rising 71%. The more recent escalation in prices was initially driven by market tightness caused by the force majeure at Hydro's Alunorte alumina refinery. This occurred when Hydro was ordered to operate Alunorte at 50% of its capacity in late February amid concerns that severe rainfall in Brazil's northern state of Par?? had resulted in water contamination.