Alcoa suspends bauxite shipments from Brazil’s Juruti mine due to port issue

US aluminum maker Alcoa said on Thursday it had halted bauxite shipments from Brazil’s Juruti port due to a stranded vessel in the waterway.

This was the latest in a series of disruptions to hit the aluminum raw material supply chain, which have pushed alumina prices to record highs and supported aluminum prices.

Alcoa declared force majeure at its bauxite mine in the Juruti region on Wednesday as an inaccessible waterway hindered its ability to supply its customers, an Alcoa spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

The statement gave no estimate on when shipments would resume.

One trader source said the vessel has been stranded near Juruti port since late October and bauxite has not been moving for almost 10 days.

The Juruti area has one of the world’s largest deposits of high grade bauxite, which is typically crushed and refined into alumina. Alumina is the major raw material for making primary aluminum.

Three-month benchmark prices for aluminum on the London Metal Exchange surged to a five-month high of $2,732 per metric ton on Thursday. It last traded at $2,706 as at 1519 GMT.

Alumina prices rallied last month after disruptions to shipments in Guinea and Australia.

The most traded alumina contract for January expiry on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) has jumped 25% since the start of October to 5,279 yuan per tonne.

(By Julian Luk; Editing by David Evans and Susan Fenton)

Read More: Alcoa ‘very bullish’ on aluminum for energy transition