Australian bauxite trade is expected to hit a record of 45 million tonnes of exports over the 2025-26 period, according to the Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR) December 2025 Resources and Energy Quarterly.
Australia exported 42.6 million tonnes of bauxite of its total 100.2 million tonnes produced in 2024. The remaining bauxite produced in Australia was converted to alumina, according to the Australian Aluminium Council.
The December quarterly reported 98% of Australian bauxite to be exported to China, which is the second largest producer of the commodity behind Australia, according to Harbor Aluminium.
As reported by Mining.com.au, the global bauxite outlook is expected to remain key support for the capesize freight market in 2026.
Guinea has provided strong export momentum recently, with exports from the country up 22% for the year-to-date as of 7 January 2026.
Trade demand for bauxite in the Asia-Pacific region has been rising by double digits over the last four years, as reported in Mining.com.au’s twelfth day of Christmas.
Metro Mining (ASX:MMI) is one bauxite miner looking to increase its volumes in 2026, through debottlenecking at the Bauxite Hills Mine in Far North Queensland.
The company reached a new record of shipments in 2025 totalling 6.2 million tonnes.
Metro shipped 714,000 wet metric tonnes of product from Bauxite Hills in July 2025, after shipping 589,000 wet metric tonnes in June.
The Bauxite Hills Mine has an estimated reserve of 77.7 million tonnes and a resource of 114.4 million tonnes. The asset has been in operation since April 2018.
Bauxite is the sole raw material used to produce primary aluminium.
Write to Maddison Elliott at Mining.com.au
Images: iStock & Metro Mining
