Alumina: Curtailing Production at High-Cost Kwinana Refinery

Alcoa World Alumina and Chemicals, or AWAC, in which no-moat Alumina owns a 40% stake, has announced it will fully curtail production at its Kwinana alumina refinery, beginning in the second quarter of calendar 2024. Kwinana is an old, high-cost refinery that posted a pretax net loss of USD 130 million in calendar 2023, and management has previously raised the possibility of curtailment or closure. Kwinana’s annual nameplate capacity of 2.2 million metric tons would represent around a fifth of AWAC’s calendar 2022 global refining production; however, the refinery has operated at 80% capacity since January 2023.