Nippon Light Metal Pull up the Selling Price of Alumina Products by 10-15% from Shipping on April

Japanese major alumina products maker, Nippon Light Metal announced on Monday the firm will increase the selling price of alumina products and the alumina hydroxide products by 10-15% from shipping on April. It pulls up the price for the first time since April, 2004.The firm put forward several reasons that the alumina price is continuing to rise because the demand of the alumina is good in the world; the bauxite suppliers are holding down the export of the bauxite; the heavy oil and sodium hydroxide price is increasing severely over the last year that are used in manufacturing process. The bauxite price increased by 30% from January, 2005, the heavy oil price rose by 70% for one year and the sodium hydroxide price increased by 25%. Consequently, the firm will pass some material cost on the products selling price. The alumina products export volume by the firm is 80,000-90,000 tonnes per year against the total sales is about 350,000 tonnes. Already, the firm is advancing the hike by 15% from January, 2006.