JAMALCO last year increased its export of alumina over the previous year by 24 per cent, according to data released by the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ).

The PAJ’s data showed 1.39 million tonnes of alumina leaving its Rocky Point, Clarendon port during 2009, compared to 1.12 million tonnes the year before.

Alumina leaving Port Esquivel, which belongs to Windalco — the dual plant refiner that ceased production last March — totalled 232,248 tonnes compared to 1.2 million tonnes in 2008, while 280,524 tonnes left Port Kaiser — Alpart’s port — compared to 1.68 million tonnes in 2008.

Overall, alumina export by volume fell by 52.5 per cent in 2009 when compared to the previous year.

The price of alumina in 2009 was considerable below 2008 levels, which means that the drop in earnings from alumina export was even greater than volumes decline would suggest.

The average price of alumina was US$196 per tonne for the nine months to September 2009 compared to US$310.50 per tonne in 2008. This means that income from alumina export, which brought in US$1.24 billion in 2008 looked more like US$374 million last year.

On the other hand, crude bauxite export, which fell in volume from 5.3 million tonnes in 2008, to 3.8 million tonnes last year, would have benefited slightly from a modest increase in the average price paid for the commodity.

The average price for bauxite was US$26 per tonne in 2008 compared to US$26.70 per tonne for the nine months to September 2009. This means that bauxite earnings in 2009 came in at US$102 million compared to US$138 million the year before.

Overall, Jamaica would have lost US$908 million in foreign exchange earnings from alumina and bauxite export.