Guinea’s exports of bauxite, the only minor ore transported by capesize bulkers and an essential mineral for aluminium, have continued their winning streak landing at about 26% shy of last year’s total. Bulk bauxite exports from Guinea most of which head to China from the ports of Kamsar, Boffa, Cap Verga, and Conakry reached a record 124.84m tonnes in 2023, up 22.43m tonnes compared to 2022 or close to 22% year-on-year. Research from Ursa Shipbrokers shows that year-to-date seaborne bauxite exports from the West African country have already reached about 92m tonnes or close to 74% of the total exports for 2023. These export volumes have required an estimated 96.45m tonnes of dry bulk carriers’ deadweight cargo capacity for seaborne transport so far in 2024, the Piraeus-based outfit noted. Guinea, which is estimated to hold the largest reserves of bauxite at around 7.4bn tonnes, last month saw export volumes increase by about 18.99% compared to July 2023, and by an “astonishing” 144.58% compared to the average July exports over the past decade. Analysts at Ursa estimate that bauxite exports in August have already reached 10.16m tonnes, representing a 12.91% increase compared to the total for the same month last year. “This is despite Guinea’s traditional rainy season, which typically presents challenges for mining, mine-to-port logistics, and port operations, affecting the overall export volumes.” Bauxite was discussed at this year’s Geneva Dry and is set to have greater prominence at the next edition of the world’s premier commodities shipping conference. “West African bauxite has become much more important and is very much interlinked with iron ore in terms of volumes,” William Fairclough, managing director of Wah Kwong Maritime Transport Holdings, said at the iron ore session of the Splash-organised event. googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1_95_0_1_2'); }); TagsGuinea