2.4 Mt Alumina Refinery in Dong Nai and Aluminum Sheet Prices

On 26 October 2026, China Aluminum International Engineering (CHALIECO, a Chinalco subsidiary) announced on the Shanghai and Hong Kong exchanges that it had received a notice of award as EPC contractor for an alumina refinery with a design capacity of 2.4 million tonnes per year in Binh Phuoc, now part of Dong Nai province after the provincial merger. The developer is Binh Phuoc Ore Mining and Beneficiation JSC, and the award notice is dated 23 October. It is the largest alumina contract announced in Vietnam in many years, so local buyers of aluminum sheet and coil are asking one question: will aluminum get cheaper?

Alumina powder next to aluminum sheet coils, showing the chain from alumina to aluminum sheet

Alumina is only the first step; aluminum sheet also needs smelting and rolling — AI-generated illustration

What is known about the contract

Expected value: about US$833 million. Yieh Corp and Nguoi Quan Sat put it at about CNY 5.6 billion, and CafeF gives more than VND 20,000 billion.

Scope: turnkey, from design, equipment and material supply, construction and installation to commissioning and operator training.

Duration: 27 months from the date the contract takes effect.

Status: the contract is not yet signed. The final value and terms depend on the signed contract.

One point does not match across sources. According to CafeF, in March 2025 the former Binh Phuoc province approved the investment policy for an alumina processing project with total capital of about VND 22,780 billion and a capacity of 2 million tonnes per year, while the new contract states 2.4 million tonnes per year. No public explanation of the gap has been found. CHALIECO is not new to Vietnam: in 2008 it won an EPC contract of about US$460 million for the Tan Rai alumina plant in Lam Dong, with an original design capacity of 600,000 tonnes per year, a quarter of the new plant.

Where alumina sits in the aluminum sheet chain

Alumina (aluminum oxide) is a white powder refined from bauxite ore and is the feedstock for smelting pots. The chain has four steps: bauxite, alumina, smelted aluminum ingot, then rolling slab turned into aluminum sheet and coil. It takes roughly two tonnes of alumina to make one tonne of aluminum metal, and smelting uses a great deal of electricity.

The new plant covers only the alumina step. The sources reviewed mention no smelter or rolling mill linked to the project. Vietnam produced its first smelted aluminum ingot only on 26 July 2026 at the Dak Nong aluminum smelter, so most aluminum sheet and coil on the local market is still imported, with prices following A00 ingot in China and the LME.

What this means for shops buying aluminum sheet and coil

No short-term price effect. The contract is unsigned and construction takes 27 months. If it is signed in 2026, commercial alumina would come around 2029 at the earliest. Until then, sheet prices will keep tracking ingot; follow them on the weekly aluminum sheet price page.

Alumina alone does not make sheet cheaper. Sheet made from domestic raw material would also need smelting and rolling capacity. When quoting long-term orders, shops should still price on imported aluminum and leave a margin for exchange-rate moves.

Choose the right alloy to avoid overpaying. Deep-drawn parts and heat spreaders suit 1050 aluminum sheet. Enclosures, ducts and light cladding suit 3003 aluminum sheet. Load-bearing parts and humid or coastal service suit 5052 aluminum sheet.

Keep lot records. File the mill certificate (CQ) showing alloy, temper and origin for every lot. As a domestic aluminum chain takes shape, large customers will ask more about material origin.