A potential easing of trade tensions between the United States and Canada could reshape the North American aluminum market, with European buyers facing the risk of stronger competition for Canadian metal. Import data from ITC Trade Map shows that US purchases of Canadian unwrought aluminum fell sharply in 2025, while imports from Canada increased across six European markets, highlighting how trade flows have evolved amid tariff uncertainty. The United States imported approximately 2.03 million metric tons of unwrought aluminum from Canada in 2025, down 25.9% from 2.74 million metric tons in 2024. The decline amounted to around 711,494 metric tons over the year. Import value also decreased, falling 22.2% from $7.82 billion to $6.09 billion. The figures come as the possibility of a...
Century Aluminum’s proposed USD 4 billion primary aluminum smelter in Inola, Oklahoma, is “moving forward on all fronts” as the company prepares for construction, despite local opposition and legal challenges, CEO Jesse Gary said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. Developed jointly by Century Aluminum and Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), the project is designed to produce 750,000 tonnes of primary aluminum annually, potentially doubling U.S. primary aluminum production. The facility is expected to create thousands of direct and indirect jobs and add USD 1.5 billion to Oklahoma’s gross domestic product, according to company estimates. The partners had targeted construction to begin by the end of 2026. However, local restrictions and permitting challenges have affected the...
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The U.S. Commerce Department launched a new portal for Section 232 exclusion requests on Thursday, June 13. The companies looking for tariff exclusion need to submit and post all Section 232 exclusion requests in that new portal and the treasury department will post all related objections and decisions in the same portal. An Interim Final Rule was published on Monday to implement the new process, and a “User Guide” was provided in the portal with details and guidance (FAQ are also posted here). Exclusion requests that were submitted before June 13, 2019, will be available on Regulations.gov in the aluminium docket. So, the concerned companies would find all objections, rebuttals and decisions related to those requests in Regulations.gov. The Aluminum Association said that this transition...
China’s production of aluminium increased 2.4 per cent in May compared with the same period last year. Aluminium production came in at 2.98 million tonnes last month, showed data by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Friday, June 14. Aluminium production in China rose 2.1 per cent from 2.92 million tonnes in April, NBS data showed. According to Reuters calculations, on a daily basis, output decreased from 97,200 in April, which had one day fewer. Output averaged around 96,129 tonnes last month. China produced 14.45 million tonnes of aluminium in the first five months of 2019. That was up 2.7 percent from the same period last year, the data showed. Output of ten nonferrous metals - including copper, aluminium, lead, zinc and nickel – increased 2.2 per cent YoY and stood at 4.74...
Japan is a key producer of aluminium flat rolled products, the two major rolled product manufacturers being Kobe Steel & Aluminium and UACJ Corporation who make aluminium plates, pre coated sheets and various rolling products for value added applications. Demand for the rolled products is mostly driven by the automotive sector and the country ships a major part of its production internationally. Japan’s flat rolled aluminium production has been on the rise since last couple of years owing to the growing demand from the transport sector. In the year 2018, Japan produced 1.2 million tonnes of flat rolled products, up from 1 million tonnes in 2017. This was again up 2.3% from 977,000 tonnes produced in 2016. In the first quarter of 2019, Japan produced 282,000 tonnes of flat rolled products,...
The UK aluminium drink can recycling rate continued to increase to 75% in 2018, the highest ever level, according to the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro). Data also showed that 95% of aluminium packaging collected in the UK is recycled within Europe. The overall aluminium packaging rate reached 52% in 2018, up from 41% in 2010. This means over 100,000 tonnes of aluminium packaging sold in the UK were recycled last year. These improvements are attributed to the investment made by the aluminium sector as a whole to ensure that the packaging they produce is recycled. Rick Hindley, executive director of Alupro said: “Aluminium is the perfect example of the circular economy because it can be recycled forever. We know that British consumers want to do their part, so we’re...
The development of new and diversified packaging styles and high potential in emerging economies are found to provide a significant lead to the aluminium foil packaging market. The demand for aluminium foil in the packaging industry is expected to exceed 4 per cent in the years ahead. The pharmaceutical and drug industry is primarily driving the growth of aluminium foil packaging market because of the increasing use of aluminium foil in packing medicines, followed by the food packaging industry. To cash on this increasing use and demand for aluminium foil in various industries, some countries, on the other hand, are increasing their exports and yielding higher profits. South Korea is one such country whose aluminium foils export is found growing with each passing year. According to the...
After growing exponentially for five years boosted by liberal government subsidies, China’s electrified vehicle market is on the verge of slowing down. Beijing started subsidy in the buying price of EVs and plug-in hybrids in order to control vehicle emissions and cut down on oil imports. In Q1 2019, aggregate sales of electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids remained explosive, growing 110 per cent to nearly 300,000 units. However, in April, sales of EVs and plug-in hybrids rose about 18 per cent to about 97,000. By May, monthly demand for EVs edged up only 1.8 per cent YoY to around 104,000 units. With the subsidies, Beijing also wanted to have an edge over global carmakers in the field of EVs and plug-in hybrids. The sale skyrocketed more than 300 per cent in 2014 and 2015 and annual...
Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) appealed to the government to cut goods and services tax (GST) on aluminium utensils. Traders body CAIT submitted a white paper on GST to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. They also demanded a GST rate cut on auto parts, hardware, mobile covers, ice cream, health drinks, paints, marble, used vehicles, two-wheelers, etc. They urged the Finance Minister to review items placed under different tax slabs under GST as many of the products are overlapping, PTI reported. CAIT said in a statement: "Various items like auto parts and aluminium utensils are not of luxurious nature should be taken out from 28 per cent tax slab and may be put under lower tax slab." "The minister assured the CAIT delegation that she will look into the issues," it said. CAIT...
The US dollar rose on Thursday on Donald Trump’s slightly positive tone on the US-China trade war Wednesday despite the threat of increased tariffs. Growing expectations of an interest rate cut limited gains in the greenback. LME base metals closed mixed while aluminium edged down. SHFE base metals saw mixed performance and aluminium declined 0.3%. LME aluminium settled the day’s trading higher than the previous day at US$1756 per tonne but lost the gains overnight. With the rising US dollar the three-month LME aluminium lost earlier gains to close lower at US$1,786 per tonne on Thursday. As on June 13, Thursday, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stood at US$ 1755.50 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 1756 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 1787 per tonne,...
Lindian Resources Limited has reportedly taken a new managing director on board, named Shannon Green, an experienced bauxite executive with more than 20 years of resource development and mining operations. He recently served Canyon Resources Limited as general manager, where he played an instrumental role in the development of the high-grade Minim Martap Project in Cameroon. Lindian chairman Asimwe Kabunga said, “We are very fortunate to have secured someone of Shannon’s calibre, a highly experienced and respected industry professional who recently played a key role in the development of a world-class bauxite project in Africa” He further said, “Shannon’s extensive mining experience and intimate knowledge of the bauxite market provides the skills and expertise needed to transition Lindian...
A00 aluminium ingot price again dropped to RMB 13970 per tonne on Friday, 14 June 2019. That was down RMB90 per tonne from yesterday. The average price is expected to range at RMB13950-13990 per tonne. Spot aluminium price is likely to be traded at a discount of RMB 10 per tonne to premium of RMB 30 per tonne. Aluminium ingot price in Foshan came in at RMB 14050 per tonne, down RMB11 0 per tonne. The average price is expected to range at RMB14030-14070 per tonne today. Ingot price in Wuxi and Hangzhou declined RMB 60 per tonne and RMB 70 per tonne to stand at RMB 13975 per tonne and RMB 14000 per tonne. Aluminium ingot price in Chongqing, Shenyang, Tianjin, Linyi, and Gongyi stood at RMB 13980 per tonne, RMB 14015 per tonne, RMB 14000 per tonne, RMB 14090 per tonne and RMB 13895 per...
As the first five months of 2019 has come to an end with a sense of reconciliation for the global aluminium industry after a year of trade wars, restrictive tariffs, sanctions and capacity cuts; the stakeholders of the industry are preparing for an active and profitable second half with a renewed zeal. At this juncture, AlCircle is preparing to launch an e-Magazine on the theme “ Aluminium LeaderSpeak 2019” . Purpose of this exclusive online magazine is to get industry leaders from the complete aluminium value chain on board to share with our readers how they think year 2019 would transpire for themselves as an organization as well as for the industry. Top industry leaders will be sharing their business strategies and outlook for 2019 and their perspectives on how the Aluminium Industry...
According to Shanghai Metals Market, operating rates across Chinese secondary aluminium producers stood at 53.73% in May, down 4.6 percentage points from April, and 4.2 percentage points from May 2018. Car inventory clearance ahead of the new emission standards kept demand for secondary aluminium weak. Inventories of finished products at secondary aluminium producers had grown on weak demand from end-users, and this drove them to curb production. SMM reported that Inflows of seaborne ADC12 weighed on the domestic low-end market, and this shrank profit margins that producers could incur, resulting in production cuts. In April, operating rates across secondary aluminium producers averaged 58.37%, down 3.05 percentage points month-on-month but up 0.05 percentage point year-on-year. SMM...
US-based craft brewers Fernson Brewing Company has reportedly installed WaveGrip’s G1 multi-packing applicator, in a bid to ramp up its can production. The brewery will use the G1 applicator as a sustainable solution to produce its beer cans, ensuring reduced labour costs and materials to pack its cans. Fernson Brewing CEO Joel Thompson said: “We are often asked why we chose cans for our beers rather than bottles and there are two basic reasons. One is that cans are better at protecting each beer from light and oxygen, and two is because aluminium cans are lighter and easier to recycle than glass.” He also said that cans are great for the beers and consumers, but their packaging is laborious. Many automated solutions were available but they were too expensive for the level that Fernson...
According to Reuters, Rusal plans to issue a Chinese yuan-denominated bond, called a Panda bond and a rouble bond in order to raise fund for a new smelter. The world’s largest aluminium producer outside China was barred from borrowing during the sanctioned period. Now that the sanctions are lifted after Deripaska gave up control of the firm, the company is back to raising funds. “We see that all the key banks are actively returning to us with proposals for different instruments. We are analysing them and will use these opportunities if necessary,” said Oleg Mukhamedshin, head of equity and strategic development at Rusal. Rusal last tapped the Chinese bond market in 2017. The company will issue the bond once it gets credit ratings from Chinese agencies. Rusal raised 15 billion roubles...
The newly implemented restrictions on scrap aluminium imports from July are likely to raise cost for Chinese secondary aluminium smelters, which in turn may raise the export price of Chinese aluminium alloys, a Platts report says. From July, only companies with licenses from the Ministry of Environment and Ecology can import scraps by the quota set by the ministry on a quarterly basis. The import quota system is likely to continue till the end of 2020 and from 2021, all scrap imports would be banned by China. Chinese smelters are reported to be in talks with the government to allow conditional high-grade scrap imports after 2021. According to Customs data, China’s aluminium scarp import dropped to 1.6 million tonnes in 2018 from 2.2 million tonnes in 2017. According to market sources,...
Partnership with trade suppliers of bespoke aluminium bifold doors and windows, AluFoldDirect Limited, has reportedly helped Morgan’s Windows Doors and Conservatories achieved its incredible success. From having a tiny unit at the back of a gunroom and small builder’s merchants, Morgan’s Windows Doors and Conservatories has opened a brand new state-of-the-art showroom in Oswestry, according to a recent report. Recollecting memories, Paul Rowney, manager at Morgan’s said, “We started up fitting uPVC windows and doors around seven years ago. We were self-taught at installing and expanded into fitting composite doors, French doors, sliders, and eventually aluminium bi-fold doors, which is where our relationship with AluFoldDirect began.” He added, “AluFoldDirect has been an excellent support...
Rusal said in a press interview that discussions over Rusal investing in Braidy’s aluminium rolling mill at Kentucky happened much before the imposition of the U.S. sanctions on its group of companies. Rusal announced its plan to invest as much as US$200mn in the Kentucky plant after the sanctions were lifted from Rusal in late January 2019 after Deripaska agreed to reduce his ownership and give up control of the firm. Some US lawmakers have urged the government for a review of Rusal’s investment in the project considering the fact that Deripaska still remains under sanctions and holds ownership shares on Rusal. “The project in Kentucky was discussed long before Rusal was sanctioned,” Rusal’s deputy chief executive officer Oleg Mukhamedshin said in an interview in St Petersburg last week....
As updated by Shanghai Metals Market, social inventories of primary aluminium across eight consumption areas in China, including SHFE warrants, came in at 1.118 million tonnes as of Thursday June 13. Inventories registered a drop of 30,000 tonnes from 1.15 million on Thursday June 6. Primary aluminium stocks declined 64,000 tonnes in the previous week. Stocks in China continued to fall this week, at a slower rate, as consumption weakened. The chart below indicates the current status of primary aluminium inventories across all major China markets: Inventories of primary aluminium in Wuxi, Jiangsu and Shanghai dropped from 410,000 tonnes and 228,000 on Thursday June 6 to 392,000 tonnes and 217,000 tonnes on Thursday June 13. This was down 18,000 tonnes and 11,000 tonnes. Stocks in Nanhai,...
