Storvik has won a contract to operate and maintain the automated anode rod repair system at Alcoa's Mosjøen aluminium smelter in Norway. The agreement extends a partnership that began in 2016, when the company introduced its In-Line Rod Repair (ILRR) system at the plant. Storvik Mosjøen, a subsidiary of Storvik group will now handle the operation of the robotic repair line and maintenance of the anode yokes processed through it. Storvik Engineering built the system, with both companies working together on its installation and commissioning. Explore the production, demand and consumption forecasts of bauxite and alumina in our report: " Global Bauxite & Alumina Market Forecast to 2036: Supply–Demand, Trade Flows & Price Outlook " Anode rod assemblies are essential to primary aluminium...
Rio Tinto has secured a five-year operating arrangement for its Bell Bay aluminium smelter in northern Tasmania, backed by a government support package worth USD 200 million. The agreement includes a commitment to maintain a minimum level of employment at the 71-year-old facility until at least 2031, easing concerns over its future amid uncertainty about electricity costs. Rio Tinto's aluminium chief executive Jérôme Pécresse confirmed the employment commitment but did not disclose the number of jobs covered. The guarantee is understood to cover around 500 positions. Bell Bay currently employs about 550 people and supports a further 1,200 jobs, with its future previously uncertain as the company sought a new power agreement. Explore the production, demand and consumption forecasts of...
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According to Shanghai Metals Market, China’s total primary aluminium production came in at some 2.97 million tonnes last month. Production in January decreased by 0.5 per cent from January 2018, and dropped 0.7 per cent from December 2018. Domestic primary aluminium capacity under operation stood at an annualised 34.96 million tonnes by the end of January, down 270,000 tonnes per year from December. Despite new capacity in Inner Mongolia’s Chuangyuan and Guyang smelters, capacity cuts at Shaanxi Hengkang, Shandong Huayu, Shanxi Huasheng, and Shanxi Huaze continued to lower operating capacity in January 2019. Output of aluminium is expected to stand at 2.7 million tonnes in February, a decrease of 1.1 per cent from a year earlier. By the end of February, domestic primary aluminium capacity...
Shanghai Metals Market updates that China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has released this year’s first batch of recommended new energy vehicle (NEVs) models. The news came after MIIT released in a statement on its website on Thursday, February 14. The first batch of NEVs includes 106 vehicle types from 49 auto companies, according to the released statement on MIIT website. In 2018, the number of models released in the first batch was 118, which means this year MIIT released lesser number of models, as fewer electric buses and special vehicles were included. Higher requirements for NEVs and technical constraints of special vehicles weighed on the launch of new models, said Cui Dongshu, secretary general of the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). All...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), on the go to become the world’s largest smelter, announced that the company has won 2019 Safety Leadership Award, 2019 Occupational Excellence Achievement Award and 2019 Significant Improvement Award by the National Safety Council (NSC) – USA. Alba ascertained that Safety is the number one driver of its success when it won three major international Safety Awards. The three NSC Awards recognise Alba in various areas of Safety -- Safety Leadership Award for achieving a ‘perfect record’ of Zero Fatalities in the last five consecutive years, the Significant Improvement Award for a significant reduction in Lost Time Injury in 2018 and the Occupational Excellence Achievement Award for reducing the number of all injuries in 2018. Alba’s Chief Executive Officer...
Smart Architectural Aluminium, the UK's leading supplier of architectural aluminium systems, will present a wide range of products and systems at this year’s Futurebuild exhibition. The company will showcase its Designer Door range, Smart Alitherm Heritage system, MC Wall and MC 600 ranges. Eddie Robinson, Managing Director said: “We are delighted to be returning to ExCeL for the 2019 Futurebuild exhibition, where once again we will take the opportunity to showcase a broad range of new products and systems. The Futurebuild will take place on 3 days from Tuesday, 05 March to Thursday, 07 March 2019 in London “This year, our Designer Door system will take centre stage on our stand, with a range of style and colour variants on display, alongside a number of our new door and window products....
According to a recent report, a show cause notice has been served to the Utkal Alumina’s Baphlimali Bauxite Mine for cancellation of mining lease for allegedly failing to comply with environmental norms. As per the report, the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) has served a show cause notice on the bauxite mining asking for a reply from its director with 15 days as to why the consent granted for mining should not be revoked. Sources said Utkal Alumina International Limited is operating the mine at Paikkupakhal in Rayagada district over a leasehold area of 1,388.74 hectare. SPCB officials detected discrepancies in environmental compliances when they had gone for inspecting the mine on January 16 and January 17. The notice was served to the mine on February 12, stating that fugitive dust...
According to Shanghai Metals Market, the A00 aluminium ingot price has registered a rise today, on February 15, by RMB 20 per tonne to RMB 13,340 per tonne. This marks the third back-to-back growth in ingot price since February 13. The average prices are expected to range between RMB 13,320 per tonne and RMB 13,360 per tonne, with spot discounts to settle at RMB 20 per tonne. Although there is no trace of the price rise of input costs in the past few days, yet the aluminium ingot price is found growing. Also, the social inventories of primary aluminium are on the rise since the opening of the market after CNY. The average spot alumina price has been showing no change in price after a dip on February 13, from RMB 2,808 per tonne to RMB 2,793 per tonne. The bauxite price is also on...
The US dollar index fell on Thursday, weighed by a string of disappointing US data, with retail sales recording their biggest drop in nine years in December. LME base metals, except for lead, traded lower on Thursday. LME aluminium dropped 0.8% and SHFE aluminium sank 0.3% overnight. Benchmark aluminium price on London Metal Exchange was down at US$ 1829 per tonne on Thursday, February 14, from US$ 1840 per tonne on Wednesday. As the US dollar remains at highs, LME aluminium is expected to trade at US$1820-1870 per tonne today. As on February 14, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stood at US$ 1828.50 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 1829 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 1850 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 1851 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$...
China’s exports of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products surged to a record high in January 2019, according to China customs data released on Thursday, February 14. China, the world’s top aluminium producer, exported 552,000 tonnes of unwrought aluminium and aluminium semis last month. {newsStudioGallery} The number was up 6.2 percent from a revised figure of 520,000 tonnes in December 2018 and up 25.5 per cent from January 2018. This beats the previous record high of 542,700 tonnes set in December 2014. China recorded a total export of 5.8 million tonnes of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products in 2018, an increase of 20.9 per cent from a year earlier, despite a 10 percent tariff on aluminium imports into the United States imposed in March.
According to Shanghai Metals Market, as of Thursday February 14, stocks of 6063 aluminium billet across five major consumption areas in China increased some 12,600 tonnes from Monday February 11. Stocks of aluminium billet now stood at 169,300 tonnes. In Foshan and Guangdong and in Changzhou, Jiangsu, the billets stocks stood at 88,100 tonnes and 21,000 tonnes respectively. In Wuxi, Jiangsu, the inventory stood at 26,400 tonnes. Inventories continued to expand this week before downstream buyers fully returned from the Chinese New Year break The price of aluminium alloys (ADC12) remained unchanged at RMB 14,800 per tonne today. This price has been continuing since February 1. The prices of aluminium alloy (A356) and aluminium alloy (A380) have been hovering at RMB 14,000 per tonne and RMB...
According to Shanghai Metals Market, social inventories of primary aluminium across eight major consumption areas in China, including SHFE warrants, have extended growth by 55,000 tonnes to 1.617 million tonnes over the week ended on February 14. On Monday, February 11, the primary aluminium inventories were at 1.562 million tonnes. Therefore, the inventories today have grown by about 3.5 per cent, SMM data showed. Stocks in Wuxi and Hangzhou have grown from 578,000 tonnes to 608,000 tonnes, up 5 per cent while that in Shanghai have increased from 310,000 tonnes to 312,000 tonnes, up by about 1 per cent. In other markets like Nanhai and Guangdong, and Gongyi and Henan, the inventories are up 7 per cent and 2 per cent to stand at 294,000 tonnes and 145,000 tonnes respectively. The below...
Iran Aluminum Company, Hormozal Aluminum Company, and Almahdi Aluminum Company in Iran produced over 267,000 tonnes of aluminium during the first ten months of the Iranian calendar year (through January 20). This marked an increase of 5 per cent from the same period last year. Three major Iranian aluminium producers are expected to produce 385,000 tonnes of aluminium by the end of the current fiscal (March 20), up from last year’s total production of 337,000 tonnes Iran has aluminium nameplate capacity of 457,000 tonnes per annum. Aluminium production is expected to reach 1.5 million tonnes by 2025. The country is expected to start a new aluminium smelter this year. South Aluminium Company (Salco) will boost Iran’s aluminium production by 70 per cent and make it self-sufficient by taking...
The global metal can demand is projected to reach 431,573.9 million by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 2.9 per cent from 2014 to 2020. With a large number of aluminium can manufacturers stepping up their product differentiation and innovation pursuits the demand for the aluminium cans is expected to rise further in the medium to long term. But here while taking a look at Germany’s estimated aluminium can export in 2019 through our available third-party data, we find that the country will likely export a lesser volume. In contrast to the estimated 76,826 tonnes in the year last, Germany’s aluminium can export is projected to stand at 62,025 tonnes by the end of this year, down 19 per cent. In 2017, the export volume was forecast at 76,525 tonnes, marginally down from 2018, but up 23 per cent...
Arconic Inc. announced it will invest nearly $100 million to expand its Tennessee Operations facility near Knoxville, Tennessee. The company will expand its hot mill capability and add downstream equipment capabilities to manufacture industrial and automotive aluminium products. The company said customer commitments for most of the anticipated increase in capacity are already in place and the remainder is expected to be filled by projected customer demand. The project is expected to be complete by the fourth quarter of 2020. Tim Myers, President of Arconic’s Global Rolled Products business said: “This investment will add capacity to meet growing demand for industrial products and automotive aluminium sheet. With this expansion, we are further diversifying the portfolio of one of our...
According to Shanghai Metals Market, the A00 aluminium ingot has extended its price today, on February 14, to RMB 13,320 per tonne. On February 13, the price was at RMB 13,290 per tonne, which means today the aluminium ingot price has recorded rise by RMB 30 per tonne. The average prices are expected to range between RMB 13,300 per tonne and RMB 13,340 per tonne, with spot discounts to settle at RMB 30 per tonne to RMB 10 per tonne. The spot discount thus has registered a rise by RMB 20 per tonne, found SMM. In the east (Wuxi and Hangzhou), the aluminium ingot price has climbed up by RMB 20 per tonne to stand at RMB 13,320 per tonne. In the southern markets, the ingot price has also inched up by RMB 20 per tonne and clocked at RMB 13,350 per tonne; while in the north, the price has...
The US dollar rose slightly on Wednesday, reversing losses from the previous day, thanks to an increase in a measure of inflation excluding energy prices. LME base metals, except for lead, traded higher on Wednesday. LME aluminium expanded 0.5% and SHFE aluminium gained some 0.2% overnight. Benchmark aluminium price on London Metal Exchange stood at US$ 1840 per tonne on Wednesday, February 13, from US$ 1840.5 per tonne on Tuesday. LME aluminium is expected to trade at US$1840-1880 per tonne today. As on February 13, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stood at US$ 1839 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 1840 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 1863 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 1865 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$ 2005 per tonne, and Dec 19 offer...
FYI Resources declared that it will get help from a pilot processing plant for getting offtake partners and finances to build high purity alumina (HPA) plant. FYI will build a smaller and cheaper version of pilot plant as part of advance studies into its Cadoux project in Western Australia. The idea is to boost confidence in the company’s design before it commits large amounts of cash to full-scale commercial production. It will produce HPA products for product testing and off-take negotiations for potential customers, which will also support project financing talks. Demand for HPA is soaring. The sales which were at US$2 billion in 2015 are now expected to hit US$5 billion in the near future. HPA is used in LED lighting and lithium batteries. FYI shares which had been ranging between...
ALUMINIUM INDIA 2019 has clearly evidenced the future market opportunities and rising demand for technologies in the aluminium industry on the Indian continent. In excess of 2,000 visitors travelled to the East Indian city of Bhubaneswar to visit the trade fair from 31 January to 2 February. The 87 exhibitors from India, China, North America and Europe covered the complete cross-section of industry needs, from raw materials and processing through to the finished products for the principal areas of applications on the Indian market: the sectors energy, transport, construction and packaging. For the first time, the trade fair was held at the state of Odisha – the heart of the Indian aluminium industry. Another first was the concurrent holding with the renowned INCAL Conference, which was...
Aldel, located in Delfzijl, Netherlands, announced the reopening of potline one, which was closed for six years. Acquired by York Capital in November 2017, the smelter is in the process of a significant capital investment programme to return the plant to its original production levels. Full annual capacity of the plant is over 150,000 tonnes of extrusion billets and rolling ingots. “This is part of the on-going capital investment in both equipment and people as the plant moves towards full production by the end of 2019.” The Aldel plant, established in 1966, serves as a critical supplier in the European aluminium industry and is the only remaining smelter in The Netherlands. The smelter plays a very important role in helping balance the Dutch energy grid which becomes more important as...
