ASSA ABLOY has agreed to acquire Brazilian aluminium solutions manufacturer Rometal, strengthening its manufacturing presence in Latin America while expanding its portfolio of door systems, furniture fittings and aluminium products. Announced on November 12, 2026, the proposed acquisition would bring an established Brazilian business with approximately 500 employees into the Swedish group's Americas Division. Rometal recorded sales of approximately BRL 332 million (USD 59 million) in 2025, equivalent to approximately SEK 580 million (USD 57.57 million) in ASSA ABLOY's announcement. The purchase price has not been disclosed. ASSA ABLOY described the company's EBIT margin in 2025 as strong and expects the transaction to be accretive to earnings per share from the start. Rometal acquisition...
Finland-based renewable heat technology developer Coolbrook has joined Australia’s Heavy Industry Low-carbon Transition Cooperative Research Centre (HILT CRC) as an affiliate partner, bringing its electrified heating technology into research aimed at decarbonising alumina refining and the wider aluminium industry. The collaboration would explore how high-temperature electric heating can support next-generation alumina refineries, reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Coolbrook would work alongside major alumina and aluminium producers, including Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), Alcoa, Rio Tinto, South32 and Hydro, as well as research organisations of CSIRO and Adelaide University. Initially, it would focus on HILT CRC’s Alumina Refineries’ Next-Generation Transition (AlumiNEXT) project,...
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A boat building firm, based at East Cowes, has won a bid to build a new range of aluminium firefighting vessel. One of UK’s leading independent shipbuilders in East Cowes Aluminium Marine Consultants has partnered with firefighting equipment supplier Angloco and naval architect Walker Marine Design to design this new range of aluminium firefighting vessel. This new 14-metre multi-role firefighting vessel would be well-equipped to carry out tasks that otherwise involve the risk and hazards of modern-day marine firefighting. Rob Stewart LLB, commercial director of Aluminium Marine Consultants said, "Ships these days carry chemicals and flammable materials so we need to be able to combat that.” Adding to it, he also said these vessels would be designed in such a way so that it could help out...
Italy exported US$506.3 billion worth of goods in 2017, an increase of 10 per cent year on year. The country exports aluminium containers to many countries around the world. Italy’s aluminium container export witnessed a drop in volume and value in 2017. Global trade data suggests that Italy’s aluminium container export will increase in 2018, in contrast to previous years. France is one of the main importers of these products from the country. According to recent estimates, in 2015, Italy exported 1183 tonnes of aluminium containers, which increased to 1738 tonnes in 2016. The country exported 1449 tonnes of aluminium containers in 2017, down 17 per cent from 2016. In 2018, aluminium container export by the country is estimated to reach 1984 tonnes by December end. The value of export...
In an interview to Economic Times, TK Chand, CMD, Nalco, says he expects the shortage in aluminium market to continue and the alumina and aluminium prices to remain bullish. According to him, in Q1 FY19, the company’s profit and EBITDA trend will continue to remain higher due to higher average realisation of alumina. While in Q4, the average realized alumina price was around $400 per tonne, in this quarter it is expected to be about $540. According to him, though realized alumina prices have corrected from about US$600-700 per tonne in April to about US$490 currently, the prices are going to remain strong at a range between US$475 and US$525 per tonne. Brazil alumina supply is still uncertain because of the Alunorte capacity closure issue and the market would remain tight. The alumina...
On recommencing potline four on the face of improved metal prices, Tiwai aluminium smelter, owned by Rio Tinto and the Sumitomo Group via a joint venture called New Zealand Aluminium Smelters Limited, is seeking to recruit 90 new staff. The company reports that it needs to fill 90 roles, as its production is likely to increase with the restart of potline four and the growing demand for aluminium block products. On the other hand, older employees are retiring and increasingly creating room for recruitments. Outgoing chief executive and general manager Gretta Stephens said, “While it was unusual to be recruiting for so many roles, most of the new jobs related to the restart of line four and the subsequent increased metal production in the casthouse.” Stephens also said, “The smelter has...
China’s aluminium production grew 1.5% year-on-year to 2.79 million tonnes in May, according to data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday June 14. On a daily basis, China produced 90,000 tonnes of aluminium last month, from 92,300 tonnes in April, according to Reuters calculations based on the data. The world’s biggest aluminium producer churned out 13.6 million tonnes of aluminium in the first five months of 2018, up 1.4 per cent from the same period last year, the data showed. Production of 10 nonferrous metals- including copper, aluminium, lead, zinc and nickel registered 4.3 per cent growth in May, 2018. The total production stood at 4.55 million tonnes. During January- May, production of nonferrous metals came in at 22.2 million tonnes, an increase of...
Base metals fell across the board overnight with the rising of US dollar and LME aluminium closed lower at US$ 2278 per tonne from US$ 2309 per tonne. Shanghai Metals Market expects LME aluminium to edge up with a trading range at US$2,270-2,290 per tonne. As on June 13, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2277.50 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2278 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 2275 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 2276 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$ 2282 per tonne, and Dec 19 offer price stands at US$ 2287 per tonne. The LME aluminium opening stock slightly dropped to 1153875 tonnes. Live Warrants totalled at 937150 tonnes, and Cancelled Warrants were 216725 tonne. LME aluminium 3-months ABR price is hovering at US$ 2283...
The primary aluminium inventory in China, including SHFE warrants, continued shrinking marking a sixth consecutive week of decline on June 14, 2018. Compared to the last Thursday when inventory stood at 1.98 million tonnes after shrinking 55,000 from its previous week, today, the inventory witnessed a downfall of 53,000 tonnes to stand at 1.92 million tonnes, according to Shanghai Metals Market. Despite torrential downpours in Guangdong province during last weekend, overall inventory declined on the week due to fewer deliveries to warehouses in northwest China. Major Chinese cities like Wuxi and Jiangsu, Nanhai and Guangdong, Gongyi and Henan all witnessed a decline in their primary aluminium inventories. More details are as follows: On the face of primary aluminium inventory decline in...
Constellium announced today that it has expanded the capability of its University Technology Center (UTC) at Brunel University London and established an R&D Center within the campus to transition technology from the laboratory to its production facilities around the world. Opened in 2016, the UTC first focused on aluminium alloy development, employing dedicated industrial scale casting and extrusion equipment to reduce the time to bring a new alloy to market by at least 50%. Now, Constellium will form, join and test prototype automotive components such as Crash Management Systems, body structure components and battery enclosures for electric and hybrid vehicles from state-of-the-art facilities on the Brunel campus. “The University Technology Center has been a tremendous benefit for...
Century Metal Recycling Ltd, a leading India based recycler of aluminium and zinc alloys, has filed its draft prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to float an Initial Public Offering. The IPO includes fresh shares worth INR 150 crore and a sale of 6.4 million shares by promoters and existing shareholders. According to sources, the total IPO size is estimated at INR 650-700 crore (around $97-104 million). Century Metals does not have a listing in Indian stock exchange and is offering the stocks on a public stock exchange for the first time. An IPO and market listing will make the New Delhi-based company the first in its space to go public. Gauri Shankar Agarwala, the chairman and executive director, has offered to sell 7.93 lakh shares while MD Mohan Agarwal...
According to the data released by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) on Friday, June 8, 2018, new electric vehicle sales in China register a year on year surge of 142 per cent and a month on month growth of 30 per cent to 92,188 units in May. The cumulative sales of new energy passenger vehicles through May reached 280,635 units, soaring 140 per cent compared to the year earlier. Pure electric passenger vehicles sales also jumped in May by 130 per cent from a year ago and stood at 73,072 units, while sales of plug-in hybrid electric passenger vehicles rose 199% from a year ago, registering 19,161 units. On the other hand, the A00 battery electric vehicles, a small-sized vehicle with relatively short driving range recorded sales of 44,926 units in May, up 141% year on year. So,...
Norway on Tuesday filed a complaint at the World Trade Organization (WTO) over the US President Donald Trump's aluminium and steel tariffs, Reuters reported. Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Marie Eriksen Søreide said that 10 per cent tariff on aluminium and 25 per cent tariff on steel violate WTO rules. "In Norway’s view, the additional tariffs imposed by the US on steel and aluminium imports are a violation of the WTO rules. Today we have therefore requested dispute settlement consultations with the US in the WTO," she said in a statement. Norway’s export of aluminium to the USA declined last year. The USA imported an estimated 767 tonnes of aluminium in 2017, down from 7439 tonnes in 2016. In 2018, the export to the USA is estimated to be about 15634 tonnes, unless it is affected by the...
The overall recycling rate for aluminium beverage cans in the European Union, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland increased by 0.7% to a new record level of 73.6% in 2015. This is well above the recently approved new EU 2025 recycling target of 65% for all packaging. On the whole European continent (including other East-European countries, Russia and Turkey) more than 32 billion cans have been recycled. This means that every second at least 1000 aluminium beverage cans are being recycled somewhere in Europe! Their metal stays in the European circular economy and remains available for the production of new aluminium products. Recycling aluminium takes 95% less energy than producing it from its raw materials. The recycling process also generates only 5% of the greenhouse gas emissions. This...
According to Reuters report, rejection of Norsk Hydro’s appeal to overturn the partial suspension of bauxite refining operations at Alunorte refinery by a court in the Brazilian state of Para emerges as a blow to the world’s largest alumina refinery. In April, the company had sued state prosecutors in Para in a bid to spur a new study to assess the allegations of prosecutors, after the Lower Court in February and Federal Court in May ordered Hydro to cut production at its Alunorte alumina refinery by 50 per cent. While upholding the lower court’s ruling, Federal Judge Arthur Pinheiro Chaves had said failure to honour the conditions set by the courts would result in a daily fine of 1 million reais ($285,000), according to news published by Reuters. The allegation was the spillage of...
LME aluminium attempted to stand above the daily moving average and closed higher at US$ 2309 per tonne on June 12 from US$ 2300 per tonne. The US dollar index closed at 93.8 overnight, up 0.26%. The index rose over 0.3% at one point after the “truly historic” US-North Korea Summit. Base metals fell across the board overnight. LME aluminium fell to a low of US$2,290 per tonne overnight as its SHFE counterpart slumped with pressure from shorts. Shanghai Metals Market sees LME aluminium trading at US$2,290-2,310 per tonne today. As on June 12, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2308.50 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2309 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 2310 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 2310.50 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$...
Showa Aluminum Can Corporation (SAC), a consolidated subsidiary of Showa Denko (SDK), announced the completion of its subsidiary’s new aluminium cans facility in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam. The new Hanacans factory is its second production base in Vietnam, with an annual production capacity of 700 million aluminium can bodies. Image Source:Showa Denko Hanacans, a Vietnamese subsidiary of SAC, is installing an additional line to produce can ends at its existing factory in Bach Nin Province in the suburbs of Hanoi. Once the work is done, the company’s production capacity for can bodies and can ends will increase to 2 billion cans a year by October 2018. In May 2014, SAC acquired majority of shares in Hanacans, a manufacturer of aluminium beverage cans in Vietnam and made Hanacans its...
After a slight rise in average A00 aluminium ingot spot price on June 12, 2018, from RMB 14720 per tonne to RMB 14750 per tonne, it dropped again to RMB 14540 per tonne on June 13, according to Shanghai Metals Market. The prices are expected to range between RMB 14520 per tonne and RMB 14560 per tonne with spot discounts to settle at RMB 20 per tonne. This downfall in aluminium ingot price could be because traders were reluctant to purchase from the spot aluminium market and took a wait-and-watch stance on the face of narrowed spot discounts against the SHFE 1806 contract. The inventory also went down as aluminium ingot stocks at warehouses became limited. Given the shrinking inventory, sellers were reluctant to let go of their cargoes and supply thus, became tight. The table below...
According to Reuters report, a unit of Beijing’s Tsinghua University would buy a Xinjiang-based aluminium smelter Tianshan Aluminium at an estimated price of US$ 3.7 billion. In a statement, Xiamen Unigroup Xue Co Ltd (000526.SZ), a Shenzhen-listed education services provider controlled by Tsinghua said, it would pay in cash and shares to acquire 100 per cent of Tianshan over an unspecified time frame. The reason behind acquiring the smelter by Tsinghua is, however, not know yet. “Right now the overall plan is still being discussed,” a Unigroup official told Reuters over the phone on condition of anonymity. The official also said that the final plan would be handed over to the board of directors once decided. State-run Tsinghua has interests in a number of companies, including a 1.5 per...
According to Aluminum Association’s latest highlights, imports of ingot, scrap and mill products into the U.S. and Canada (excluding crossborder trade) totaled 397,000 tonnes in April 2018, slightly up from the amount in April 2017. Including scrap, which accounted for roughly 51.7 percent of reported aluminum exports in April, exports totaled 318,000 tonnes, up 21% over a year ago. Excluding scrap, exports totaled 154,000 tonnes, up 18% percent over last year. Exports of scrap increased 23.0 percent year-over-year. Through the first four months of 2018, imports were up 5.1 percent to 1.7 million tonnes, while exports were up 15.3% to 1.1 million pounds. The Association’s “Index of Net New Orders of Aluminum Mill Products” for May 2018 increased 8.8% over April 2018. Orders for flat roll...
