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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Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba)’s Chief Executive Officer, Tim Murray paid a scheduled visit to Ahmed Mansoor Al Aali (AMA Group), one of the major Bahraini contractors for its Line 6 Expansion Project, to celebrate the successful fabrication of 427 Pot Shells in early-May 2018. Murray was accompanied by Line 6 Project Director Shawqi Al Hashmi and a delegation of Line 6 Owners’ Team and Bechtel managers. Commenting about this accomplishment, Murray said: “AMA Group expertise was fundamental to complete the fabrication of pot shells safely and ahead of time. This achievement is a milestone for Alba as we bring to close the construction and delivery of Line 6 Expansion Project.” AMA Group was awarded the contract to manufacture 427 pot shells (each weighing 44 metric tonnes) for Alba’s...
China’s largest state aluminium producer Chinalco is all set to close the gap on privately run China Hongqiao Group, the world’s top aluminium producer, as it signs a deal with the Yunnan government, which will give access to the company to more smelting capacity of around 1.6 million tonnes, with another 1.45 million tonnes in the pipeline or under construction. A spokesman for Chinalco confirmed it would be Chinalco’s first aluminium asset in the province. According to a Yunnan aluminium statement on Monday, May 28, 2018, Yunnan metallurgy group, that controls Yunnan Aluminium Co. Ltd., will get merged into China Copper Co., a joint venture between Chinalco and the Yunnan provincial government. Chinalco, officially the Aluminium Corp of China owns 58 per cent of the joint venture, while...
A global aluminium producer has offered Japanese buyers a premium of $159 per tonne for primary metal shipments for the July-September quarter, up 23 percent from the current quarter, four sources directly involved in pricing talks said on Tuesday. Another producer has sought a premium of $160 a tonne, up 24 percent from the premium PREM-ALUM-JP of $129 agreed for the April-June quarter, the sources said. Japan is Asia’s biggest aluminium importer and the premiums for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay each quarter over the London Metal Exchange (LME) cash price set the benchmark for the region.
The global aluminium powders, pastes, and flakes market is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.03 per cent during the period 2018-2022, according to the latest report by ResearchAndMarkets.com. Russian Federation was the top supplier of aluminium powder and flakes to the country in 2017. According to recent statistics, Russian Federation exported about 472 tonnes last year. Poland, Austria, Australia and China were the key countries from where Romania sourced maximum volume of aluminium powder and flakes. Australia is expected to become the biggest aluminium powder and flakes supplier to the country in 2018. Romania’s aluminium powder and flakes import has been fluctuating year-on-year since 2015. In 2017, the country imported 1655 tonnes of aluminium powder and...
The two top aluminium producers Vedanta Ltd. and National Aluminium Company Ltd. (Nalco) are wary about the rise in production costs, even after posting robust earnings from aluminium business in the financial year 2017 ended on 31 st of March, 2018. Vedanta’s cost of aluminium production escalated to US$ 1887 per tonne, which was higher by about 30 per cent from the previous fiscal due to input commodity inflation. However, for the current fiscal, the company has projected to bring down the cost in the range of US$ 1725 to US$ 1775 per tonne, assuming the costs of imported alumina, coal e-auctions and carbon to remain at the average price levels of 2017-18. Each year, Vedanta imports over 1 million tonnes of alumina to power its aluminium smelters. To ward off the sharp price...
China has identified automobiles as one of the key industries in its efforts to beef up the country's manufacturing and innovation capabilities. Not only the country is encouraging domestic automakers to make world class cars, but also inviting established global car manufacturers to invest in the country to come up with world class electric vehicles. The government is planning to tackle their steel and aluminium overcapacity by quickly developing the automotive sector that are the largest consumer of the metals after the building and construction sector. The Volkswagen Group started an electric vehicle joint venture with Jianghuai Automobile called JAC Volkswagen Automotive Co. and launched mass production at a plant in the east China city of Hefei last week. JAC VW was a 50-50...
The US dollar index touched a five-month high last night at nearly 94.5 before it closed 0.18% higher at 94.41, on US-North Korea discussions and a weakening euro. Trading was off in LME on May 28 on the occasion of Late May Bank Holiday. LME aluminium was depressed by a rising US dollar index on Friday May 25 and the LME official settlement priceclosed last week with US$2282 per tonne from US$ 2270 per tonne on previous closing. The contract tumbled to a low of US$2,248 per tonne overnight. LME aluminium is expected to trade rangebound today at US$2,260-3,000 per tonne. SME and SHFE Aluminium Price Trend The benchmark aluminium price on Shanghai Metal Exchange dropped to US$ 2285 per tonne on May 29 from US$ 2301 per tonne on May 28. The SHFE 1807 contract initially hit a high of RMB...
Alcoa Corporation said on Tuesday, May 29, that the company has shut down one of the three potlines that are part of its Warrick aluminium smelter restart due to a temporary power outage at the plant near Evansville, Indiana. The annual capacity of the affected potline is approximately 50,000 tonnes. “The decision was made with a focus on safety and to protect the assets,” the company said. “Alcoa is assessing the effects of this event, including the timing of the overall restart, and will provide an update as more information is available.” Last July, Alcoa announced plans to restart three of five potlines, with 161,400 tonnes of annual capacity, at its Warrick Operations aluminium smelter. The process to restart is originally expected to be completed in the second quarter of this year....
Shanghai Metal Market anticipated yesterday on May 28, 2018, that domestic alumina prices in China are going to witness a limited decline on the face of continual low stockpiling that allows sellers to hold their offers firm. Since the beginning of May, China’s domestic alumina prices have fallen RMB 70 per tonne. SMM also believes that the end of June is more likely to mark a sharp fall in domestic alumina prices as continuous declines in international prices would close the windows for exports, and new alumina capacity will come online in July. On top, alumina accumulated across ports in Guangxi province as package removal causes pollution and alumina producers are most likely to complete their deliveries of existing orders by late June. According to SMM, alumina price for four regions...
Despite procuring aluminium from sanctions-hit Rusal, a Russian automobile manufacturer Avtovaz is looking for an alternative source in case the need arises. Nicolas Maure, President of AVTOVAZ, said on Saturday, May 26, 2018, that Rusal is by far its largest aluminium supplier and “a good supplier to keep”. On April 6, the USA imposed sanctions on Rusal, preventing customers with U.S. exposure from continuing to buy Rusal’s aluminium. The United States later extended the sanctions deadline from June 5 to October 23, 2018. Maure commented: "We have about 30 export markets and we do not see any risks [for vehicle supplies to them] as none of them have close ties in the United States. But there are suppliers who could be affected by sanctions, for example Rusal.” "Rusal is a good supplier...
According to CEO Tim Murray, Alba would be achieving the aluminium production capacity of 1.5 million tonnes or 25 per cent of total output across the GCC, on completing Line 6 Expansion Project worth US$3billion. In an interview with Oxford Business Group’s online broadcasting channel, Global Platform, Murray said that this new line will not only make Alba the biggest single-site facility in the world but also take the GCC’s total aluminium production to around 6 million tonnes a year, roughly equal to 10 per cent of global aluminium production. In the interview, he also noted that the world consumes around 60 million tonnes of aluminium, while China alone consumes 35 million tonnes. So, considering the production footprint, the GCC stands as the next biggest market, with six million...
Economy Minister Peter Altmaier said on Monday, May 28, 2018, that Germany is looking forward to the end of trade dispute between the European Union and the United States. Altmaier said, “We need to try to avoid higher tariffs”, adding that he would discuss the issue with European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom and US General Secretary Wilbur Ross at a meeting of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris this week. This organisation is an intergovernmental economic organisation, founded in 1961 and headed by 35 member countries, to stimulate economic progress and world trade. Trump had imposed a 25 percent tariff on steel imports and a 10 percent tariff on aluminium in March but granted temporary exemptions to European Union until June 1. EU is now...
Indonesia's state-owned aluminium producer PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum) has produced 215,192 tonnes and 3,625 tonnes of aluminium ingots and billet and alloy respectively in 2017, according to news reported by ANTARA news. The company has produced 73,315 tonnes of aluminium ingots and 5,372 tons of billet and alloy in the first four months of 2018. The company has registered a net profit of Rp1.5 trillion in 2017."Of course, it is quite encouraging. We hope it will increase in the future," said Oggy Achmad Kosasih, PT Inalum Business Development Director. In 2017, the company’s aluminium ingot sale reached 205,980 tonnes and billet and alloy sale reached 1,296 tonnes.During January-April 2018, aluminium ingot sale stood at 58,661 tonnes and billet and alloy sale stood at 3,706...
The repeated instances of civil unrest in Guinea, particularly in the mineral-rich region of Boké in the west of the country have been incessantly growing over time. Guineans claim that the mining companies in Guinea failed to contribute to their wellbeing, despite being a country with the highest bauxite reserves in the world amounting to 7.4 billion tonnes. In the initial five months of 2017, bauxite export from the country to China reached 9.4 million tonnes, up 164.5 per cent from the corresponding period last year. In May alone, Guinea bauxite export to China reached 2.2 million tonnes, up 131 per cent from last year. 2018 has also been a kickass for the country as one of its bauxite mining companies La Guineenne des Mines (GDM) announced the shipment of their first bauxite...
As reported by Reuters, China’s April scrap aluminium imports fell by 27.8% from March to 130,000 tonnes, after the country imposed 25% import tariff on aluminium scrap from the United States, its biggest scrap supplier, effective Apr. 2. Data from the General Administrations of Customs showed April scrap aluminium imports also fell 23.1% year on year. For the period of Jan-April 2018, scrap aluminium imports were down 11.4% to 620,000 tonnes in comparison to the same period of 2017. We can see in the below graph from Shanghai Metals Market that the prices of imported mixed aluminium scrap in China dropped to US$ 1500 per tonne on April 16 from US$ 1600 per tonne on April 13 2018. The prices continue to remain flat since, due to lower level of import. The country is now depending on...
National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO) has proved its mettle by registering high in terms of both physical and financial performances in the financial year 2017-18. The company has registered net profit of INR 1342 crore against INR 669 crore in previous year. In the fourth quarter, the company has earned a net profit of INR 257.06 crore. The net sales turnover for the year stood at INR 9,377 crore, registering a growth of 26% year-on-year, the highest ever since inception. Export earning of INR 4,076 crore also highest ever since inception registering a growth of 12% YoY. Panchpatmali Bauxite mines has been rated as the 2nd lowest cost producer in the World in 2017 as per report of Wood Mackenzie, according to company’s press release. The bauxite mines (North-Central block of...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), one of the world’s leading aluminium smelters, is proud to announce that its Casthouse has successfully achieved the Automotive Quality Management System - IATF 16949: 2016 Standard, one of the most challenging and demanding standards in the Management System Certification for the automotive sector in the world. With this endorsement, Alba has become the first and only IATF 16949 certified organisation in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Alba’s Chief Marketing Officer Khalid Abdul Latif, Director of Casthouse Abdul Rasool Ahmed A. Rasool and Manager Casthouse Operations Hussain Al-Malali were presented with the certificate in early May 2018 in Dubai. Commenting on this achievement, Alba’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Murray said: “The IATF-16949 quality...
The US dollar index touched a high of 94.3 last Friday and closed 0.62% higher at 94.24 due to robust US manufacturing data and weakened euro. LME aluminium was depressed by a rising US dollar index on Friday May 25 and closed the week with US$2282 per tonne from US$ 2270 per tonne on previous closing. The contract tumbled to a low of US$2,248 per tonne overnight. The contract is expected to trade at a range of US$2,266.5 to US$2282 per tonne. As on May 25, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2280 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2282 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 2284 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 2285per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$ 2258 per tonne, and Dec 19 offer price stands at US$ 2263 per tonne. Currently, 3 months LME...
