
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,...
Grow with
AL Circle

The global aluminium alloy market is projected to grow at an exponential rate over the next five years. Aluminium alloys are preferred in automotive sector due to lightweight components and better fuel efficiency. Venezuela’s exports of aluminium alloy increased over the last three years, reveals international trade data. It is estimated that the exports of aluminium will increase in both volume and value in 2018. Global trade data shows Venezuela exported a total of 59436 tonnes of aluminium alloy in 2016 and the volume increased slightly to about 59655 tonnes in 2017.The country exported US$ 99.6 million worth aluminium alloy in 2016, which came down to US$79 million in 2017. The total volume of 213657 tonnes of aluminium alloy will be exported by this year end. Venezuela is estimated...

News on aluminium-bodied train sets ‘Train 20’ is strolling on the internet since long while apprising us with all the latest updates that the train sets, estimated to cost INR 2,500 crore would start rolling out of the Railways’ Integrated Coach Factory (ICF) near Chennai by 2020, followed by Integral Coach Factory General Manager S. Mani’s announcement on the same. To move a step forward, now Odisha, being one of the largest aluminium producing states, is keen to establish an integrated coach factory for aluminium-bodied train sets. Stating about this interest, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik wrote a letter to Railways Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday. Patnaik mentioned in the letter that the state government is keen to establish this project and wish to roll it out by 2020....

As seen by Shanghai Metals Market, LME aluminium soared and hit a high of US$ 2,403 per tonne since 2011, at one point overnight. The metal closed at US$ 2358.50 per tonne on Monday April 16, up from US$ 2325 per tonne on Friday April 13. As US sanctions on Rusal continues to cast a shadow on the market, SMM expects LME aluminium to trade rangebound at US$ 2,350-2,400 per tonne today. As on April 16, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2358 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2358.50 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$23048 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 2349 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$ 2300 per tonne, and Dec 19 offer price stands at US$ 2305 per tonne. The LME aluminium opening stock has increased to 1360275 tonnes. Live Warrants...

On 0.3 per cent increase in aluminium production over past three months this year totalling 8.12 million tonnes in China, average A00 aluminium ingot price surged once again across all major Chinese markets and closed at RMB 14720 per tonne after remaining unchanged at RMB 14450 from April 13 to April 16, 2018, according to Shanghai Metal Market on April 17, 2018. The prices are expected to range between RMB 14700 and RMB 14740 per tonne, with spot discounts to settle at RMB 60 to RMB 20 per tonne. Prices registered a growth from RMB 50 per tonne to RMB 270 per tonne across all markets. While in East, the ingot price jumped from RMB 14455 per tonne to RMB 14690 per tonne; in North, the price registered a hike from RMB 14440 per tonne to RMB 14720 per tonne, as on April 17, 2018. Although...

As per the recent report by BMI research, bauxite production is likely to grow globally over the years owing to the estimated increasing production in India, upcoming projects lined up in Australia and Indonesia’s reappearance in the market following the end of the mineral ore export ban. The report estimates that Indonesia will become a major player in coming time for reclaiming its share of bauxite exports to China and further elaborates “"We forecast Indonesia's bauxite production growth to register an annual average of 24.4% during 2018-2027, compared to 77.1% over the previous ten-year period. We expect output to increase from 7.5 million tonnes in 2018 to 43.3 million tonnes by 2027." According to BMI, the relaxation of the ban on bauxite exports allowed many companies to have a...

Metro Mining has commenced mining operations at the Bauxite Hills Mine. Metro Mining Managing Director & CEO Simon Finnis said the Bauxite Hills Mine would feed the ever-growing seaborne bauxite market. Metro’s first shipment has been purchased by China’s Xinfa Group, one of the largest integrated aluminium companies in China. The first vessel of around 60,000 tonnes of bauxite to Shandong Province has been scheduled to arrive on 19 April. Image Source: Metro Mining Metro Mining Managing Director & CEO Simon Finnis said “The Bauxite Hills Mine will become the largest independent mine within the internationally acclaimed Weipa Bauxite Region.” “Commencement of mining operations is a credit to the entire Metro team. Site Management and the mining, marine and construction personnel have...

After Glencore, Rio Tinto, one of the world’s largest metals and mining corporations has decided to trigger force majeure on some Rusal-linked contracts. The mining group declared on Friday that it would work with its customers to minimise disruptions in raw material supply and would fully comply with the US sanctions and therefore, would terminate bauxite supply contracts with a giant alumina refinery in Ireland controlled by Rusal group. This is to ensure the certainty of output from Rio’s big refinery in Queensland where Rusal owns 20 per cent share. The rest 80 per cent share of the refinery is owned by Rio. The refinery produces 3.95 million tonnes of alumina every year, whereas Rio produced 3.6 million tonnes of aluminium in 2017. Rio said in the statement, “Rio Tinto has reviewed...

Saudi Arabia’s export of aluminium scrap has been on an uptrend from past several years. The country emerged as the major market for scrap metal recycling. Aluminium scrap represents 6.1 per cent of the total exports of Saudi Arabia. Most of the aluminium scraps generated in Saudi Arabia are from consumers, industries, and demolition sites across the country. The country exports considerable amount of aluminium scrap to India. India alone imported 123365 tonnes of aluminium scrap from Saudi Arabia in 2017, according to recent statistics. Other major countries where Saudi Arabia exports its aluminium scraps include Brazil, UAE, Pakistan, Greece and Belgium among others. As per global export-import data, Saudi Arabia is estimated to export 102685 tonnes of aluminium scrap in the half of...

LME aluminium shows some gain after a drop last Thursday. LME aluminium closed at US$2325 per tonne on Friday April 13, up from US$ 2220.5 per tonne on Thursday April 12. SMM expects LME aluminium to trade rangebound at a relatively high level of RMB US$2,260-2,295 per tonne today. Despite the US sanctions on Rusal, a record low SHFE/LME aluminium price ratio is likely to boost China’s aluminium exports and offset the global dip in supply, according to Shanghai Metals Market. As on April 13, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2324.50 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2325 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$2302.50 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 2303.50 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$ 2245 per tonne, and Dec 19 offer price stands at...

After swinging between 2.231 million tonnes and 2.227 million tonnes over a week, China’s aluminium inventory dropped further to 2.216 million tonnes, according to Shanghai Metal Market on April 16, 2018. This is 15000 million tonnes down from 2.231 million tonnes recorded on April 12, 2018. Transactions in major Chinese cities have plunged, as indicated in the below chart. According to SMM, the average A00 aluminium ingot price remains flat since 13th of April, 2018 at RMB 14450 per tonne. This indicates a stable market sentiment with not much shift or alteration. The prices are expected to continue ranging between RMB 14430 and RMB 14470 per tonne, with only a slight swing in spot discounts to settle at RMB 110 to RMB 70 per tonne. While in East the average aluminium ingot price is...

State-owned diversified miner PT Aneka Tambang (ANTAM) posted a 116 per cent increase in bauxite production in the January-March period 2018. The company produced 200,300 wet metric tons (wmt) of bauxite in the first quarter of 2018. ANTAM's sales volume volume reached 61,380 wmt in the first three months of 2018, an increase of 37 per cent from the same period in 2017. The company also received a new permit recommendation from Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry for bauxite and nickel exports. Antam received one-year recommendation to export 840,000 wet metric tons (wmt) of washed bauxite with an aluminium oxide content of 42% or more. This will support their plans to boost production and sales of bauxite in 2018. In March 2018, the company announced plans to significantly increase...

According to the Quint report, Indian aluminium producers, especially the integrated ones having presence right from raw material to final product like Hindalco and Nalco are likely to be benefitted on the US sanctions against twelve Russian companies including billionaire Oleg Deripaska-led Rusal, said Gautam Chakraborty, analyst-institutional research at brokerage Emkay Global Financial Services. The sanctions against Rusal followed by the ban of Russian aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange has resulted in inevitable price jump by 8 per cent in the last two days, primarily because Rusal accounted for 13 per cent of the global output outside China and recorded to produce 3.71 million tonnes of primary aluminium in 2017 and also earned about 14 per cent of revenue from the export...

Constellium Extrusions Decin s.r.o., based in the Czech Republic, is expanding its aluminium casthouse capacity with the order of a new homogenizing furnace and a helical ultrasonic testing station and billet saw for aluminium extrusion billets. Hertwich Engineering, a company of SMS group, will supply the new furnace with a capacity of nine tons per hour. The new homogenizing line will start operation in the first half of 2019. Constellium Decin plant is a leading aluminium extrusions manufacturer in Europe and part of the multinational Constellium group. The plant produces customized aluminium extrusions in soft and hard alloys for automotive and industrial applications.The plant is the largest integrated hard alloy facility in Europe, and the fourth-largest supplier of tubes, bars and...

After several rounds of discussion and year-long struggle, Vedanta Aluminium Limited finally sealed a deal with the OMC to haul bauxite from Kodingamali mines to Lanjigarh refinery, as reported on April 12, 2018. According to the previous news, Vedanta had expected to pay high costs to transport bauxite from Kodingamali mines to Lanjigarh refinery due to the lack of direct rail route. The estimated cost was INR 1000 to INR 1200 per tonne. But now, as per the current report, the company is expecting to secure 0.8 million tonnes of bauxite from the OMC at INR 700 to INR 800 per tonne cheaper compared to the landed cost of bauxite at the Lanjigarh plant site. In the first ever auction of bauxite at the country, Vedanta, Hindalco and Anrak Aluminium could seize 0.19 million tonnes of bauxite...

Ball Corporation is distinguishing six of its metal packaging manufacturing plants with the R. David Hoover Sustainability Award for significant progress toward the company's sustainability and business goals, which include making the can the most sustainable package in the supply chain. The annual award recognizes one plant in each division of Ball's Global Beverage Packaging and Food & Aerosol Packaging businesses for year-over-year and longer-term operational improvements, as well as the plant team's commitment to acting as product stewards, community ambassadors and team players. The most sustainable plants of 2017 and their achievement highlights include: Global Beverage Packaging Brasília, Brazil (Beverage Packaging South America): The Brasília plant, which is receiving the award...

Vietnam’s exports of commodities increased to US$19800 million in March 2018, from US$143300 million in February 2018. The country’s export of aluminium wire increased in volume in 2017 when compared to 2016 data. Vietnam’s exports of aluminium wire are projected to decline in 2018. As per global export-import data, Vietnam exported an estimated 7787 tonnes of aluminium wire in 2016. The total export volume increased to stand at 8980 tonnes in 2017. In 2018, the estimated aluminium wire export is expected to reach 7948 tonnes. The total aluminium wire export was valued at US$22 million in 2016, which decreased to reach US$15 million in 2017. In 2018, the value of export of aluminium wire is estimated to increase in 2018. Aluminium wire exports are to be valued at US$28 million...

The prolonged wait of an Angolan company Bauxite Angola for resuming its cooperation project, particularly for exploring bauxite deposits seems to finally come to an end in 2018. In 2007, Bauxite Angola had secured rights to the bauxite reserves in Guinea Bissau and in April 2012, the project was suspended by the African Union following a military coup in Bissau. Since then the company has been looking forward to the solvent of political turmoil and recommencing the mining project all over again. Angola’s second deputy speaker Higino Carneiro announced on Tuesday, April 10, 2018, that Bauxite Angola is going to resume its bauxite exploration projects in Guinea-Bissau soon, as reported by the Angolan Press. Speaking at the end of an audience with the Guinean head of state José Mário Vaz,...

According to a recently published report by AlCircle on Aluminium Dross Processing , the aluminium industry comprising primary, recycled and downstream sectors generated approximately 3 million tonnes of dross in 2017. Near 50% of the total dross generated still finds its way to land fill. The Asia Pacific region accounts for about 56% of the total dross generation followed by Europe and North America at 21% and 14% respectively. Keeping pace with aluminium usage the dross generation across the aluminium value chain is expected to grow at around 4 to 5% per annum in the coming years. The recovery of aluminium metal from dross is economically profitable and is essential from the environment perspective. Aluminum producers face increasing pressure from regulatory authorities to eliminate...