Mexico hopes to secure a favourable response from the United States to its request for lower tariffs on aluminium, steel and vehicles before the end of 2026, Economy Minister Marcelo Ebrard said. The Trump administration imposed 50 per cent tariffs on Mexican aluminium and steel and 25 per cent tariffs on vehicles, with an exemption for vehicles with US content. The duties were introduced on national security grounds under Section 232 of the US Trade Expansion Act. Speaking at a press conference in Mexico City, the Economy Minister said Mexican officials had presented technical arguments and supporting evidence to US authorities to justify reducing the tariffs. He argued that the United States runs a steel trade surplus with Mexico, making the tariffs on the metal unjustified from the...
A proposed AUD 3.7 billion data centre at the former Hydro Aluminium Kurri Kurri industrial site in New South Wales, Australia, could repurpose a major industrial property for digital infrastructure, with an estimated peak construction workforce of 1,210 people and around 254 ongoing jobs. The Kurri Kurri Data Centre project, proposed at Hart Road, Loxford, is seeking approval for the fit-out and operation of a large-scale data storage facility with a planned power consumption of 550.5 megawatts (MW). The development application, listed as a State Significant Development under reference SSD-128819490, is currently at the public exhibition stage. The proposal highlights how former aluminium industry sites could find new uses as demand for data storage and computing infrastructure expands....
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Image source: https://www.linkedin.com/ Advancing towards a sustainable future, CSIR-National Metallurgical Laboratory (CSIR-NML) has partnered with National Aluminium Company Ltd (NALCO) to upgrade its indigenously developed red mud recycling technology to a giant 10-tonne-per-day (TPD) pilot plant. Explore- Most accurate data to drive business decisions with Outlook 2026 insights across the value chain Stemming from the rising demand for scandium and the persistent need to rehabilitate red mud. The signed agreement would play a transformative role in sustainable aluminium production, enabling the extraction of alumina, iron, titania and scandium oxide from other critical minerals in bauxite residue and red mud. The agreement was signed on January 6, 2026, at the NALCO office in...
Energy storage is moving steadily towards the centre of Asia-Pacific’s energy transition, as governments and industry bodies strengthen policy support and market frameworks that could unlock a new phase of capacity deployment from 2026 onwards. The shift is increasingly being viewed as a catalyst not only for power systems but also for downstream battery and lithium markets. The region’s starting point, however, remains uneven. Installed energy storage capacity across the Asia-Pacific region stood at 85GW in 2024, according to the Energy Institute, with China alone accounting for 88 per cent of the total. Outside China, deployment is concentrated primarily in Australia and South Korea, leaving much of the region at an early stage of adoption. However, the imbalance is most likely to ease...
LME aluminium prices declined on January 8 compared with the previous trading session, while exchange inventories showed notable shifts in warrant positioning. On January 8, the LME aluminium cash bid stood at USD 3,080 per tonne and the cash offer at USD 3,081 per tonne, down from USD 3,091.5 and USD 3,092 per tonne respectively on January 7. This represented a 0.37 per cent decline in the cash bid and a 0.36 per cent decline in the cash offer day on day. The LME aluminium 3-month contract also weakened. On January 8, the 3-month bid was USD 3,089 per tonne and the offer was USD 3,090 per tonne, compared with USD 3,112 per tonne and USD 3,112.5 per tonne on January 7. This marked a 0.74 per cent drop in the 3-month bid and a 0.72 per cent decline in the offer. To know more about the...
Vedanta Ltd’s share price declined on January 8, as markets reacted to news of the death of Agnivesh Agarwal, son of Vedanta Group chairman Anil Agarwal. After the news broke, around 11 am, the stock was trading at INR 596.55. It later recovered slightly but remained lower at INR 605.55, a decline of 2.68 per cent from the previous close of INR 622.20. Shares of Hindustan Zinc Ltd also came under pressure during the session. The stock, which had closed at INR 630 in the previous trading session, opened lower at INR 623 and later slipped to a range of INR 590 – INR 591.30, marking a decline of roughly 6.1 per cent to 6.4 per cent from the previous day’s close. Anil Agarwal called it the “darkest” day of his life. Also read: Agnivesh Agarwal, son of Vedanta chairman, succumbs to cardiac...
Backed by a resilient Chinese import demand and sustained export growth from Guinea, bauxite is projected to remain a critical stabilising factor for the capesize freight market in 2026. A steep rise of 22 per cent in Guinea’s bauxite exports helps compensate for the weaker coal volume while providing optimum support to the tonne-mile demand, says Signal Ocean’s Commodity Radar. As a result, bauxite flows have been instrumental in keeping the capesize segment on an even keel. Globally, the bauxite trade in 2025 stands 18 per cent higher than in 2024, with China contributing the majority of the incremental demand. Explore- Most accurate data to drive business decisions with 50+ reports across the value chain With a steady expansion of Guinea’s export momentum in 2025, bauxite has become...
Image source: X/@AnilAgarwal_Ved Agnivesh Agarwal, son of Vedanta Group chairman Anil Agarwal, passed away at the age of 49 after suffering a cardiac arrest during treatment in the United States following a skiing accident. Anil Agarwal described the death as a “medical setback” while his son was undergoing treatment at Mount Sinai Hospital. In an emotional post on X, he said Agnivesh had been recovering well after the accident and was believed to be out of danger before the sudden cardiac arrest. “We believed the worst was behind us,” he wrote, adding that fate intervened unexpectedly. Born on June 3, 1976, in Patna, Bihar, Agnivesh Agarwal grew up to become what his father described as a respected business leader and a compassionate individual. He studied at Mayo College in Rajasthan...
Consumers Energy continues to scale up its renewable portfolio with the Muskegon Solar project going operational at Michigan. This new utility-scale solar facility, located at the Muskegon Resource Recovery Centre, covers roughly 1,900 acres and has an installed capacity of 250MW, which the company says is sufficient to meet the electricity needs of about 40,000 homes and businesses in the surrounding area. Explore- Most accurate data to drive business decisions with 50+ reports across the value chain The site represents one of the most extensive solar developments undertaken by the company to date. More than 200 workers were employed during the construction of the project, thus contributing to local economic activity over the build period. At the heart of the project are more than...
China’s non-ferrous metals industry is moving decisively towards large-scale industrial deployment of artificial intelligence in complex industrial scenarios.The shift was highlighted recently in Beijing with the unveiling of Kun’an 2.0, a purpose-built AI large model for the non-ferrous metals sector, alongside a series of digital transformations. Building on Kun’an 1.0, which was released last year as the industry’s first dedicated AI large model, Kun’an 2.0 has significantly expanded its capabilities. The upgraded platform now covers more than 100 application scenarios spanning mining, smelting, processing, safety management and energy optimisation. Of these, 52 scenarios with strong potential for wider industry adoption were officially released, supported by eight high-quality...
Paragon Union Bhd made a partnership with Asahi Seiren Co., Ltd., which is the largest secondary aluminium producer in Japan. This partnership is all about grabbing the growth opportunities in the booming global recycled aluminium market, which is currently valued at over USD 160 billion. The partnership will lead to the creation of Paragon Asahi Seiren Sdn Bhd, a joint venture where Paragon Union’s fully owned subsidiary, Paragon Metal Sdn Bhd, will take a 60 per cent share, while Asahi Seiren will own the remaining 40 per cent. Paragon Metal’s deep understanding of the local market and its solid industrial presence, with Asahi Seiren’s nearly 90 years of expertise in aluminium recycling and its unique processing technologies, mark the joint venture to stand out. Asahi Seiren is...
As per the official data from Red Electrica, in 2025, Spain positioned itself as one of Europe's dynamic clean energy markets after successfully adding renewable capacity of 8,852.7 MW. In this, solar photovoltaic (PV) dominated the state by adding 7,896.3 MW and the remaining 956.4 MW came from onshore wind. With this expansion, Spain's leadership in renewable generation within the EU territory has been confirmed. However, the increased grid congestion is creating a new challenge for new connections, which holds the power to overturn the market outcome in 2026. Cumulatively, Spain's total installed solar PV shifted to 48,130.6 MW and in 2025, the wind power closed at 33,150.3 MW. Nonetheless, the solar deployment stayed highly concentrated. There are five autonomous communities that hold...
VBX Limited’s latest drilling campaign has shifted attention back to its Wuudagu bauxite project, after a new round of exploration work suggested the resource could prove more substantial than previously outlined. The company reported strong results from the undrilled Wuudagu E and F plateaus in northern Western Australia, where assays from 96 holes revealed consistently thicker, higher-grade bauxite. The material showed elevated aluminium oxide and lower silica compared with earlier drilling from the project’s existing deposits. All of the new results fall outside the current 95.9-million-tonne mineral resource, and VBX expects they will support both an expansion and an upgrade in confidence across the broader Wuudagu resource base. Updated estimates for existing deposits, along with...
The London Metal Exchange (LME) aluminium price on January 7, 2026, showed a decline in cash bid and offer, but remained at the forwards contracts. The inventory also fell, but the LME alumina platts gained from the previous close. Both the LME cash bid and offer fell by USD 0.5 per tonne and USD 1 per tonne, respectively, where the bid settled at USD 3,091.5 per tonne and the offer at USD 3,092 per tonne. Don’t miss out- Buyers are looking for your products on our B2B platform A contradictory movement was witnessed at the LME 3-month bid and offer price, where the bid moved up USD 1 per tonne and settled at USD 3,112 per tonne and the offer inched up USD 0.5 per tonne, marking the price at USD 3,112.5 per tonne. At the forward contract, the December 27 bid and offer showed no change from...
At the start of 2026, the Trump administration once again dominates global headlines—much as it did at the beginning of 2025. Then, the flashpoint was tariffs on aluminium and steel imports; now, it is the US military strike on Venezuela. In the early hours of January 3, 2026, around 2 a.m. local time, the United States launched a military operation codenamed Operation Absolute Resolve; and within the next few days, speculation over Washington’s motives and the broader consequences has intensified. Well, President Donald Trump has been unequivocal about the intent. Following the seizure of President Nicolás Maduro, Trump announced that the US would assume control of Venezuela to tap into the South American nation’s vast oil reserves. This move is quite a familiar geo-political pattern as...
REalloys Inc. and Mission Critical Materials LLC (MCM) have signed an agreement to build a fully domestic rare earth supply chain in the United States, leveraging an unconventional source of acid mine drainage. This is going to be the first end-to-end US production pathway that converts hazardous mine wastewater into rare earth metals and magnets for defence use. The agreement is non-binding but outlines a framework linking upstream recovery technology with downstream processing and magnet production. Explore- Most accurate data to drive business decisions with 50+ reports across the value chain Under the arrangement, REalloys will serve as MCM’s preferred downstream partner for rare earth materials extracted from acid mine drainage, a toxic by-product of coal and hard-rock mining. MCM’s...
The European Union’s (EU) policy of Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), imposing “carbon-leakage” charges on cement, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilisers, electricity and hydrogen imported into the EU, has raised concerns among the European and exporting countries. Thailand, however, emerges with remarkable resilience under the CBAM regulations. Its industrial carbon-intensive goods export to the EU has surged drastically in the first 10 months of 2025. Thailand’s metal export containing aluminium, steel and iron had initially hit a slump during the CBAM transitional phase of 2023-2025. Despite the carbon emissions roadblock, the country made a fast recovery, and the aluminium, steel and iron export saw a steep hike by 54.71 per cent, rising from 0.29 per cent and capturing 0.42...
The US attack on Venezuela has pulled eyeballs from nations across the globe. From the Venezuelan President and his wife’s arrest to zealing to take control of the attacked country’s vast oil reserve, the US supremo’s actions have stirred quite a debate on the world forum. But when we reminisce the past, we have realised that this is not the first time that the world has gone gaga over a Donald Trump-imposed decision. Long before sanctions on Caracas, On March 1, 2018, the US President, Donald Trump, announced his intention to impose a 25 per cent tariff on steel and a 10 per cent tariff on aluminium imports. In a tweet the next day, Trump declared, "Trade wars are good, and easy to win." On March 8, he signed an order to impose the tariffs effective after 15 days. Not long after, the...
China has long capped its domestic primary aluminium production at 45 million tonnes, a ceiling designed to curb industrial emissions and contain environmental risk. In 2025, it finished the year with 88.2 million tonnes of alumina and around 44 million tonnes of primary aluminium, in line with the industry’s two-to-one production ratio. But as that cap presses tighter, Chinese companies are not slowing down. Instead, they are shifting strategy - pushing capital, technology and industrial muscle overseas so that aluminium keeps flowing, even if it is increasingly produced on other people’s soil. And in this expanding map, Indonesia has already become the central pillar, while China’s projects in Saudi Arabia - only a handful tied to aluminium so far - leave open the question of whether...
The latest renewable energy tender, as shared by the Dominican government, has received a positive market response, considering the 32 solar and wind projects, where battery energy storage held the lion's share, competed for a total capacity of 600 MW. To be decided in May 2026, the process shall enable further expansion within the future rounds at par with the strong participation level share. What started in August 2025 The region launched the tender for 600 MW solar and wind capacity, which could be traced to August, 2025, where the project demanded inclusion of four hours of battery storage to support the stability in the National Interconnected Electric System (SENI). This request was approved by the Superintendency of Electricity (SIE) under Resolution SIE-092-2025-LCE, which aided...
