
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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Japan’s aluminium industry is import based and it has stopped producing primary metal altogether shifting its focus towards value added applications and in secondary recovery. The country is Asia's top importer of aluminium and the premiums for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay each quarter over the London Metal Exchange cash price set the benchmark for the Asia region. The two major aluminium product manufacturers in Japan are Kobe Steel and Aluminium and UACJ Corporation who make aluminium plates, pre coated sheets and various rolling products for value added applications. Most of end-users keep annual purchase volume of aluminium unchanged to secure stable supply to their production plants. The country buys a large volume of aluminium alloys to feed their semi-finished plants....

After Beijing and Shanghai, who have already engraved their names as the two most invincible provinces in China in terms of economic prosperity, Chengdu had set a target to establish itself as a primary financial centre in West China, formulating firm investment and development plans. While working towards the goal, one of its aluminium die-casting companies anticipates to see a lower operating rate in April. As updated by Shanghai Metal Market, the company expects its operating rate to be as low as 60 per cent, lower than the level seen during the contemporary period of the prior year. This might be a repercussion of a series of events like environment protection measures during winter heating season from November 2017 to March 2018, recent reservation on aluminium scrap imports from the...

Business tycoon Sanjeev Gupta's GFG Alliance, which has been on an acquisitions spree since 2013 including deals in Europe, the U.S. and Australia for steel mills, aluminium smelters, energy producers and auto- components manufacturers, will build EV plants as part of his venture into the auto supply chain worldwide. According to the press statement, the group has committed more than $3 billion to the investments. GFG Alliance plans to start building Formula 1-inspired electric vehicles in India and Australia early next decade. GFG aims to design the budget, lightweight city cars based on a car model developed by former McLaren Racing and Brabham technical director Gordon Murray. "We are talking about city cars, about small, light, very, very economic cars," he said in an interview in...

LME continues downward trend as there is no strong fundamental in the international market. The inventories are high and the market is buzzing with trade restrictions and counter actions among countries. After losing its position of US$2,000 per tonne on yesterday’s trading after seven days of consecutive decline, the LME aluminium contract finally closed much lower at US$ 1972 per tonne on April 4. It is likely to extend its downward trend in the light of growing trade tension. There is no clear indication of further stability in price. According to Metal Bulletin analyst Andy Farida, "With no sign that global on-exchange stock levels are declining or that there will be a toned-down approach from the US or China on fresh tariffs, LME aluminium is likely to remain under downside...

After a successive decline of aluminium refined inventory over the last couple of weeks, SMM updated on April 4, 2018, including SHFE warrants that it hovered at 2.231 million tonnes. Although the inventory went down from 2.243 million tonnes seen in the last week, it was slightly up from 2.227 million tonnes recorded in the early week Monday April 2, 2017. This hike after a continual fall over the past weeks might be due to tight aluminium supply in the domestic market because of China’s 25 per cent tariffs on sourced aluminium scraps from the US, resulting in a lesser secondary aluminium production in the market and forbidding downstream consumers from stocking. The above chart demonstrates the overall transactions in some of the major China markets, where there has been a slight rise...

As a retaliatory move against the US aluminium and steel imports tariffs, China has taken the US aluminium scrap industry on storm and created mayhem by officially slapping a blanket of 25 per cent tariff on aluminium scraps imported from the Unites States, effective on and from Monday April 2, 2018. This tariff is applied to products under Harmonized Tariff Code 7602.00, which refers to aluminium waste and scrap. China, being the largest aluminium scrap importer from the US, with total import standing at 958,584 tonnes in 2017, up 19 per cent from 812,661 tonnes in the prior year, is now facing a steep price hike of US-sourced metals. Accordding to Shanghai Metal Market (SMM), this may continue, as domestic aluminium scrap prices would remain high in the short term because of the tight...

The cross-European drinks can recycling awareness programme Every Can Counts has been diligently promoting aluminium can recycling in collaboration with major events around Europe. Next they will be present in the Amstel Gold Race on 13 April in Valkenburg, the Netherlands to promote ‘Recycle Race’ activity with cycling fans while cheering the cyclists. Every Can Counts team engaged with hundreds of visitors at its booth during the Tour of Flanders in Oudenaarde, Belgium. They let the spectators combine their cycling and recycling skills in ‘The Recycle Race’, an interactive game using pedal power to move drinks cans around a recycling loop track, with the opportunity to win prizes. The game promotes the message that used beverage cans could be recycled and transformed into a new can or...

According to data from Ministry of Mines, aluminium exports from India have recorded a sharp rise of 34.02 per cent YoY during April-January, 2017-18. The sharp rise was caused by growing domestic production and sluggish domestic demand growth. Our data shows India exported and estimated 1.20 million tonnes of aluminium in CY 2017. The total aluminium export is expected to rise further in 2018 to 1.27 million tonnes. However, data from the Ministry confirms exports of aluminium rose from 0.97 million tonnes to 1.3 million tonnes during the period. It is to be noted that primary aluminium production from April-February in the FY 2017-18 expanded 5.8 per cent YoY from 1.58 million tonnes to 1.67 million tonnes. For the Calendar year 2017, aluminium production stood at 2.8 million tonnes....

Finland based leading manufacturer of energy-efficient and fire-proof insulation solutions, Paroc introduces new lightweight solutions for A60 aluminium constructions under Paroc Light Marine launch series. This is expected to reduce considerable weight, as well as cost in the shipbuilding industry. Paroc's A60 solutions for 70mm aluminium bulkheads and 60mm decks based only on one new technology product Paroc Marine Navis Mat 90, a non-combustible stone wool mat used for fire protection on ships in A-class constructions of aluminium decks and bulkheads. The design and installation of this product are easy as the same product is used on stiffeners. Since the 4mm thick aluminium decks and bulkheads, tested and approved by the new A60 solutions are expected to decrease the weight more than...

According to aluminium recycling statistics published by the U.S. Geological Survey, Department of Interior; the U.S. aluminium industry purchased an estimated 318,875 tonnes of aluminium scrap during January 2018, up from the December 2017 total of 315,280 tonnes while down 2.8 per cent from the January 2017 total. Total aluminium and aluminium alloys recovered from scrap in January 2018 was 292,000 tonnes, 4% more than the revised amount in December 2017, slightly less than the revised amount in January 2017, but unchanged from the amount in January 2016. Of this, 168,000 tonne of aluminium was recovered from new scrap and 125,000 tonne was recovered from old scrap. In total for 2017, preliminary data indicate that recovery of aluminium from scrap totalled an estimated 3.6 million...

On the face of refined aluminium inventory plunge and a rise of aluminium production after winter heating season, Shanghai Metal Market learns that the price of bauxite though remains unchanged since March 19, 2018 exhibits a steady rise. The price rise of bauxite indicates that the bauxite market was not oversupplied in spite of the shutdown of bauxite mines during winter heating season and thus, offers no room for negotiation at the present, unlike pre-baked anode, which was oversupplied due to the aluminium manufacturing halt. At the beginning of the year, the average bauxite price started diminishing from RMB 380 per tonne in the last year to RMB 370 and RMB 340 per tonne in January and February respectively. Then in March 2018, the price started reviving by attaining RMB 360 per...

This year’s Aluminium China exhibition and conference in July will provide a platform for China’s rapidly changing and expanding aluminium industry and showcase new state-of-the-art processes and products. Since the launch of the ‘Made in China 2025’ strategy more than two years ago, China has made great strides towards becoming the world’s leading manufacturing hub. And it is against this backdrop that the Chinese aluminium industry is shifting its focus from speed to high- quality growth and gearing up for technological advances, driven by demand from global industries such as aerospace, automotive, building and construction, transportation and consumer durables. The success of this strategy is demonstrated by Chinese company Nanshan Aluminum that has started manufacturing high-end...

On the first day of trading after Easter Holidays on April 3, the LME aluminium contract closed at US$ 2010 per tonne , recovering from a near eight-month low of US$1997 a tonne on Thursday, March 29, before the holidays. LME aluminium lost its position of US$2,000 per tonne on today’s trading after seven days of consecutive decline. It is likely to extend its downward trend in light of US China trade tension. SMM expects the contract to trade between $1,975-2,000 per tonne today. As on April 3, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2008 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2010 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 2026 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 2027 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$ 2082 per tonne, and Dec 19 offer price is US$ 2087...

Many experiments with red mud have been performed till date all around the globe for its reuse in a more efficient and sustainable way. Red mud is a toxic by-product generated in the industrial production of alumina. It is rich in iron and considered as a treasure trove of elements. With an annual generation of about 150 tonnes of red mud during bauxite to alumina production, more and more scientists are getting involved in examinations for its reuse in metal industry. In the recent time, some scientists at an experimental metallurgy plant in Aachen in Germany are also pursuing an experiment on the same. Mixed with carbon and then melted at high temperatures, the scientists are striving to prepare the red mud for reusing it in the steel industry. Bernd Friedrich, a metal recycling expert...

Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, and Abu Dhabi Ports have opened a facility which will reduce trucking of EGA’s aluminium within Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD) by over 290,000 kilometres per year, reducing costs and environmental emissions. The new container freight station will be used to load metal into containers for transfer onto ships for export. It has been built by Abu Dhabi Ports close to EGA’s Al Taweelah site to reduce the trucking distance for each consignment by approximately 17 kilometres. Last year EGA shipped some 600,000 tonnes of aluminium from Khalifa Port, requiring over 17,000 truck movements from EGA’s site to the quayside. Total emissions savings from shortening the journey to...

Ever since the United States of America has signed for aluminium and steel tariffs on imported metals, aluminium manufacturers, traders and enthusiasts are busy evaluating the final impacts, even after some of the key aluminium supplying countries like Brazil, Argentina, Australia, South Korea, Canada, Mexico and the European Union are exempt from the tariff plans until May 1, 2018. “It’s one of those ‘you’re going to have to kind of wait and see cases,” said Dallas Fridley, regional economist for the Oregon Employment Department. Fridley had anticipated much before that the industries that used aluminium and steel would be affected maximum by higher prices. Local construction firms, farm equipment manufacturers and brewers who use aluminium cans for packaging have faced a massive strain...

Aluminium scrap imports by China, the world’s biggest aluminium producer, dropped YoY through the first two months of 2018 as the secondary aluminium production took a back sit due to environmental restrictions during winter heating season. As per recent export-import data released by General Customs, the figures dropped by 29 per cent year-on-year reaching 119,737 tonnes in February. The monthly import volume, however, was also lower than in January when aluminium scrap imports totalled 190,000 tonnes. Our data shows aluminium scarp import is expected to remain flat in 2018. However, the trend indicates a lower scrap import in 2018. China imported 309,698 tonnes of aluminium scrap during January-February period, down about 9 per cent from the same period of previous year. Import has been...

Bhubaneswar based premier and integrated company in the aluminium value chain, National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) sets a new world record by excavating total 8 million tonnes of bauxite in FY2017-18. The company seems to be enjoying to have graced top news with its successive achievement, projects and developments, as it recently eyed the possibility of gaining access to bauxite deposits in the West African country Guinea. Besides, the company cherishes innumerable recognitions for being the lowest cost producer of alumina in the world. Now another feather adds to its hat as it sets a global benchmark in bauxite mining. Chairman and Managing Director of NALCO Dr. Tapan Kumar Chand acclaimed the mines and refinery team for achieving 100 per cent capacity utilisation in mines and...