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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The issue of powering Century Aluminum’s Mount Holly aluminium smelter still remains unresolved. At least, that is what one can make out from the ongoing talks between the owner and the state power provider Santee Cooper. The deal signed between the two entities on December 31st last year remains largely unworked till now. Source: Century Aluminum Power issues have been disrupting operations at Mount Holly aluminium smelter for long. Following a dispute over the current agreement, Century Aluminum downed half of the smelter’s capacity; it resulted in a job loss of around 300 plant workers. However, both Century and Santee Cooper hope that the dispute will end soon before the agreement expires on December 31st 2018. Under the current agreement, Century is obligated to buy one quarter of...
Braidy Industries has updated construction schedule of its new aluminium rolling mill in Kentucky. Senior vice president of government relations Nathan Haney said on Tuesday that the construction of mill is on track. The company expects to break the ground on the mill in the next couple of months. "We are still on track to break ground in the next couple of months," said Nathan Haney. "We are really shooting hard for April." He further explained: "Our facility will be 40 acres under roof. It is a very, very big space. Phase 1 and phase 2 will be a 30-month process. Our project will add $1 million a day starting from groundbreak to finish. It's hard to fathom spending and (or) adding a million dollars to the project every single day for 30 months. It's a lot of money. It's a lot of...
President Donald Trump is gearing up for a protective trade policy to safeguard the interests of domestic metal producers, especially steel and aluminium industry. Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN) believes that while trying to achieve a level playing field by imposing tariffs on imported aluminium and steel, Trump may actually hurt the interests of end users like the Recreational Vehicle industry. "That would really slow the momentum down in what is a booming industry in the RV industry, the boating industry, all the manufacturing all of it that uses both steel and aluminum," Walorski said. Trump highlighted how the domestic steel and aluminium industries are being decimated by dumping of metal in the markets by other countries during a meeting with Republicans and Democrats at the White House...
LME aluminium is finally showing some signs of recovery. The light metal contract closed at US$2,164 per tonne on Thursday, February 15, up from US$2,138 per tonne on Wednesday. However, the dramatic rise in LME aluminium stocks is likely to create a downward pressure on the price rise. The Exchange’s stock report on Tuesday, February 13, showed a cumulative built up of 265,475 tonnes of the metal, of which 166,225 tonnes only “arrived” in a single-day record arrival on Monday. Over the last five days, LME aluminium stocks have ballooned by almost a quarter of million tonnes. Industry expert and Reuters columnist Andy Home says, “They are, however, a timely reminder that there is still a lot of aluminium “out there” beyond the statistical reach of the world’s exchanges.” “We may not get...
In order to boost revenue by the end of 2018, SGB MY Sdn Bhd, a unit of Germany-based SGB SMIT Group is planning to venture into manufacturing aluminium oval transformers in Malaysia. Managing director of the company Franz Hierz said the company expected the aluminium transformer to grow popular in other countries in the region like the Indian sub-continents, Australia and the Middle East. Due to the cost advantage aluminium is slowly substituting copper in transformers offering customers a more viable option. "The aluminium oval transformer has made a huge impact on the European market and is now ready to make its debut with a big bang in Malaysia and the Asian region," Hierz said during the introduction of the aluminium oval transformer at the Powering Energy Efficiency Conference held...
Chinese electronics and software company Xiaomi has entered Indian television market with a premium brand. The Mi TV- built on an aluminium alloy frame is priced same as its high-end yet affordable counterpart- 4K LED televisions in China. Source: VentureBeat What sets Mi TV 4 apart from other televisions available in the market? – Its design. The TV is built on an aluminium alloy frame and features a stand and brushed metal finishing, which makes it look suave and lightweight at the same time. Xiaomi has done away with the bezels in the frameless panel, and that has made the television 38 per cent slimmer than the Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphone! The 4.9-mm thin smart TV from the house of Xiaomi will be launched in a flash sale on February 22 this year. With a host of new-age features and...
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was considering a range of options to address steel and aluminium imports that he said were unfairly hurting U.S. producers, including tariffs and quotas. Trump’s comments - his strongest signal in months that he will take at least some action to restrict imports of the two metals - came in a meeting with a bipartisan group of U.S. senators and representatives at the White House. Reporters were present for part of the meeting. Some of the lawmakers urged him to act decisively to save steel and aluminium plants in their states, but others urged caution because higher prices would hurt downstream manufacturers that consume steel and aluminium. Trump is weighing options presented last month by the U.S. Commerce Department in parallel “Section...
In March of 2017, The Aluminum Association’s Trade Enforcement Working Group filed petitions requesting the initiation of anti-dumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) investigations against the import of aluminium foil products from China. The Final USITC hearing on antidumping and countervailing duty investigations by the U.S. International Trade Commission on aluminium foil imports from China took place on Thursday February 8. Aluminium industry leaders from USA testified during the hearing before the U.S. International Trade Commission. At the onset of the expected implementation of anti-dumping and countervailing duty (AD/CVD) on aluminium foils, we attempt an analysis of the total volume of aluminium foil imported by USA and the volume imported from China in last three years and the...
Exton Cubic Limited has welcomed High Court decision allowing the company to explore bauxite in the Ashanti Region. Godwin Edudzi Tamakloe, a member of the company’s legal team told Citi News that the company is happy with the court’s verdict. The Accra High Court on Thursday, 8 February 2018, cancelled ministry of lands and natural resources minister John Peter Amewu’s revocation of bauxite mining lease of Exton Cubic. He said: “If a decision is taken to invalidate a lease and the court says that, that invalidation is set aside or quashed, it means that we are back to the status quo.” “The decision taken by the honourable minister as captured in the letter of 4th September stands quashed that what it means, that letter communicated a certain invalidation, so if that invalidation is set...
India’s major industrial mineral production including iron ore, bauxite, limestone, chromium and manganese may witness a 5-8 per cent growth this year, a senior Ministry of Mines official said yesterday in Hyderabad. The volume growth will be reflected in much higher value terms in comparison to INR 40,000 crore the previous year. "This year this will be more as due to higher international prices... Due to the auction process there would be an additional revenue of INR1.04 trillion to the state and local bodies," Union mines secretary Arun Kumar told media. Mining is the second largest sector in terms of livelihood in India. The country has 8 lakh sq.km of minable area, of which only one per cent is being mined now, noted Union mines minister Narendra Singh Tomar. This signifies the...
Trina Solar announced that its State Key Laboratory (SKL) of PV Science and Technology (PVST) has set a new record of 25.04% total-area efficiency for a large-area (243.18 cm2) n-type mono-crystalline silicon (c-Si) Interdigitated Back Contact (IBC) solar cell, with open-circuit voltage up to 715.6 mV. The result was independently certified by Japan Electric Safety and Environmental Technology Laboratory (JET). The IBC solar cell is the most complicated but with the highest cell efficiency for mass production c-Si solar cell today. The record-breaking n-type mono-crystalline silicon solar cell was fabricated on a large-sized industrial phosphorous-doped Cz Silicon substrate with a low-cost industrial IBC process, featuring conventional tube doping technologies and fully screen-printed...
Chemicals and energy company Sasol Chemicals has completed expansion of alumina production capacity at its Brunsbüttel site to meet the growing global demand for alumina. The expansion has increased alumina hydrate production capacity by approximately 15,000 tons per annum. Sasol Inorganics and Catalyst Vice President Dr Cronje Grove said: "This expansion is an important milestone in the development of our production capabilities for high-purity and dispersible aluminas that are sold into a variety of applications worldwide.” The expansion involved debottlenecking the alumina slurry feed capacity by installing an additional on-purpose alumina unit and building two new drum dryers, as well as a new spray dryer. “We plan to start up additional alumina production in Lake Charles in the US as...
Since the Chinese Exchange closes on the spring festival holidays from February 15, to February 21, 2018, there is no latest price update for China today. As on February 14, aluminium Ingot prices remain unchanged at RMB 14,010 per tonne. In the individual markets, average A00 ingot prices register a drop except the in South China market where it remains flat. The prices fluctuations in the individual markets can be seen in the following table: On the cost front, average spot alumina prices remain flat for some time. Bauxite and prebaked anode prices too registered no change yesterday but expected to go down in the short term due to lower electricity prices. Aluminum Alloy (A356) and Aluminum Alloy (A380) prices are on a slightly downward movement in last one month. Aluminum Alloys...
Benchmark aluminium price on London Metal Exchange edged higher on Thursday, February 14, even though LME aluminium stocks rose nearly 30 per cent over the last the trading days. In the largest single aluminium delivery into LME-listed warehouses since March 19, 2014, 166,225 tonnes of aluminium were delivered into the exchange yesterday. The light metal contract closed at US$2,138 per tonne yesterday, up 0.68 per cent from US$2,123.50 per tonne on Tuesday, February 13. Current benchmark LME aluminium price remains close to the resistance at US$2,315 per tonne. If it fails to break beyond, it may retrace to the support at US$2,072 per tonne. As on February 14, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$2,137.50 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price...
The Aluminum Ford F150 Sales Numbers since 2014 show that over the last three years, sales numbers have skyrocketed and the aluminium trucks outsold the previous steel truck by a huge margin. This was reported in an article in torquenews.com. Ford Motor Company introduced the 2015 F150 in 2014 with a lightweight all-aluminium body and more powerful engine and the pickup truck went on sale at the end of 2014. Since then, the sales numbers continued improving with the current generation of the F150 outselling the 2014 model year by a bigger margin each year. Ford Motor Company does separate the F150 sales from the rest of the F-Series lineup. The article breaks up the numbers with input from industry insiders and provides a rough calculation of the numbers of F150 Ford sells every year....
Aluminium stocks on the London Metal Exchange have increased nearly 30% over the last three trading days, with market participants taking advantage of tightness in the February/March nearby spread. 166,225 tonnes were delivered onto the exchange today, the largest single delivery of aluminium into LME-listed warehouses since March 19, 2014. “There is backwardation [in the February/March-2018 spread] and someone took advantage of it – when there is a backwardation people tend to deliver onto the exchange,” a trader said. “The deliveries are linked to the February/March spread backwardation. If the spreads are tight then it does not make sense to keep hold of the metal,” a floor trader added. Traders told Metal Bulletin that the deliveries are expected to help swing the nearby spreads back...
The Conservatory and Window Company, an architectural installer has taken advantage of REAL Aluminium’s comprehensive aluminium package and boosted aluminium installations orders and turnover by at least 20% in less than two years. Aluminium products now accounts for around 40% of the Bristol-based installer’s supply. The Conservatory and Window Company earlier offered PVCu products and decided to expand its product line by introducing aluminium in its range to cater to the growing demand. After associating with REAL Aluminium, the firm introduced a wide range of aluminium fenestration products including windows, bi-folding doors, sliding doors, French doors, residential doors, flat rooflights and lantern roofs. Kevin Bray, managing director of The Conservatory and Window Company,...
One country that has come a long way as bauxite exporter in last three years is Montenegro. The Balkan country grew its aluminium ore exports from 185969.5 tonnes in 2015 to 1.29 million tonnes in 2017 (estimated). Going by available international trade data, Montenegro is estimated to export 1.02 million tonnes of bauxite in 2018. Montenegro’s major bauxite mining facility is Rudnici Boksita Niksic. It is located in the Central - Western part of the European country. The bauxite mine- the largest in Montenegro, has bauxite reserve estimated at 135.2 million tonnes. Bauxite production from the facility is expected to stand at 200,000 in 2017. In 2016, Montenegro’s earnings from bauxite export reached US$28.7 million. In 2017, it was estimated at US$17.7 million. Macro and micro economic...
