
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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Auto Expo 2018- the biggest automotive industry event in India, witnessed unveiling of a number of new age vehicle on the very first day. Some of the biggest launches showcased aluminium auto parts in various capacities. Here’s a sneak peek at the vehicles donning aluminium auto body accents and aluminium auto parts: 1. Mercedes-Benz Maybach S 650 Mercedes-Maybach S 650 is India's first EU6 Technology vehicle by Mercedes-Benz in a petrol variant. It comes with new V12 M 279 engine with an output of 463 kW (630 hp) and 1000 Nm torque. The car features radar-based driving assistance systems and an interior with a trim part in aluminium-carbon look. 2. YZF-R15 V3.0 Yamaha’s launch YZF-R15 V3.0 is powered by a 155cc, SOHC, four-valve, liquid-cooled, fuel-injected motor which yields a speed of...

Gränges AB, a manufacturer of rolled aluminium for aluminium heat exchangers, announced signing of a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Scandium International Mining Corporation for testing scandium aluminium alloys in heat exchanger applications. Gränges will test alloy in R&I Centre in Finspång to document observed scandium impacts on alloys used in its products. Image Source: Gränges George Putnam, CEO of Scandium International Mining Corp. said: "We are pleased to be taking our recent work with scandium in brazing alloy development and introducing it to a significant aluminium alloy consumer group, known for their innovation and quality products.” “Gränges is a recognized industry leader in the heat exchanger markets, and the perfect partner to refine our alloy work to meet their specific...

According to a report from Fiji Times, the first shipment of bauxite this year, valued $2.6 million, is being loaded in Bua bound for China. Ministry of Lands and Mineral Resources acting director Apete Soro confirmed the news that total bauxite tonnage of 57,960 was being loaded by the Aurum Exploration Fiji Ltd in Bua. Aurum Exploration's Navakasiga jetty will carry the first shipment of 2018 to China. The bauxite is being loaded on a barge, which is then transported to a mother ship for sail. Mr Soro is of the view that the value of the bauxite varies according to the global market prices of the mineral or commodity and the price is calculated at the time of sale. He confirms that the cost of the shipment is about $2,666,160, subject to rate changes. Mr Soro said the export market...

Notwithstanding the absence of any strong fundamentals, average price of A00 ingot have registered a moderate gain today to stand at RMB 14,090 per tonne. The prices are expected to move within a range of RMB 14,070-14,110. Spot discount will range within RMB 130-90 per tonne today. Average A00 ingot prices saw the biggest rise in the East China market at RMB 85 per tonne. All other individual markets registered moderate gains. Today’s average aluminium ingot prices in the domestic markets are shown in the table below: As reported by Shanghai Metals Market, spot aluminium in Guangdong area mostly traded at RMB 14,110-14,120 per tonne on Wednesday February 7. Sellers were unwilling to give in much on prices even though the SHFE contract closed lower. Trading of ingots was more active than...

Spark Minda, Ashok Minda Group has opened third die casting facility with an initial capital investment of INR 100 crore in Phase -1. The Group has established manufacturing facility exclusively for aluminium gravity die casting & low pressure die casting with machining in Pune for two and four wheeler products. Ashok Minda, Group CEO, Spark Minda, Ashok Minda Group said, “Establishment of our new plant at Pune will enable Group to suffice the rising demand of Die Casting components for Indian & Global Automotive Customers.” Minda Corporation Limited, a flagship company of Spark Minda, Ashok Minda Group made an initial investment in the manufacturing plant. The facility is equipped with Competency Centre for Excellence for Gravity Die Casting & Low Pressure Die Casting. The Group has...

Benchmark aluminium price on London Metal Exchange shed 0.6 per cent to touch the lowest at US$2,158 per tonne since January 9, yesterday. The light metal contract then recuperated some losses to close at US$2,181 per tonne. Current price trend analysis by Shanghai Metals Market suggests that LME aluminium may continue to test support at the 60-day moving average and trade at US$2,145-2,170 per tonne range on Thursday, February 8. As on February 7, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$2,180.50 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is US$2,181.50 per tonne, 3M Bid Price is US$2,178.50 per tonne, 3M Offer Price is US$2,179 per tonne, Dec1 Bid Price is US$2,228 per tonne, and Dec1 Offer Price is US$2,233 per tonne. LME aluminium opening...

The demand for products and services of KEMPER GmbH continues to rise. Last year, the manufacturer of extraction and filter systems once again achieved a high sales growth. While KEMPER achieved solid growth of five percent in the local German market, total revenues rose by almost 14 percent. KEMPER generated around 60 percent of its total sales abroad. Important focus foreign markets such as Poland and the Czech Republic became the growth engines. In Switzerland, the Netherlands, Great Britain and France, KEMPER also closed the past financial year with high growth rates. With an increase of 24 percent compared to the previous year, the sale of the standard extraction units boosted the sales growth. With MaxiFil alone, the extraction unit with the largest filter area available on the...

Impol Group Slovenia has rolled the first aluminium strip from its modernized cold rolling mill. “The range of coil dimensions has been extended, including larger coil diameters and increased width, with maximum coil mass doubled. Higher strip tensions now allow thicker strip to be rolled,” according to SMS group press release. Image Source: SMS group SMS group announced that the group has revamped company’s aluminium cold rolling mill. In May 2016, SMS group Technical Services (UK) Ltd. received a contract to revamp 40-year-old cold rolling mill. The group provides plant construction and mechanical engineering services to the steel and nonferrous metals industry. SMS group said that they have modified the foundations and replaced the complete entry and exit equipment. The group has also...

Rio Tinto announces financial results for 2017 with a cash generation of $13.9 billion, full year dividend of record $5.2 billion and an additional $1 billion share buy-back. The share buy-back will be completed by the end of 2018. Commenting on the results, Rio Tinto chief executive J-S Jacques said “Today we have announced a strong set of results with operating cash flow of $13.9 billion, a record full year dividend of $5.2 billion and an additional $1 billion share buy-back. This brings total cash returns to shareholders to $9.7 billion declared for 2017.” Underlying EBITDA for the full year stood at $18.6 billion and a ten year record EBITDA margin of 44 per cent has been recorded. The company reported underlying earnings of $8.6 billion and net earnings of $8.8 billion. Rio Tinto...

Bauxite Resources has lodged a Supplementary Target’s Statement on Feb 2 in relation to the recent Bidder’s Statement for the Off Market Cash Offer from Mercantile OFM. Mercantile OFM recently increased its offer to 11 cents per share for 50% of your shares in BRL (6 cents per share after the 5 cent return of capital). Though the Independent Expert, BDO Corporate Finance now considers the revised Offer of 11 cents per share fair and reasonable to BRL shareholders that are not associated with Mercantile OFM, BRL’s directors continue to recommend its shareholders to reject the offer. They argued that the offer is for only 50% of your shareholding, is less than BDO’s preferred value on a control basis. The also emphasised that even if Mercantile are successful in their bid for control of...

Alumina sector makes an important contribution to GDP in Jamaica. Jamaica’s alumina exports accounts for 38.3% of the total exports of the country. It is estimated that country’s exports of alumina will remain unchanged to last year. China, one of the leading importers of Jamaican alumina, imported 68,984 tonnes of alumina in 2017, an increase of 60 per cent year on year. According to recent estimates, Jamaica earned US$278 million from exporting 1.07 million tonnes of alumina in 2016. The country exported 1.07 million tonnes of alumina in 2017. Total alumina export was valued at US$2.3 billion. Jamaica is estimated to ship 1.01 million tonnes of alumina in 2018. The Caribbean country is estimated to export alumina worth US$2.4 billion. Jamaica's largest alumina refinery, Alumina Partners...

The Chinese market is lying low due to the absence of any strong fundamentals. Average A00 ingot prices have registered a slight drop today to stand at RMB 14,070 per tonne. The prices are expected to move within a range of RMB 14,050-14,090. Spot discount will range within RMB 130-90 per tonne today. As reported by Shanghai Metals Market, China’s aluminium output was down 1.7% YoY in January to 2.99 million tonnes. The volume also dropped by 16,000 tonnes from December 2017. In 2017, China churned out 35.15 million tonnes of aluminium, up 7.6% from 32.64 million tonnes (IAI data) in 2016. The lower production was attributed to the operation shutdown at Aluminium Corp of China (Chalco) in Guizhou province due to power supply disruption. The company has also done a capacity swap with...

According to a Reuters report, London base metals on Wednesday recovered some of the ground lost in the previous session as global equities bounced back after days of sharp falls and investors focused on fundamentals. LME aluminium contract continued to drop till yesterday’s closing and the light metal dropped further from US$ 2202 per tonne on February 5 to close at US$ 2196 per tonne on February 6. Good market fundamentals may provide some support to the prices today as aluminium gained 1 per cent on Wednesday’s trading. The LME aluminium price, according to Shanghai Metals Market is expected to trade at $2,150-2,185/t. As on February 6, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$ 2195.50per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is US$ 2196...

Ball Corporation has planned to construct a new beverage can manufacturing facility in Asunción, Paraguay. One-line facility is expected to start production in the fourth quarter of 2019 and its capacity is contracted under long-term agreements. Carlos Pires, president of beverage packaging South America, said: "The economy is growing and demand for aluminium beverage packaging is increasing in Paraguay and surrounding countries, as more people are consuming beer and other refreshing drinks and more customers are converting to more sustainable, infinitely recyclable beverage cans.” Ball also announced its plans to add capacity in its Buenos Aires, Argentina, facility. The investment is the third in the region in two years. He commented: "In Argentina, cans will continue to grow and...

According to aluminium recycling statistics published by the U.S. Geological Survey, Department of Interior; the U.S. aluminium industry purchased an estimated 315,000 tonnes of aluminium scrap during November 2017. This registers a drop of 3.9% from the November 2016 total of 328,000 tonnes. USGS estimates that recovery of aluminium and aluminium alloys totalled 287,000 tonnes, a decrease of 4% year-over-year and 5% less than that in October 2017. Of this, 163,000 tonnes of aluminium were recovered from new scrap and 123,000 tonne were recovered from old scrap. For the period of January to November 2017, preliminary data indicate that recovery of aluminium from scrap totalled an estimated 3.3 million tonnes, up 1.4% over the 2016 YTD total of 3.2 million tonnes. U.S. exports of scrap,...

Judging by the somewhat stoic reaction of the Indian aluminium industry after the unveiling of Budget 2018 last Thursday, February 1, it is not hard to tell that the announcements have failed its expectations. Not a single demand or wish from the list of many has been addressed in the last budget presented by the NDA government before elections. But nonetheless, the Budget spoke of an economy built on advanced infrastructure, enhanced manufacturing and greater employment. There are areas of hope which can certainly give the right traction to the Indian aluminium industry as a whole. Five points of hope for Indian aluminium industry in Budget 2018: It is a Budget guided by mission to strengthen agriculture, rural development, health, education, employment, MSME and infrastructure sectors -...

Alro said on Friday that its shareholders have approved an investment of USD 61 million in 2018.The company expects net profit of USD 42.8 million and sales revenue of USD 662.9 million this year, according to Business Review. The company reported net profit of RON 223.4 million in the first nine months of 2017. Revenue from sales increased 18 per cent to RON 1.86 billion. Alro, one of the biggest aluminium smelters in Central and Eastern Europe, is part of the international industrial and investment group Vimetco NV. The company has an installed production capacity of 265,000 tonnes per year. The main markets for the products manufactured by Alro are within the EU (Germany, Hungary, Poland, Greece and Romania). Alro also exports to the USA and Asia Last month, Alro signed three-year USD...

The Global Aluminium Foil Roller Initiative (GLAFRI), concluded its recent General Assembly by announcing the election of Göksal Güngör as its new President with immediate effect. This follows Oliver Hommel stepping down from his role as he left the aluminium foil industry. Mr Güngör, General Manager of Assan Alüminyum, previously served as one of the three Vice-Presidents. Upon his appointment, Mr Güngör thanked his predecessor for his excellent past service and said, “I am very honoured to take over the role as the next President of GLAFRI and look forward to supporting and contributing to its important initiatives to support foil market growth worldwide. We will continue to focus on promotion of aluminium foil and demonstrating the capabilities in the areas of sustainability and...