Kaiser Aluminum is seeing stronger demand across aerospace, defence, packaging and semiconductor-related markets, with customer bookings extending into 2027. However, the aluminium producer’s latest results highlight a challenge: converting rising shipments and record conversion revenue into stronger profitability as planned outages, lower scrap utilisation and startup costs weigh on margins. The company reported third-quarter 2026 shipments of 300 million pounds, up from 270 million pounds in the same period last year, while conversion revenue climbed 25 per cent year-on-year to a record USD 439 million from USD 351 million. Net sales reached USD 1.21 billion. Despite the growth, adjusted EBITDA increased by only USD 3 million year-on-year to USD 84 million. A USD 29 million unfavourable...
Vietnam-based custom motorcycle studio Bandit9 has unveiled the Bandit9 (RED) 800, a limited-edition Ducati-based motorcycle that combines sculptural aluminium bodywork with a charitable commitment to healthcare programmes. Its defining feature is a hand-painted finish that fades from deep Racing Red at the front into exposed, hand-brushed aluminium towards the rear, making the metal itself a central part of the design. Limited to just nine units worldwide, the motorcycle is priced at USD 49,900, with Bandit9 pledging a fixed USD 14,000 from each bike to (RED), the organisation that raises funds to fight AIDS and other preventable diseases. If all nine examples are sold, the commitment would total USD 126,000. Red paint gives way to sculpted aluminium The Bandit9 (RED) 800 builds on the...
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European aluminium foil producers experienced a weak start to 2026, with total deliveries declining in the first quarter despite indications of gradual market stabilisation as the period progressed. According to the European Aluminium Foil Association (EAFA), total deliveries by its members reached approximately 225,000 tonnes during the first quarter, representing a 6.6 per cent decline compared with the same period last year. Shipment volumes also remained below average levels recorded before 2020. Within Europe, aluminium foil deliveries fell by 4.3 per cent year-on-year during the quarter. While demand remained subdued at the beginning of the year, March recorded an improvement over the previous two months, supported primarily by the flexible packaging sector. Stable or growing demand...
The installed base of potlines is ageing, and the market is tight. LME aluminium touched a four-year high above USD 3,300 per tonne in early 2026, idle Western capacity is being studied for restart, and every controlled shutdown on the map is running under cost and schedule pressure. So teams plan these turnarounds around the outage: how many days the line is dark, how fast the relining crews move, when the last pot comes back on power. That is the wrong thing to optimise. The shutdown is the visible, biddable, schedulable part. It is also the easy part. The money is made or lost in the weeks and months after restart, on the ramp-up curve that most plans treat as an afterthought. I have seen turnarounds hit every outage milestone and still miss the year on production and on pot life. Here...
The European Union (EU) Parliament is set to hold a non-binding vote this week on whether Aughinish Alumina should be included in the framework of the EU’s sanctions on Russia. The move adds further political pressure on Ireland as it begins its six-month presidency of the EU Council. Aughinish Alumina's European Union vote follows amendment proposals submitted by the European People's Party (EPP) and the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) groups ahead of Parliament's debate on the 2025 European Commission Report on Ukraine in Strasbourg. Explore the relevance of red mud in the sustainable aluminium industry in A Comprehensive Analysis of Bauxite Residue (Red Mud): Sustainability, Resource Recovery and Strategic Recommendations Both amendments call for tougher trade restrictions, including "a...
The high-profile Adani-IHC aluminium project will reportedly draw electricity from a 4,000 MW captive power plant and a green energy component of about 400 megawatts for running 4 million tonnes per annum of alumina, 2 million tonnes per annum of aluminium and 1 million tonnes per annum of downstream production. This entire project will be a 50:50 joint venture between Adani and Abu Dhabi-based International Holding Company (IHC). The USD 11.5 billion-worth project in Odisha is seen as a strategic step by Adani to expand its position into the commodity space after an investment in a USD 1.2 billion greenfield copper smelter and refinery in Gujarat. The investment in aluminium comes as India works to expand domestic aluminium production. India produced about 4.2 million tonnes of aluminium...
Alcoa will acquire South32's aluminium, alumina and bauxite business in a deal worth up to USD 5.6 billion, expanding its position across the aluminium value chain. According to Wood Mackenzie, the acquisition will raise Alcoa's aluminium smelting capacity by around 26 per cent and make it the world's largest equity-attributable bauxite producer. The consideration includes USD 3.1 billion in cash, about USD 1 billion in Alcoa shares through the issuance of approximately 17 million shares, around USD 750 million in assumed net debt and lease liabilities, and up to USD 750 million in contingent payments linked to aluminium and alumina prices through 2030. Cash flows from the assets will transfer to Alcoa from 1 April 2026. Wood Mackenzie estimates the portfolio is worth about USD 10.9...
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The macro mandate: Global automakers are desperate to increase EV range and reduce vehicle weight. The heaviest components are the battery and the traction motor. To slash weight, OEMs are issuing a clear mandate to their Tier 1 suppliers: replace heavy copper motor windings with lightweight aluminium. The cost-cutting trap: Suppliers are rushing to produce "Copper Clad Aluminium" (CCA) windings to win these lucrative OEM contracts. However, attempting to cut corners by using excessively thin copper cladding (20 per cent) is resulting in catastrophic factory-floor defect rates, fractured wires, and immediate OEM rejections. The strategic solution: To survive this transition and capture the EV motor market, suppliers must abandon basic extrusion methods. Pilot-scale data...
India's aluminium industry is debating import duties and quality regulations for aluminium scrap. The Aluminium Association of India (AAI), which represents primary aluminium producers, has called for stricter controls on aluminium scrap imports and stronger quality regulations. The association has raised concerns that increasing imports of what it describes as substandard scrap could threaten investments worth more than INR 3 trillion (USD 31.5 billion). India currently levies a 7.5 per cent Basic Customs Duty on primary aluminium and 2.5 per cent on aluminium scrap. To learn about the autonomous furnace tending in aluminium cast houses from RIA Cast House Engineering, join the webinar Autonomous furnace tending in aluminium cast houses: Improving safety, productivity and yield The issue...
LME aluminium prices moved up across cash and three-month contracts on July 3, while exchange opening stocks declined from the previous trading day. Forward prices also strengthened, with live warrants remaining unchanged and cancelled warrants falling. The LME aluminium cash bid price stood at USD 3,079.5 per tonne on July 3, up 0.60 per cent from USD 3,061 per tonne on July 2. The cash offer price also increased by 0.60 per cent to USD 3,080 per tonne from USD 3,061.5 per tonne. Similarly, the LME aluminium three-month bid price rose by 0.70 per cent to USD 3,086 per tonne on July 3 from USD 3,064.5 per tonne on July 2. The three-month offer price increased by 0.72 per cent to USD 3,087 per tonne from USD 3,065 per tonne. For the December 2027 contract, the bid price stood at USD 3,022...
India’s crude oil sourcing map underwent another significant shift in June, with Russian barrels accounting for nearly half of the country’s total imports. Purchases from Russia climbed 17 per cent month-on-month to a record 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd), lifting Moscow’s share of India’s crude import basket to 46 per cent. The scale of the change is particularly striking when viewed against the pre-2022 trade pattern. Before February 2022, Russian crude typically represented less than 1 per cent of India’s oil imports. The subsequent availability of discounted barrels has rapidly repositioned Russia as the country’s dominant crude supplier, displacing traditional Middle Eastern sources. For India, the world’s third-largest oil importer and consumer, the economics of discounted crude...
Nikon SLM Solutions and Bosch Industry Consulting have jointly manufactured a complete V8 engine block as a single aluminium component. It indicates the progress of the metal additive manufacturing (AM) system or 3D printing from prototype development to production. The engine block has been produced in AlSi10Mg aluminium alloy using Nikon SLM's NXG XII 600 multi-laser AM system at the Bosch Additive Solution Center in Nuremberg, Germany. No longer relying on conventional casting processes, 3D printing’s growing capabilities can deliver complex automotive components. Unlock in-depth insights into the extrusion segment of the global aluminium industry with The World of Aluminium Extrusions – Industry Forecast to 2032 Removing tooling, casting to expand design possibilities Unlike...
As commercial solar installations grow in scale, the supporting infrastructure around rooftop arrays is becoming an increasingly important area for engineered aluminium applications. North American solar mounting manufacturer Opsun Systems Inc. has added to this space with the launch of its SunRail Inverter Rack, a structural aluminium system developed to support string inverters on commercial and industrial (C&I) flat roofs. The newly launched system brings inverter mounting into a standardised racking framework, addressing a part of rooftop solar installation that has often required project-specific solutions at the construction site. Opsun has begun immediate shipment of the product from its regional manufacturing operations in North America. At the core of the rack is 6000-series...
Türkiye’s plan to scale combined solar and wind capacity to 120 GW by 2035 is putting pressure on a less visible part of the energy transition: the networks required to carry growing volumes of electricity. With around USD 80 billion of investment expected in the renewable energy sector, the expansion is also bringing materials such as aluminium into sharper focus because of their role in cables, transmission lines, distribution networks and solar energy systems. That need is likely to become more pronounced as power demand rises. The International Energy Agency (IEA) expects electricity consumption in Türkiye to continue growing in the coming years, driven by industrial development, the digitalisation of the economy and increasing energy demand. As new generating assets come online, grid...
Vedanta Aluminium Metal Limited opened FY27 with higher output across key parts of its operations, as new smelter volumes and improved efficiency at existing lines supported aluminium production, while expansion-led gains drove a sharp increase in alumina output. For the quarter ended June 30, 2026, aluminium production reached a record 632,000 tonnes, up 5 per cent from 605,000 tonnes in Q1 FY26 and 3 per cent from 613,000 tonnes in Q4 FY26. The company attributed the increase to volumes from a new smelter and operational efficiency across existing lines. The production gains were accompanied by a stronger value-added mix. Value-added production rose to a record 389,000 tonnes, increasing 14 per cent from 342,000 tonnes a year earlier and 4 per cent from 373,000 tonnes in the preceding...
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) between India’s Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL) and the United Arab Emirates-based Abu International Resources Holding (IRH), through 2PointZero, to establish the USD 11.5 billion aluminium complex in Odisha has received a tentative project timeline of approximately 4-5 years. The project has been broken down into phases, viz., Phase 1 and Phase 2. The first would involve an investment worth INR 660 billion (USD 6.9 billion), and the latter, INR 440 billion (USD 4.6 billion). The planned integrated complex will consist of a 4 MTPA of alumina refining capacity, 2 MTPA of primary aluminium production, and 1 MTPA of downstream aluminium manufacturing capacity, making it Odisha's largest aluminium project. Unlock in-depth insights into the extrusion...
The global aluminium industry saw activity across trade enforcement, downstream expansion, automotive technology, corporate restructuring and end-user markets, with developments stretching from the United States and Europe to China, Ghana, India and Southeast Asia. While a major US customs case involving Chinese aluminium moved towards its final chapter, fresh investments and supply agreements pointed to continued expansion in value-added products. At the same time, cost pressure and new casting technologies were reshaping the automotive supply chain, while aluminium gained ground in applications ranging from electric vehicles and wiring to beverage cans, bicycles, smartphones and premium construction systems. Trade flows shift as the US closes a decade-long case and China’s exports...
India is strengthening its position as a global supplier of green fuels following the signing of long-term offtake agreements between ACME Cleantech Solutions (ACME Group) and Japan's IHI Corporation for green ammonia and Mitsubishi Gas Chemical Company, Inc. for green methanol. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Renewable Energy Secretary Santosh Kumar Sarangi said India's green hydrogen sector is becoming commercially mature, with the country's clean fuels increasingly positioned as reliable exports that support the development of international green hydrogen and green ammonia value chains. Under the agreement with IHI Corporation, ACME will supply 405,000 tonnes of green ammonia annually. The arrangement is backed by Japan's Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme for low-carbon ammonia,...
Iluka has entered into a long-term agreement with VHM Limited to purchase all planned rare earth concentrate production from the Goschen project in western Victoria, supporting feedstock requirements for its Eneabba rare earths refinery in Western Australia. Under the agreement, VHM will supply 146,000 tonnes of rare earth concentrate containing 86,000 tonnes of rare earth oxides over an 18-year period. On average, this equates to around 8,320 tonnes of rare earth concentrate annually, containing approximately 4,900 tonnes of total rare earth oxides. Iluka said the concentrate will complement feedstock for the Eneabba refinery, with production levels depending on the optimal blend of internal and external feedstocks as well as refinery processing capacity. The agreement also grants Iluka...
TOMRA Recycling has successfully applied its range of its AUTOSORT™ PULSE sorting system used in aluminium alloy separation, extending the Dynamic LIBS-based technology to other metals as well like stainless steel, heavy metals, magnesium and incinerator bottom ash (IBA) streams. Launched in 2023 for industrial-scale aluminium alloy separation, AUTOSORT™ PULSE uses Dynamic LIBS, or Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, to identify materials based on their elemental composition. The technology can separate aluminium into different alloy classes, including the 5xxx and 6xxx series. The expanded application range allows recycling operators to deploy the same sorting system across multiple material streams without investing in separate hardware for each application. Attend the webinar Hedging...
