Germany’s aluminium industry is facing growing pressure from energy costs, international trade conflicts, industrial competitiveness and the need for skilled workers as the country works to strengthen its industrial base and accelerate the economic transformation. These challenges came into focus at an Aluminium industry conference hosted by IG Metall and IGBCE in Düsseldorf today, bringing together policymakers, aluminium producers, industry representatives, works council members and trade unionists. Held at the opening of the Aluminium trade fair in Düsseldorf, the conference focused on the future of Germany’s aluminium industry and the conditions needed to maintain a strong industrial base in Germany and Europe. The discussions centred on European industrial policy, the competitiveness...
Vedanta Aluminium reported record quarterly production across aluminium, alumina and value-added products in Q2 FY27, supported by capacity expansion and efficiency improvements. Vedanta Aluminium Metal Limited, India’s largest aluminium producer, recorded its highest-ever quarterly aluminium production of 649,000 tonnes in Q2 FY27, up 5 per cent year on year from 617,000 tonnes in Q2 FY26. Aluminium output also increased 3 per cent quarter on quarter from 632,000 tonnes in Q1 FY27. For the first half of FY27, production reached a record 1,281,000 tonnes, up 5 per cent from 1,222,000 tonnes in H1 FY26. The company attributed the increase to new smelter volumes and efficiency improvements across existing production lines. Alumina output jumps 37 per cent Vedanta Aluminium’s alumina...
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Calderys, known globally for its advanced refractory products and services, has become an independent company encompassing the full scope of the High-Temperature Solutions business (HTS) area formerly under Imerys. US-based Platinum Equity owns the new company after completing regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Calderys specialize in thermal protection for industrial equipment with a wide range of refractory products and advanced solutions to enhance steel casting, metallurgical fluxes and moulding processes. With a global network of experts and 36 industrial sites in 16 countries, Calderys leverages over a century of experience, a worldwide reach and a truly diverse team, to continuously innovate and offer a best-in-class end-to-end solution tailored to customers’...
This week, POSCO Chemical Company has intertwined in a ten-year supply agreement for essential materials required in Electric Vehicles (EV) battery cells with local battery producer Samsung SDI, as was reported by South Korean sources. POSCO Chemicals, a subsidiary of steel and chemicals firm Posco Holdings has agreed upon a supply contract of nickel cobalt aluminium (NCMA) cathode materials amounting to KRW40trn or US$32.5 billion. The supply of NCMA cathode materials to Samsung SDI will be fulfilled by 2023. Cathode materials conventionally take up almost 40 per cent of the cost of producing EV battery cells, and they are incredibly vital for proper energy storage and uninterrupted output. Though POSCO Chemical is fundamentally responsible for the production of nickel cobalt manganese...
Ali Al Baqali, the CEO of Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), one of the world's largest aluminium smelters ex-China, was recognized by the National Safety Council's (NSC) list for the 'CEOs Who Get It' list in 2023. Being the only Arab on the list, he was honoured for his dedication to preserving and enhancing the safety culture for Alba employees and Contractors' workers across the Company. The National Safety Council (NSC) honours executives each year who have developed their organizations' safety strategies utilizing four essential elements: risk reduction, performance assessment, safety management tools, leadership, and employee involvement. "We are Safety-minded as we have established the right balance between our top-down and the bottom-up management and the key to a strong Safety culture is...
The Italian company Inca Packaging, with headquarters in Porto Valtravaglia, north of Milan, engaged in creating aluminium and plastic components for packaging in the cosmetic sector, has revealed some exciting plans for 2023. However, these plans include new investors, a new management team, and a new logo. Since 1951, Inca has been a manufacturer of aluminium and plastic primary packaging for perfumes, cosmetics, and skincare products. The company's history is closely linked to the processing of aluminium components. Stefano Parodi, the new CEO of Inca, said, "We have learnt to shape this material into all possible shapes and sizes, regardless of the quantities required, thanks to the great flexibility of our industrial process." As a result of aluminium's 100 per cent and indefinitely...
Sustainability means addressing current needs without jeopardizing future generations' ability to meet their own. Sustainability has progressively moved up the corporate agenda in recent years, and it is now a major strategic goal for many companies. The aluminium industry is not an exception. As aluminium is a fundamental component of solutions for a sustainable world, it has an even more significant impact on the sector's future in many ways. Aluminium is a valuable resource in increasing end-use industries, including transportation, electrical infrastructure, and packaging. As green regulations evolve, aluminium has a lot of potential to become a material of choice, but to realize these prospects, the sector needs to be sustainable. Alcoa expands its sustainable brand EcoSource™ to...
The EU-funded HyInHeat project explores the possibility of utilizing hydrogen as a fuel source in the aluminium and steel sectors. With a budget of €24 million, the project intends to incorporate hydrogen into the high-temperature heating processes of energy-intensive sectors, with €17.7 million coming from the EU. The project's primary goal will be accomplished by redesigning, modifying, and implementing infrastructure in eight demonstrations at technical centres and manufacturing facilities, together with equipment including burners, measurement and control technologies, and infrastructure. To decarbonize the heating and melting processes used in the aluminium and steel industries, HyInHeat implements effective hydrogen combustion systems that nearly span their whole process chains....
According to the US Census Bureau data, the United States domestic primary aluminium production in November 2022 stood at 62,000 tonnes, registering a decrease of 2,000 tonnes or 3.15 per cent month-on-month from 64,000 tonnes. The USGS data also shows the US primary aluminium output in November 2022 edged a sharp fall of 13,000 tonnes or 17.33 per cent from 75,000 tonnes. However, despite the drop in monthly production, the United States average daily output of primary aluminium in November 2022 stood 1 per cent higher M-o-M from 2,050 tonnes to 2,070 tonnes. On a year-on-year calculation, the daily production in November’22 was 18.33 per cent less than 2,510 tonnes. Total aluminium recovered from scrap in November 2022 was 277,000 tonnes, down by 2.12 per cent from 283,000 tonnes in...
The aluminium processing industry must be able to adapt to the fast-changing environment we are facing nowadays. With the aim of helping the aluminium industry in this non-stop adaptation, Insertec is working on the definition of tomorrow´s aluminium processing facilities, focusing on three key areas: efficiency, sustainability & knowledge. Efficiency: Efficiency goes far beyond having a plant that respects emission regulations or monitoring energy consumption. Being efficient in 2023 means making the most of the full potential of a facility: achieving optimal profitability without losing sight of the well-being of people and the protection of the environment. Our automation department is focusing on two strategic lines to achieve the most efficient facilities: robotics and data...
A municipality area in Australia, St Leonards has been given a thorough makeover with the mounting of the latest lighting, new pave way systems, 900 freshly planted saplings and most importantly, an aluminium pelican statue that captures the hawk-eye view of the entire landscape. The revered Victorian coastal town of St Leonards has seen a significant investment of US$720,000 as an integral part of the elongated project scheme laid by the City of Greater Geelong Council. The Mayor, Trent Sullivan, commented: “These improvements will offer a safer and more enjoyable experience for pedestrians, cyclists and drivers whether they live in St Leonards or visit for holidays.” The pelican structure has been sculpted by a visual artist Martin Moore, who has kept environmental consciousness in mind...
Introduction Guinea, a small West African nation with around 14 million population is endowed with 40 billion tonnes of low silica-medium alumina metallurgical grade bauxite resources. Most of the deposits are located within 100 to 150 km of coastline and well-developed river ports. At present Guinea is mining and exporting about 102 million tonnes of high-quality gibbsitic bauxite per annum, dominated by mining and infrastructure companies of China. There is only one alumina refinery in Guinea (Fria), which is being run by RUSAL with a quite low production capacity. Despite having such vast metallurgical grade bauxite resources, the alumina refinery projects are only existing on paper and drawing boards. There is a large potential to set up greenfield alumina refineries in this country....
The ongoing global energy crisis has exposed the fragility of our energy systems and supply chains, putting European manufacturing industries, especially the energy-intensive aluminium sector, in a vulnerable position. Despite the growing demand for aluminium in clean technologies like solar panels, batteries, and electric vehicles, the industry is struggling to maintain production levels. In the past year alone, primary aluminium production has declined by a staggering 50%. The energy crisis has also impacted the gas-dependent semi-fabrication and recycling sectors, which are experiencing mounting losses. This precarious situation is further compounded by the fact that other leading economies offering low-cost energy and high levels of state aid are increasingly attracting...
On Wednesday, February 1, A00 aluminium ingot price in China has hiked by RMB 230 per tonne, compared to the previous day, where the price had witnessed a fall of RMB 40 per tonne. The price as of today closed at RMB 18,960 per tonne, with the spot contract price expected to be traded at a discount price of RMB 130 to RMB 90 per tonne. The average price may range between RMB 18,940 per tonne and RMB 18,980 per tonne. The prices in Foshan, Chongqing and Linyi have ascended by RMB 230 per tonne to peg at RMB 19,000 per tonne, RMB 18,980 per tonne and RMB 18,960 per tonne. In Wuxi, the A00 aluminium ingot price has grown by RMB 225 per tonne to score at RMB 18,955 per tonne, followed by a growth of RMB 220 per tonne in Gongyi and Hangzhou, where the price halted at RMB 18,790 per tonne and...
On January 31, 2023, Vedanta Aluminium announced that to finance its capital expenditures and lessen its carbon impact, it had raised $250 million (INR 2,045 crore approx.) through sustainability-linked loans from international banks. The ability of the borrower to satisfy sustainability goals is a factor in the interest rate of sustainability-linked loans. However, the company intends to use these funds for capital expenditure to achieve the decarbonization and safety performance criteria used to determine the loan terms. The loan will fuel the company's expansion, including manufacturing value-added aluminium products. International banks from the Middle East and the Far East, such as Mashreq Bank, First Abu Dhabi Bank, and CTBC Bank, are among the lenders. Rahul Sharma, the CEO of the...
LME aluminium opened at US$2,572 per tonne on Tuesday and closed at US$2,648 per tonne, an increase of US$82 per tonne or 3.2 per cent. On January 31, Tuesday, the LME aluminium cash bid price and the LME aluminium official settlement price plunged by US$43.50 per tonne or 1.69 per cent, settling at US$2,532.50 per tonne and US$2,533.50 per tonne. The LME aluminium price has been on a downward trend from January 26, with a gradual decline throughout the week until the end of the month. The 3-month bid price dipped by US$39.50 per tonne or 1.51 per cent, officially resting at US$2,573.50 per tonne, and the 3-month offer price saw a decrease of US$41 per tonne or 1.57 per cent to halt at US$2,574 per tonne. December 24 bid price and December 24 offer price anchored at US$2,740 per tonne and...
ALRO, one of the largest vertically integrated aluminium producers in Europe, has reportedly bagged the new updated ASI Performance Standard V3 (2022) Certification for its ALRO S.A. operations in Slatina, Romania. ASI has issued its new updated ASI Performance Standard certification for the first time to a European company. Through the certification, ASI has acknowledged ALRO’s production and sale of aluminium alloy slabs, billets, wire rods, and plates and sheets with the use of the processes like castings, hot rolling, homogenization, heat treatment, mechanical processing, finishing and testing. ALRO in Slatina has a production capacity of 265,000 TPA of electrolytic aluminium, 47,000 TPA of secondary aluminium, 332,000 TPA of primary aluminium cast products, and 90,000 TPA of flat...
Commitments to achieve substantial decarbonization across metal-producing industries have put a focus on energy efficiency and the use of hydrogen as a fuel. The global aluminium production's average total carbon footprint (Scope 1, 2, and 3) is approximately 12 tonnes of CO 2 e per ton of aluminium. The main part of this carbon footprint originates from primary operations, particularly electricity generation, which might take a long time and a considerable effort to address. However, there are great opportunities for immediate decarbonization in remelting and recycling. We will discuss how to decrease the carbon footprint from the remelting and cast house operations, but obviously, all segments of the industry must play their part to reduce emissions. CO 2 emissions from the cast house...
Assan Alüminyum, a subsidiary of Kibar Holding, is not only one of the leading flat-rolled aluminium producers in the world but also one of the two largest aluminium foil manufacturers in Europe. Its renewable energy production facility in Manavgat produces clean energy equivalent to the annual electrical energy consumption of its production facilities in Tuzla and Dilovasi. The company has more than 1700 employees. As a major global player, the company continues to make sustainable investment plans, expanding its production capacity each year while focusing on becoming more sustainable. Goksal Gungor, General Manager at Assan Aluminyum Assan Alüminyum exports more than 75% of its sales to more than 70 countries worldwide. While the main export market is West Europe, the company also aims...
Rick Hindley joined Podback as executive director in May 2021, soon after the scheme launched. Rick is responsible for setting and overseeing the strategic direction of Podback, including working with local authorities, retailers and coffee brands to grow the scheme. Rick has held several high-profile positions in the aluminium packaging sector, initiating and advising on the development of collection and recycling programmes in the UK and Europe. He joined Podback from the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro), where he had been executive director since 2007. During his tenure at Alupro, aluminium packaging saw record-breaking recycling rates. Rick previously sat on the Government’s Advisory Committee on Packaging (ACP). 1. What was the motive behind establishing the...
