The US aluminum trihydrate market strengthened in September 2026 as downstream procurement, rising overseas production costs, and shipping bottlenecks supported prices. In contrast, Bosnia’s market faced a quarterly correction as European buyers drew on accumulated inventories and lower caustic soda costs eased manufacturing pressures, highlighting diverging regional price trends. US aluminum trihydrate market gains on demand and supply constraints US aluminum trihydrate prices increased 2.38% month over month in September, supported by purchases from wire and cable manufacturers, electrical infrastructure compounders, and electric vehicle (EV) component producers. Demand remained particularly resilient for applications involving low-smoke cable compounds and flame-retardant materials....
China-based China Aluminum International Engineering Co., Ltd. (CHALIECO) has won a bid for an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract valued at approximately USD 833 million for a proposed alumina project in Vietnam, adding to investment activity in the country’s mineral processing sector. The project, being developed by Binh Phuoc Ore Mining and Beneficiation Joint Stock Company, is designed to process 2.4 million tonnes of alumina annually. The proposed contract is valued at around CNY 5.595 billion (USD 839.04 million), with completion expected within 27 months of the contract’s effective date. CHALIECO to oversee turnkey refinery development Under the proposed turnkey arrangement, CHALIECO’s responsibilities will cover the full project delivery process, from...
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SMM has published the latest output data from the major Chinese producers in the base metals market. The following table shows the latest output for alumina and aluminium in December and a forecast for January. The report shows a drop in alumina production month on month, as December output drops from that in November. SMM sees three reasons for the alumina output drop in December: Winter production cut in Nov-Dec is one of the major factors that affected production numbers of companies including Henan East Hope Sanmenxia, Kaiman, Shanxi Zhaofeng, Fushen, Shandong Weiqiao and China Aluminium Shandong Branch. East Hope Sanmenxia and Henan Zhongmei were ran operations at only 50% of their capacities during the 30-day special green policy in Henan province. Shandong branch of the Aluminium...
Australia’s Batchfire Callide Pty Ltd will continue to operate the coal mine in Central Queensland after the State Government approved an extension to its Boundary Hill mine lease. The mining lease period of the mine has been extended till 2043. Anthony Lynham, Minister for Natural Resources, Mines and Energy, made the statement on Thursday, January 2. Lynham said, “The lease will allow the Callide mine to continue to supply approximately 6.5 million tonnes of thermal coal each year for baseload power generation and alumina manufacturing.” Batchfire Resources had acquired the mine from Anglo American in 2016. The mine produces low sulphur, sub-bituminous thermal coal primarily for domestic power generation and alumina refining. The company had applied to the state government to start the...
Spot Alumina prices have registered mixed momentum in China today. Average spot alumina price in China has registered a small drop to stand at RMB 2854 per tonne today. In the four domestic alumina market, average price stands at RMB 2825 per tonne, registering a slight increase. In South China market alumina drops to RMB 2830 per tonne along with the drop in primary ingot price. Only in North China market, prices registered some rise. As seen by Platts analysis, near-term expectations are mixed. Some market participants see higher levels on the back of potential restocking ahead of the Lunar New Year in February, while others expect lower ranges as aluminium is expected to stay weak because of growing inventory, which is expected to reach record high in February. This would keep alumina...
Bosnia's "Alumina" will invest 12 to 15 million marka ($7.4-9.2 million/6.1-7.7 million euros) in 2018 towards expanding its alumina production capacities into non-metallurgical segment. According to the company CEO, Alumina is branching out from its metallurgical production programme. Bosnia's Alumina doo is located in the Industrial zone of Zvornik, Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina and is into the production of alumina, hydrate, zeolite and water glass. Alumina Ltd is the only company in the south part of the Middle Europe which processes bauxite through Bayer's process and produce different types of hydrates and alumina. The company is expected to start the construction of a new production facility from this month only. In 2017 it invested 25 million marka in the construction...
China’s imports of alumina reduced 19.51 per cent year on year to 210,579 tonnes in November. During January-November 2017, imports were up at 2.72 million tonnes, according to the latest import-export data published by China General Customs. In November, Indonesia and Australia exported 91,351 tonnes and 83,322 tonnes of alumina respectively. During January-November, Australia’s exports of alumina reduced to 1.17 million tonnes. Other exporting countries were Vietnam, India, Japan, Germany, and France. China’s exports of alumina increased 85.04 per cent YoY to 4,208 tonnes in November 2017. China exported 51,005 tonnes of alumina during the first eleven months of this year, down 50.58 per cent YoY. South Korea imported a major chunk of alumina totalling 2,802 tonnes in November. During...
Alpart Alumina refinery which was reopened by its new owner Jiuquan Iron and Steel Company (JISCO) Limited in June is set to make its first shipment today December 29, 2017. The first shipment from St. Elizabeth plant after reopening will leave from Port Kaiser in Jamaica today. A release from the operators, JISCO Alpart said that the ship, Wuchow, steamed into the port on Wednesday afternoon to pick up its cargo of 35,000 tonness of alumina. The shipment is also significant because it is after eight long years that alumina is being exported from Alpart. Chairman of JISCO Alpart Jamaica, Liu Wanxiang says this first shipment marks a significant milestone for the company and is a testimony to the management and the workers of Alpart. He also added that the employees worked beyond the...
According to the latest USGS release on Bauxite and Alumina in the Second Quarter 2017 , imports of alumina by the U.S. in the third quarter of 2017 were 364,000 tonnes, 19% more than the amount of 307,000 tonnes imported in the second quarter of 2017 and 17% more than the amount of 315,000 tonnes in third quarter of 2016. This shows growing consumption by the local aluminium smelters in the U.S. in Q3 2017. The amount is however, 8% less than the amount in the third quarter of 2015. The leading sources of imported alumina in the third quarter of 2017 were Brazil (41%), Australia (27%), and Jamaica (15%). The sources remain unchanged from Q2 2017. Exports of alumina during the third quarter of 2017 were 103,000 tonne, 32% less than those in the second quarter of 2017, which exported about...
Despite market participant’s expectations that alumina prices would rebound following some production cuts due to shortage of natural gas, alumina continued to move downward after a brief stop. As forecasted by analysts from SMM, natural gas rationing had little influence on alumina output and prices started sloping downward further. As updated by Shanghai Metals Market, average spot alumina price in China stands at RMB 2855 per tonne on December 27, down 1.2% from RMB 2889 per tonne on December 26. Domestic spot alumina prices have also dropped to RMB 2800/t from to RMB 2860/t on December 26. Chalco Alumina and Imported Alumina remain unchanged today. Spot alumina prices in the domestic markets can be seen in the following table: Weak alumina prices have not much affected the primary...
Market participants have expected alumina prices to rebound following some production cuts due to shortage of natural gas. However, analysts from SMM believe natural gas rationing will have little influence on alumina output next week so the price would slope downward further. Lower inventories have supported alumina prices in the short term; however, SMM believes alumina price is unlikely to rebound further. As updated by Shanghai Metals Market, average spot alumina price in China stands unchanged on December 25 after rising slightly up to RMB 2889 per tonne on December 22. Domestic spot alumina prices have also stayed unchanged from RMB 2860/t on December 22. According to an SMM update, four alumina plants, including that of China Power Investment Corp in Shanxi province, which use...
Altech Chemicals Limited announced an increase in the total debt package for its high purity alumina (HPA) project. Altech said in a statement that German government owned KfW IPEX-Bank has advised the Company of credit approval for a total project finance debt package of US$190 million. Altech managing director Mr Iggy Tan said, “The Company is delighted with the increased total debt package offered by KfW IPEX-Bank for the project and especially the additional loan cover made available by the German government (ECA cover).” “In our opinion the additional project finance is another significant vote of confidence for the project and follows an extensive detailed independent due diligence process.” The approved finance package is higher than the US$185 million of project finance initially...
The dichotomy of alumina and aluminium remains on the same page as alumina is falling on the price curve while primary aluminium is recovering from the recent fall that started in November. Spot alumina price in China has dropped from the year’s high of RMB 3730/t in November first week to RMB 2881/t today. Domestic alumina prices have also slipped to RMB 2850/t today. Aluminium price rise has been slow due to falling prices of alumina. The contract rose overnight yesterday December 20 on news of potentially lower alumina output due to natural gas shortage. SMM however observes that alumina production would not be impacted much as most producers use coal gas as fuel. Another factor that is keeping alumina prices low is its high inventory driven by slow demand from smelters. Spot alumina...
Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has signed a supply agreement with Shaheen Chem Investments LLC which paves the way for the construction by Shaheen of a chemical complex in Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi. Upon completion, Shaheen’s ethylene dichloride and caustic soda plant will supply caustic soda output to EGA’s Al Taweelah alumina refinery for a period of 15 years. Abdulla Kalban said: “The construction of a caustic soda plant next to our alumina refinery guarantees our supply of this vital raw material at competitive prices for years to come. I am pleased that EGA’s demand for caustic soda is creating further industrial expansion in Abu Dhabi, continuing EGA’s long-standing contribution to the diversification of our economy as we grow our own business.” Ethylene dichloride and...
Alumina prices have seen another drop today continuing the trend that started in November second week after the starting of winter capacity cut. From RMB 3730/t in the beginning of November spot average alumina price has dropped to RMB 2918/t, registering a drop of about 22%. The price drop was mostly driven by slow demand from the aluminium smelters due to capacity reduction. The price drop has been huge compared to November and is slightly lower than the price on the same day one year ago, which was RMB2967/t. The price drop in the individual markets in China are shown in the table below: Imported alumina prices also have dropped to RMB 3450/t (USD 522/t) today after remaining strong at USD 3600/t since the first week of December. Domestic alumina prices have retracted to RMB 2915/t...
Diversified metals & mining conglomerate Vedanta Ltd is aiming at zero alumina imports by 2020. By then, the company is looking to reach its full nameplate capacity of six million tonnes per annum (mtpa) at its Lanjigarh alumina refinery in Odisha. The Lanjigarh refinery's present de-bottlenecked capacity is 1.7-2 mtpa. Vedanta's ramp up to six mtpa is subject to approvals by the Odisha government and clearances from the Union ministry of environment, forest & climate change (MoEF&CC). "We feel we should be able to reach our full design capacity at Lanjigarh by 2020. Once the refinery produces six million tonnes of alumina each year, the whole of it would be converted into aluminium. By 2020, Vedanta's aluminium production capacity is expected to reach three mtpa. All our aluminium...
Altech Chemicals Limited, one of the world’s promising high purity alumina producers, announced that German government has agreed to a credit cover for its high purity alumina project. Altech Managing Director Iggy Tan, said: “news of the IMC decision for offer of cover is an outstanding milestone for the Company’s high purity alumina (HPA) project, the culmination of many years of hard work by Altech staff, consultants, EPC contractor SMS group GmbH, KfW IPEX-Bank and many others associated with the project”. “Complete details of the offer of cover are expected to be received in the coming days and will be announced in due course.” Altech Chemicals is aiming to become one of the world's leading suppliers of 99.99% (4N) high purity alumina (HPA). The company has completed a Final...
Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, has signed a three-year alumina supply agreement with Vinacomin, a Vietnamese state-owned firm. Under the agreement, Vinacomin will supply EGA with up to 300,000 tonnes of alumina per year. Alumina is the feedstock for aluminium smelters. The deal is the first long-term agreement to supply Vietnamese alumina to the UAE and significantly boosts the bilateral trading relationship between the two countries. The agreement was signed in Hanoi by EGA’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Abdulla Kalban and Vinacom’s President and Chief Executive Officer Dang Thanh Hai, and was witnessed by the UAE Ambassador to Vietnam His Excellency Khalid Alqahtani. Abdulla Kalban said: “This...
Spot alumina prices were on a downward trend in China through November continuing in December, following the downtrend in aluminium. The prices are showing some restraint and stand unchanged today. As updated by Shanghai Metals Market, average spot alumina price in China remains unchanged at RMB 2997 per tonne on December 15. Domestic spot alumina prices also remains stable at RMB 3000/t. Domestic prices are expected range within RMB 2930 – 3070 per tonne today. Spot alumina prices in all other domestic markets also remain unchanged today. Chalco alumina prices and imported alumina prices remain unchanged at RMB 3320 and RMB 3600 per tonne despite the recent drops in domestic prices. As for other raw material prices are concerned, bauxite prices and prebaked anode prices remain unchanged...
The alumina price index (API) used for individual price discovery of alumina spot has been quite volatile this year. In October, the API surged to record highs driven by supply corners over curtailments in Chinese alumina refineries. The higher alumina prices, however, were not backed by a commensurate rise in aluminium prices. As a result many primary aluminium producers across the globe have felt the pangs of rising cost of production. Hindalco remains an exception among them. The integrated aluminium company, headquartered in India, continues to post strong earnings growth amid this volatility thanks to its diversified portfolio and Novelis’ value-added product business. Till September this year, spot alumina prices continued to trade higher in major markets of China in tandem with...
