AlCircle News Edited By "Debanjali Sengupta"
Debanjali Sengupta is a passionate content writer with 10 years of experience in Business writing, Web Content writing, Blogging, Editing and Research. She is responsible for generating and editing content for AlCircle Newsletter and other online and offline content for enhancing the brand value and its visibility among global users.
China’s aluminium (unwrought and products) exports rise 20.9% Y-o-Y in 2018 to a record high
According to China Customs data released on Monday, January 14, China’s aluminium exports in 2018 increased by 20.9 per cent from a year earlier to a record high. United States sanctions on Russian producer Rusal drove the demand for Chinese metal which as a result, spurred the aluminium exports by China. {newsStudioGallery} China, the world’s top aluminium producer in 2018 recorded a total export of 5.8 million tonnes of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products, compared to approximately 4.79 million tonnes in 2017, said the General Administration of Customs. In the whole of 2016, China’s aluminium exports were at approximately 4.6 million tonnes. Thus, the year 2017 also saw a year-on-year rise by around 4.5 per cent. The export increased year-on-year despite a 10 per cent tariff on...
A hotel introduces new aluminium can recycling service ‘return and earn for cans’
The Exchange Hotel has reportedly introduced an aluminium can recycling service as a way of raising money for Rotary in Bathurst. The news came after the manager of the hotel Marty Russell revealed about the initiative. During the school holidays, the recycling bin can fill very quickly, but this new initiative by the Exchange Hotel can help you free up some space and do a good deed as well. The cages are located at the rear of the hotel and Mr. Russell said each can would raise 10 cents for the service club. However, a certain norm is set for disposing of the can. “It’s better if the cans are left whole as the Return and Earn system reads the barcodes, and if they’re squashed, you only get paid by weight,” he said. Per the report, the hotel is no longer using post mixes and using canned...
JAMALCO’s new power plant expected to make its alumina refinery more efficient on completion
According to a recent report, the construction of JAMALCO’s US$189 million gas-fired cogeneration power plant by New Fortress Energy is expected to complete by February 2020. The news came after the bauxite/alumina company’s managing director Austin Mooney reported while speaking during a tour of JAMALCO’s mines and refinery operations in Halse Hall, Clarendon on January 10. Mr. Mooney disclosed that construction of the offshore gas pipeline is complete, while work on the inland segment is underway. He particularly said, “They [NFE] have started to ship the gas pipe from the United States and we expect that to be here very soon. NFE has already received some of the large stacks, which are here [at the NFE site].The steam generators and the combustion turbines are expected in Kingston in...
Auckland Council to provide recycling bins in Hauraki Gulf; Recyclable items include aluminium cans
Auckland Council will reportedly provide waste barges in the Hauraki Gulf this summer to help boaties dispose their waste and keep Waitematā Harbour clean and beautiful. Since summer is the time when Hauraki Gulf islands receive a maximum footfall of tourists, the council encourages day visitors to ‘pack in and pack out’ and take their waste with them when they go. “If people are visiting one of the islands for a day, we’re asking people to take their waste home with them and dispose of it responsibly, in their kerbside waste or recycling bins,” says Waste Solutions. The barges will be open for 24 hours a day and seven days a week, including public holidays. They will accept general household waste and recyclables. No commercial waste, inorganic/bulky items, or hazardous waste will be...
Viohalco’s Bulgarian unit partners with Gestamp for further aluminium business development
Etem Bulgaria, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Belgium-based holding company Viohalco, has decided to divide its extruded aluminium profiles manufacturing business and the additional processing of aluminium profile for the automotive industry into two units. The news came when the company itself announced about this in a press release on Thursday, January 10. Viohalco also said that it decided to enter into an investment agreement with Spanish car parts maker Gestamp. Per the agreement, the joint ventures will focus on the extrusion and processing of aluminium profiles for the automotive industry. Around 30 million euro will be invested in the programme. New extrusion line and related machinery will be installed for further processing of aluminium profiles in Bulgaria. Viohalco expects that...
South Korean designer Jongha Choi designs De-dimension foldable aluminium furniture
Keeping in mind the space problem in almost every household, South Korean designer Jongha Choi has reportedly created a collection of space-saving, collapsible furniture yet again. This new range of furniture is comprised of stools and tables made from aluminium. The collection is called De-dimension as the furniture in this collection is transformable from flat, two-dimensional forms into functional, three-dimensional forms and vice versa. While the new collection of furniture is space-efficient and suitable for increasingly popular micro homes, Choi’s focus was on achieving an illusion of perspective. According to Choi, he wanted to create the experience of a two-dimensional image in a three-dimensional space. "I have already experienced three-dimensional forms through various...
Konecranes to deliver floating cranes to COSCO for transporting bauxite from Guinea to China
According to a recent report, Konecranes, the leading manufacturer of crane and lifting equipment, has won orders for two Gottwald Model 8 floating cranes from COSCO Shipping Bulk Co. COSCO Shipping Bulk is a subsidiary of COSCO, the third largest shipping company to handle bulk cargo. Per the report, Konecranes’ Gottwald cranes will tranship bauxite for COSCO from river barges onto ocean-going Panamax vessels on the open sea. They are specially designed in accordance with Lloyd’s Register Code for Lifting Appliances in a Marine Environment, so as to operate at wind speed up to 24 metres per second and maximum wave heights of 2.5 metres. ZhiJun Fan, General Manager of Technical Division of COSCO, commented: “We will operate the two floating cranes within the framework of our cooperation...
Chinese A00 aluminium ingot price shows restraint after more than week-long activities
After over week-long ups and downs, the A00 aluminium ingot price has decided to record no change today, January 11, according to Shanghai Metals Market. The price thus continues to hover at RMB 13,310 per tonne. The average prices are expected to remain the same as well between RMB 13,290 per tonne and RMB 13,330 per tonne, with spot discounts to settle at RMB 30 per tonne to RMB 10 per tonne. The average spot price marks a growth by RMB 10 per tonne from the previous day. But the major markets in China shows a different picture as the ingot prices there have recorded drops today, found Shanghai Metals Market. The prices in the east, Wuxi and Hangzhou, have plunged RMB 15 per tonne and RMB 10 per tonne to stand at RMB 13,305 per tonne and RMB 13,325 per tonne, respectively. The price in...
Australian Workers Union to challenge decision related to agreement termination at Alcoa
According to a report, The Australian Workers Union (AWU) has condemned the Fair Work Commission’s (FWC) decision taken at the end of 2018 in favour of Alcoa that it could terminate its enterprise agreement with 1600 workers. On January 4, the union said it would fight against the FWC’s decision. On January 7, Alcoa already terminated it enterprise agreement, putting more than thousands of jobs at risk, per the report. The agreement covered workers in five aluminium smelters and bauxite mines in West Australia. The AWU has been waging a militant campaign to protect their job security and conditions. This includes a 53-day strike which they conducted in August and September last year. The strike ended on September 28 after the union won an agreement that guaranteed no workers could be...
Universal Design Studio uses aluminium for Rimowa’s Berlin store interior
An award-winning London-based architect and interior design company Universal Design Studio has reportedly decorated the interior of Rimowa’s inaugural Berlin store with aluminium to create sync with the premium luggage brand’s material palette. Rimowa has used aluminium to form its signature ridged suitcases. Universal Design Studio has used the same metal throughout the shop in celebration of its "textural beauty and material possibilities". "We were inspired by the materiality, proportion, and precision of the Rimowa core range and with a focus on the culture of global travel," Hannah Carter Owens, director of the studio, told Dezeen. Universal Design Studio has created a series of aluminium display fixtures for the store’s three rooms and kept the existing ornate ceiling moulding and...
France’s import of aluminium bar rods and profiles to drop in 2019 after two consecutive YoY rises
Aluminium Bars are the 192nd most traded product according to the Product Complexity Index (PCI). According to a report, global demand for aluminium bar rods and profiles is forecast to expand 5.7 per cent per annum between 2016 and 2020. Currently, aluminium alloy profiles, bars and rods account for 96.0 per cent of the global demand while nom-alloyed aluminium profiles, bars and rods have a 4.0 per cent market share. {newsStudioGallery} The top exporters of Aluminium Bars are China ($3.62B), the United States ($2.06B), Germany ($1.42B), Mexico ($927M) and Italy ($725M). The top importers are Vietnam ($4.07B), Germany ($1.78B), France ($923M), the United States ($863M) and the United Kingdom ($565M). According to the available export-import data, France in 2019 is likely to import...
Chinese A00 aluminium ingot price records a rise against alumina price fall
According to Shanghai Metals Market, the A00 aluminium ingot price has shown a little rise today, January 10, from RMB 13,290 per tonne to RMB 13,310 per tonne. This marks a growth of RMB 20 per tonne, compared to the plunge yesterday by RMB 20 per tonne. The average prices are expected to range between RMB 13,290 per tonne and RMB 13,330 per tonne, with spot discount to settle at RMB 40 per tonne. The average spot discount is expected to be at RMB 20 per tonne, marking a slight hike by RMB 10 per tonne. As the growth in aluminium ingot price has touched all the major markets in China, the markets in the east (Wuxi and Hangzhou) have recorded a rise by RMB 25 per tonne and RMB 30 per tonne to stand at RMB 13,320 per tonne and RMB 13,335 per tonne, respectively. In the north, the price has...
India’s bauxite output growth to accelerate even amidst strict regulations and tribal tensions: Fitch Solutions
Fitch Solutions Macro Research study shows that in spite of a positive outlook for India’s bauxite mining industry, tightening environmental regulations and tribal tensions may pose downside risks by slowing new projects. Nevertheless, the study also indicates that India’s bauxite output growth will accelerate to serve growing demand from the domestic aluminium industry. Fitch Solutions said in its report, "We forecast Indian bauxite production to grow from 30.9 million tonnes in 2018 to 50.7 million tonnes by 2027....tightening environmental regulations and tribal tensions pose downside risks..." In February last year, the Odisha government had approved long-term linkage (LTL) policy for bauxite. The state cabinet had also approved the amendment of the LTL policy to specify detailed...
Chinese authorities express concerns about excessive production capacity of alumina: SMM
According to a report by Shanghai Metals Market, Chinese authorities had raised concerns about the possibility of excessive production capacity across the alumina industry in China at the end of last year. They had even cited the projects which were in the pipeline. The news came based on the Notice of Promoting Orderly Development of Alumina Industry issued jointly by The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on December 28, in a bid to control blind expansion and lower the risks of overcapacity. The notice published that many domestic firms commenced new alumina projects or planned to start new projects just for the growing price of alumina last year. Factors like Rusal sanctions, the partial closure of Norsk Hydro’s Alunorte...
Designer Jeonghwa Seo furnishes a café and wine bar with aluminium and brass
Seoul-based designer Jeonghwa Seo has once again proved that creativity knows no bound by furnishing a café and wine bar with an unfinished quality of cast aluminium, oak, and brass. Infusing a theme like furniture that celebrates the qualities of raw materials, Jeonghwa has custom-made the space of Et Cetera in Seoul that features a raw concrete interior. Seo said, “The most important aspect of this project was to show the pure quality of the materials. I wanted to create a space where people can experience them.” Cast aluminium, welded into elongated and elliptical shape, has been used as a base for larger pieces of furniture. To add a further twist, the welding join-lines have not been ground down so can show off the making process. "I have been using aluminium throughout my previous...
Germany to see drop in both import and export of aluminium powder and flakes this year
The global aluminium powder and flakes market is growing steadily driven by the automotive paints and sealants and other industrial pigments sectors. As per a report, the aluminium powder and flakes market across the world is likely to be valued at US$3,453 million by 2021 growing at a CAGR of 3.51 per cent from US$2,808 million in 2015. Amidst this positive market, Germany which is one of the notable importers and exporters of aluminium powder and flakes last year recorded growth in both imports and exports of the product. But this year, the country is estimated to witness a drop in aluminium powder and flakes import and export. {newsStudioGallery} According to the global export-import data, Germany’s estimated import volume in 2018 was at 17,586 tonnes, compared to 15,675 tonnes in...
Chinese alumina price drop further pulls down the ingot price across all major markets
Since the beginning of the New Year 2019, the alumina spot price has been found to record either a plunge or restraint; and today is not an exception. The alumina spot price in China has again registered a drop to RMB 2,893 per tonne after being at RMB 2,928 per tonne from January 4 to January 8, 2019, Shanghai Metals Market found. Today’s drop marks second this year as the first one was on January 4 from RMB 2,934 per tonne to RMB 2,928 per tonne. As the drop in alumina spot price has touched all the major markets in China, the east market has witnessed a price plunge by RMB 50 per tonne to RMB 2,920 per tonne. The prices in both the central and north markets have dropped RMB 30 per tonne each and hovering at RMB 2,910 per tonne and RMB 2,880 per tonne, respectively. In the south market,...
Staticus to install unitised timber and aluminium stick facades at Two New Bailey Square
Staticus, one of the largest façade engineering contractors in Northern Europe specialised in providing design, production and installation services, has reportedly won a contract to install a combination of unitised timber and aluminium stick facades across the area of 8,700 square metres of Two New Bailey Square. Staticus will manufacture the unitised façade panels in its factory in Lithuania and install over the next 12 months. Two New Bailey Square is designed by architect Allford Hall Monaghan Morris and developed by English Cities Fund and Muse Developments. Per the report, it will provide 180,000 square metres of commercial space in Salford Central with private balconies on each floor. “An interesting aspect of this project is the external structural steel frame with its visible...
