AlCircle News Edited By "Pratyusha Chatterjee"
A writer with 5+ years of experience in the communication industry, Pratyusha Chatterjee has indulged in content from the business, lifestyle, travel industries and more. Apart from news and content, Pratyusha is immensely fond of participating in cultural events and managing them.
Stories that travel from Brazil to the Moon: RECYCLING & SUSTAINABILITY recap
The aluminium industry’s sustainability journey in August 2025 has been exciting as ever. From the bustling can recycling networks of Brazil to futuristic waste conversion experiments on the Moon, and from India’s pandal aesthetics to Europe’s policy battles, the past month have shown how recycling and energy transitions are shaping the sector’s long-term narrative. Image for representational purposes only Brazil: still the world’s recycling poster child Brazil has long worn the crown as the world’s aluminium can recycling champion. And even though the country saw a slight dip (2.7 per cent down in 2024), its recovery rate still stayed comfortably above 95 per cent. That’s fifteen years of near-perfect performance, showing how deeply recycling is embedded in Brazilian culture. For most...
EU top export destinations: Aluminium tube export rebalance as US slump & Norway-Türkiye rise
The first five months of 2025 have brought a reshaping of the European Union’s export map for aluminium pipes and tubes (HS 7608). What had looked like a heavily US-driven trade in early 2024 has since shifted into a more balanced pattern, with the United States sharply pulling back, while Norway and Türkiye emerged as surprising growth engines. The numbers point to an EU industry that is adjusting to external shocks, diversifying its portfolio, and finding new anchors in regional and energy-linked markets. Image for representational purposes only Aluminium pipes and tubes, the good ideal for use where strength and corrosion resistance are required without additional weight, such as on aircraft wings or bike frames, have found their way into businesses across the globe. The manufacturing...
Between revolving funds & Russian oil: India’s energy security remains hostage to geopolitical churn
India’s energy transition is not a linear march from coal to renewables. It is a high-wire act where efficiency, geopolitics, and industrial decarbonisation collide. From the creation of a revolving fund for energy efficiency to the scramble for discounted Russian oil, and from solar and hydrogen pushes to aluminium’s green makeover, the country’s choices are shaping both domestic industry and global trade flows. Image source: JMK Research Revolving capital, not one-off grants At the heart of India’s efficiency strategy is the Energy Efficiency Revolving Fund (EERF), seeded with USD 13 million from the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Managed by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) with support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the fund deploys capital into efficient motors,...
RUSAL clears $760M legal cloud as court dismisses ‘destructive shareholder’, SUAL partners’ claim
United Company RUSAL has finally crossed over on the winning side of a long-running courtroom battle that threatened to saddle the world’s second-largest aluminium producer with hundreds of millions in potential liabilities. Image for representational purposes only The company announced that the Commercial Court of the North-Western Region has upheld earlier rulings in its favour, dismissing a claim brought by SUAL Partners ILLC. At the heart of the dispute were hedging transactions linked to aluminium prices, which SUAL alleged had triggered losses amounting to USD 760 million. SUAL Partners is a significant minority shareholder (around 25.5 per cent) in UC Rusal, with ownership interests held by figures like Viktor Vekselberg. Also watch: Aluminium and Other Base Metals: Understanding...
LME aluminium inventory's truth: Numbers up, but metal missing!
The aluminium markets have just seen another twist in what’s become a long-running stocks carousel. But this time, the spin may be nearing its end. As reported by Reuters on August 20, over the past six weeks, a hefty 156 thousand tonnes of aluminium found its way into London Metal Exchange (LME) warehouses. Yet, this wasn’t fresh metal entering the system. It was almost exclusively a reclassification of existing off-warrant supplies already stashed away in Port Klang, Malaysia. Image for representational purposes only So, when you read ‘reclassification of existing off-warrant supplies’, it means the metal was already physically sitting in the warehouse (say, Port Klang in Malaysia). But it was being kept off the books in private storage deals. Now, some of that same aluminium has been...
From €15.6B to €2.8B: Eurozone’s June trade surplus collapses under tariff pressure
The European Union’s vaunted export engine is sputtering under the combined weight of tariffs, softer demand, and eroding competitiveness. June 2025 marked a dramatic turning point: according to ING’s latest analysis, the bloc’s seasonally adjusted trade surplus collapsed to just EUR 2.8 billion, down from EUR 15.6 billion in May. Eurostat’s official, unadjusted figures tell a similar story, showing the surplus narrowing to EUR 7.0 billion in June from EUR 20.7 billion a year earlier. Image source: https://wjjh.blog/ The headline numbers mask an even more telling shift. Exports from the single currency area rose a negligible 0.4 per cent year-on-year to EUR 237.2 billion, while imports surged by nearly 7 per cent to EUR 230.2 billion. On a monthly basis, exports contracted by 2.4 per...
Tariff tsunami hits Karnataka’s aluminium extrusion industry
Karnataka’s aluminium extrusion sector, once a steady contributor to India’s industrial ecosystem, is facing its toughest test in decades. A convergence of global trade shocks, inclusive of but not limited to the 50 per cent tariff imposed by the United States under President Trump, along with a steady influx of cheap Chinese imports, has left extrusion units in the state squeezed from both ends. Image source: https://rupiko.in/ For an industry heavily dependent on exports and sensitive to cost fluctuations, the impact has been immediate and severe. India exported nearly 200,000 tonnes of aluminium to the US in FY2024, valued at USD 894 million. Among the cumulative volumes, India’s downstream export volume to the US accounted for 84,850 tonnes. It inflated from 53,633 tonnes in 2020 (a...
Barter creeps back into trade as Russia and China rewrite the rules
History has repeated itself as Russia, after the 1990s, has returned to barter deals owing to geopolitical predicaments. Not a generic practice yet, but the initiation of barter deals commenced at the Kazan Expo business forum. Chinese companies cited settlement issues and Russian demands that they bring production to Russia as major issues hindering the development of bilateral trade. Image Source: Wikipedia “We offer innovative cooperation models aimed at reducing settlement risks,” Xu Xinjing from Hainan Longpan Oilfield Technology Co. Ltd told Reuters through a translator, adding that “we offer a model of barter trade.” In exchange for the power equipment, his company wants to receive Russian shipbuilding metal alloys like aluminium and steel. “In the current conditions of limited...
It’s all about the American aluminium industry in 2025 as it should have been!
The American aluminium industry is standing at a decisive moment. In 2025, producers, policymakers, and end-users are all wrestling with a dual reality, wherein on one hand, tariffs, energy volatility, and demand slowdowns are weighing heavily; on the other, a push for green metals and recycling is opening fresh opportunities. Against this backdrop, AL Circle has released its new e-magazine, ' American Aluminium Industry: The Path Forward ', offering a comprehensive lens on how the sector is adapting, competing, and redefining its future. Image for representational purposes only The numbers already paint a stark picture. US aluminium imports fell 12.2 per cent month-on-month in February 2025, underscoring the deep impact of tariffs on trade flows. Demand across North America dropped 4.1...
Why is ENERGY MIX the decisive factor for aluminium’s cradle-to-gate footprint?
The aluminium industry has long sold itself as the ‘metal of the future’, well known for being lightweight, infinitely recyclable, and indispensable for decarbonisation in transport, construction and packaging. Yet, when scrutinised from a life-cycle perspective, the path from bauxite to ingot reveals an environmental footprint that is both energy-heavy and highly variable depending on geography. A landmark cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment (LCA) conducted by the International Aluminium Institute (IAI) brings forth one blunt truth, i.e., electricity supply is the single biggest determinant of aluminium’s environmental impact. Image source: https://www.researchgate.net/ The study, built on IAI’s global survey data and modelled using GaBi software, measured six core impact categories...
PCs and Smartphones prone to being hit hardest: Vietnam and India step into the spotlight to battle the tariff quake
No one in the global tech supply chain has a clear read on where US tariffs will finally land, but one truth is already cementing, that the deepest fault line will be between Washington and Beijing. The biggest casualties? Companies welded to China’s tightly integrated technology manufacturing ecosystem, with the US as their top shelf for sales. Image source: https://www.openpr.com/ Smartphones and PCs are in the blast zone Apple’s vast production web still runs heavily through China, making it one of the most exposed names in the game. PCs aren’t far behind. The triad of Dell, HP and Lenovo earns an estimated 15-20 per cent of operating profit from US sales, and with laptops more dependent on China than desktops, the risk premium is real. Higher costs will roll downhill to consumers, who...
Century Aluminum Q2 profit falls on one-off costs; Tariffs and capacity restart to support Q3
Century Aluminum Co. (NASDAQ: CENX) reported a Q2 2025 net loss of USD 4.6 million (USD 0.05 per share), reversing a USD 29.7 million profit in Q1 and down from USD 20.2 million in Q2 2024. The swing was driven by USD 35 million in one-off costs, including derivative losses, an Iceland inventory adjustment, operational inefficiencies, and a transformer failure. Shipments were 175,741 tonnes, up 4.2per cent Q-o-Q and 4.7per cent Y-o-Y, reflecting stable production in US and Icelandic operations. Net sales stood at USD 628.1 million, down 0.9per cent Q-o-Q but up 12per cent Y-o-Y, supported by higher aluminium prices and US Midwest premiums despite lower alumina sales. Adjusted net income was USD 30.4 million (USD 0.30 per share), down 17per cent Q-o-Q but sharply higher than USD 6.8...
India dethrones China in US smartphone exports, but the real story is aluminium
In a historic pivot that stresses the tectonic shifts in global electronics manufacturing, India has overtaken China as the top source of smartphones sold in the United States. According to Canalys, in the second quarter of 2025, India accounted for a staggering 44 per cent of US-bound smartphone shipments, surpassing China, whose share fell to just 25 per cent, down from over 60 per cent a year earlier. Vietnam, where Samsung Electronics Co. has concentrated much of its manufacturing muscle, ranked second. Image for representational purposes only The shift, while driven by the mobility strategies of Apple Inc. and its supply chain, carries far-reaching consequences for materials markets — aluminium foremost among them. The acceleration of Indian electronics exports is the downstream...
EU-US to forge a common shield, a metals alliance as industrial sovereignty in action
When the European Union and the United States announced the formation of a new “metals alliance” on July 28, 2025, it signalled more than just tariff alignment. It marked a turning point, a coordinated effort to shield their domestic metals sectors from a common adversary: China’s state-driven overcapacity, particularly in steel and aluminium. While the alliance has been framed around steel safeguards and trade architecture, it is aluminium that now demands equal, if not greater, strategic focus. Image source: https://assets.weforum.org/ The proposed framework aims to replace Section 232-era tariffs with quota-based access to the US market for EU metals and jointly coordinate trade defence tools across aluminium, copper, and steel. European Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič summed up the...
Amcor Rorschach clears ASI V3.1 re-certification assessment
Amcor Flexibles Rorschach in Switzerland has once again secured re-certification under the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative’s (ASI) Performance Standard V3.1, reaffirming its leadership in responsible aluminium packaging. As of July 29 2025, ASI confirmed that the Rorschach facility met all requirements under the updated 2022 Standard, successfully transitioning its certification since the June 2023 deadline for re-certifications. Image source: https://aluminium-stewardship.org/ The ASI re-certification is a milestone, reflecting rigorous independent evaluation. ASI Performance Standard V3.1, introduced in mid-2023, builds upon the foundational V3 (2022) by embedding a stronger emphasis across 11 principles and 62 criteria spanning environmental stewardship, social responsibility,...
Volker Hoffmann from CeraNovis and AL Circle converse on the aluminium market’s shift from cost and quality to sustainability
Volker Hofmann is the Head of Sales and Product Management at CeraNovis GmbH, a Saarbrücken-based specialist in high-performance coatings for foundries and casthouses. A qualified engineer in Foundry and Materials Technology (Dipl.-Ing. FH), Hofmann brings over three decades of experience across Europe’s metallurgical and casting sectors. His career spans leadership roles in the vonRoll Foundry Group, P&S Foundry, and the European Foundry Group, with a particular focus on Tier 1 automotive supply. Before co-founding CeraNovis in 2012 as a spin-off from ItN Nanovation AG, he led the development of nanotechnology-based coating solutions for metal processing industries. Fluent in German, English, and French, Hofmann is recognised for his deep technical expertise and strategic insight into...
The US-UK deal just ahead of August 1 hits pause on a TRADE TUSSLE. Triumph or Compromise?
The August 1 deadline looms just around the corner, and countries across the globe are preparing last-minute either to crack a deal with the US ahead of the reciprocal tariff implementation or to combat the ripple effect of the tariff across supply chains. In the meantime, when the world’s two largest economies, the United States and the European Union, managed to avert a full-throated trade tussle, they did so with what protagonists would call a compromise, and critics dub an asymmetric capitulation. In a high-stakes meeting at Trump’s Turnberry golf resort in Scotland, US President Donald Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled a framework deal with a 15 per cent US tariff on about 70 per cent of EU exports, including cars, pharmaceuticals, semiconductors,...
EU deploys new scrap‑metal customs surveillance to tackle leakage
Brussels has stopped watching from the sidelines. As the global metals trade grows more asymmetric and carbon commitments face real-world constraints, the European Commission’s decision to implement surveillance on scrap metal imports and exports has moved far beyond being a regulatory formality to a high-stakes chess move in an escalating global scrap tussle. Image for referential purposes only On July 23, 2025, the European Commission launched an official customs surveillance mechanism to monitor all EU-bound and outbound flows of steel, aluminium, and copper scrap. Though presented as a data-gathering initiative under the Steel and Metals Action Plan (SMAP), this policy shift is anything but passive. It is a direct response to growing export leakages, tightening scrap availability...
