A major police operation in India’s Uttar Pradesh has exposed an inter-district network allegedly involved in stealing electricity transformers and selling their internal metal components, including aluminium wire and copper binding, to scrap dealers. Police in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, have busted an inter-district transformer theft gang and arrested eight people, including a scrap dealer accused of purchasing stolen materials. The operation led to the recovery of aluminium wire, copper binding, transformer coils and cash allegedly generated through the sale of stolen electrical components. The gang reportedly operated across several districts, including Kanpur Dehat, Unnao, Lucknow and Fatehpur. A joint team comprising Chaubeypur police, the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) unit and West...
Ford has produced more than 5,000 large aluminium unicastings at its Shelbyville Technical Center as it advances manufacturing preparations for the Fathom midsize electric truck, scheduled to launch in 2027. The castings are being used for process testing and prototype assembly at the company's Louisville Assembly Plant. The Fathom will feature two large aluminium unicastings that replace 146 individual structural parts, significantly simplifying the vehicle's architecture. Ford says the approach reduces vehicle mass and improves overall energy efficiency, while introducing a different method of assembling vehicles through its new Universal Production System. The two large structures form the front and rear sections of the vehicle. By consolidating numerous components into fewer castings,...
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Liberty Aluminium Technologies has resumed production after a two-month halt, provided with safeguarding from COVID-19 epidemic by reducing the risk. The staffs have started re-joining to their work this week for the production of components towards the automotive sector at sites in Coventry and Witham, Essex, a part of the Liberty Engineering group owned GFG Alliance. The safety measures the factories have been taking starts from temperature checks on arrival, briefing on social distancing, usage of the marked way walking route, sanitation throughout the factory, closure of catering facilities, etc. Liberty is a grade 1 supplier, it has resumed due to major carmakers that have been its pivotal consumers has already re-started production. The operations have begun at a modest level, as...
UACJ, the Japanese manufacture of aluminium products has downsized its production at its domestic plants in response to the plunge in demand, especially from the auto industry, due to the Covid-19 epidemic. On 19 th May’20, UACJ stated it has ceased part of its domestic production for several days as a course of action to adjust to a fall in aluminium products demand caused by the Covid-19 outbreak since April’20. Demand from vehicle-related industries significantly weakened in May’20 in line with output suspensions at domestic assembly plants. The automakers of Japan were forced to shove domestic production post supplies of auto parts from China were suspended after the later period of January’20 by strict quarantine measures taken to combat the coronavirus outbreak. The production slash...
Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) announced that Hydro’s seven facilities in Europe have been certified against the ASI Chain of Custody Standard. The certification is for its plants in Birtley (UK), Bedwas (UK), Cheltenham (UK), Chrzanów (Poland), Tibshelf (UK), Tønder Precision Tubing (Denmark) and Trzcianka (Poland). The operations include ingot casting, extrusion, fabrication and surface finishing of aluminium profiles, and manufacture of aluminium tubes. Fiona Solomon, Chief Executive Officer at ASI said: “We warmly congratulate Hydro Extruded Solutions on their multi-site Chain of Custody (CoC) Certification. Hydro has continued to expand their CoC Certifications from their primary production business divisions through to rolled products, and this latest Certification now...
Aluminium is a part of many large value chains and the largest of them being the automotive and transport sector. This sector alone represents 36% of the aluminium market. As the automotive industry is facing a severe slowdown or is even stopping production, the aluminium production which includes alumina, primary, recycling, semi-fabrication and some final products in Europe is at risk. Today, European produced cars contain on average 180 kg of aluminium that constitutes around 12% of the vehicle weight. The light-weight properties of aluminium are the perfect material to make vehicles more efficient. As an essential supplier to the automotive industry, the European aluminium producers consequently rely on a rapid recovery of the entire automotive sector. With the uncertainty surrounding...
A decree from the Ministry of Finances, published on Saturday in the Official Journal, suggests that the State has guaranteed a loan of 180 million euros to the Constellium group, specialised in aluminium products. The state guarantee is provided to a loan granted to Constellium by the banks BNP Paribas, Société Générale, and Bpifrance, as per the measures announced by the government to support companies hit by the coronavirus crisis. Constellium manufactures aluminium products mainly for the automotive, aeronautical, and packaging markets. Last year, it passed from a company under Dutch Law to a European company status, with headquarters in Paris. In Q1 2020, the group recorded a net loss of 31 million euros and sales down by 6 per cent, owing to a drop in demand in Europe and North...
Namibia, a country in southwest Africa, is distinguished by the Namib Desert along its Atlantic Ocean coast. The country's sophisticated formal economy is based on capital-intensive industry and farming. Namibia's economy is heavily dependent on the extraction and processing of minerals for export. Mining accounts for about 12.5% of GDP but provides more than 50% of foreign exchange earnings. The aluminium structures importation market of Namibia has been showing a gradual fall during 2017-20. The importation volume during 2017-20 remained at 4747 tonnes and the expenditure stood at $233.71 tonnes. The import estimation for 2020 has been analysed to only 1437 tonnes and the expenditure might remain at $68.48 million when added to the last three years though it stands to 6184 tonnes as...
On the continuous spread of the COVID-19, the auto component manufacturing companies are set to defer their planned capex of around $4 billion till 2022. This decision has been taken to preserve cash and cope with supply chain disruptions, as per the announcement made by a top official of the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA). As the domestic auto industry is likely to witness a decline in double digits this year, the auto component companies are revising their strategies for the near term, adhering to the old mantra of ‘Cash in King’, said the official. “Going forward, the majority of the tier-I component makers will focus more on consolidating capacities rather than expanding at least for the short-term in order to preserve cash. Overall, I think about $4...
Montenegro-based aluminium company Uniprom has planned to invest 20 million euros in the new manufacturing unit at aluminium smelter KAP's plant in Podgorica. The company will build a new plant for the production of aluminium slabs, SeeNews reported. The construction work of a new plant is expected to be completed in 2021. Uniprom said in a statement that slabs production capacities at this new facility will be 35,000 tonnes per year. Aluminium slabs is a material used for the production of sheet metal and other items for the automotive industry. Uniprom has completed the negotiations and will soon sign the contract for the construction of a new plant. The company had also announced to invest 15 million euro in aluminium billets production unit at the factory of KAP. The plant will have...
The United Arab Emirates, one of the top aluminium exporters to the US, accounted for 4% of all aluminium imports by the US in February 2020.The UAE’s exports of crude metals and alloys to the US came in at 10,100 tonnes in February 2020, a decrease of 74.88% year-on-year. The UAE had exported 40,200 tonnes to the US in February 2019, according to the latest Mineral Industry Survey report from the US Geological Survey. On a month on month comparison, exports dropped by 67.42% from 31,000 tonnes. In the first two months of 2020, exports stood at 25,000 tonnes as compared to 91,600 tonnes in the first two months of 2019. This marked a decrease of 72.71% year-on-year. On the import side, the UAE imported 1,350 tonnes of aluminium (crude metal and alloys, aluminium semi-finished products and...
RUFFINI S.A. resumes switching on the melting tower to re-start its production of casted components, after 30 days of shut-down due to COVID-19 epidemic. The customary die-casting firm based in Barcelona works aligned with the major customers located in Germany, so the supply to Europe has started again. As per a company representative: “The safety of the employees is the most important thing but also we have to keep in mind that we need to open again the industry as soon as possible.” The company have implemented a lot of measures in the plant to ensure there is a minimum risk of possible infection and employees are really happy to work again. Ruffini hopes to also help suppliers to open their factories and start changing the economic situation with the butterfly effect. Ruffini, with...
According to Shanghai Metals Market, aluminium billet inventories in China have declined over the week, ending Thursday, May 14, following a marginal rise last week on Wednesday, May 6. As arrivals were limited since the past one week amidst stable shipments from warehouses, the aluminium billet inventories plunged by 19,300 tonnes to 112,800 tonnes, across five major Chinese consumption areas, as of May 14. Between April 30-May 6, the stocks increased by 2,700 tonnes to stand at 132,100 tonnes. The chart below indicates the current status of aluminium billet inventories across China in more details: As the above chart suggests, among all the major Chinese provinces, Wuxi has seen the highest drop in aluminium billet inventories today. The stocks there have decreased by 8,230 tonnes to...
The Twelfth International Aluminum Extrusion Technology Seminar has been rescheduled on May 11 – 13, 2021, as announced by the Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) and the ET Foundation. The seminar, now named ET 2021, will be conducted at the Hilton Orlando on Destination Parkway, minutes from I-Drive in the heart of Orlando’s dining and entertainment district. Previously, this seminar was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. AEC President Jeff Henderson said, “We are fortunate to have found dates and a location that meets our specific needs. It took some time since so many organizations had to reschedule events simultaneously due to the unusual circumstances surrounding the novel coronavirus pandemic,” The ET Seminar Committee and ET staff are in the process of communicating the updated...
Mexico’s imports of total aluminium including scrap from the US stood at 50,200 tonnes in February 2020, a decrease of 12.54% from 57,400 tonnes in February 2019. On a month-on-month comparison, imports increased by 2.03% from January’s imports of 49,200 tonnes, as updated by the US Census Bureau. Aluminium imports amounted to 99,400 tonnes in the first two months of 2020, as compared to 121,000 tonnes in the first two month of 2019. This records a decrease of 17.85% year-on-year. Crude metal and alloys imports decreased by 4.66% year-on-year to 9,200 tonnes in February. Imports registered an increase of 55.67% month-on-month. Crude metal and alloys imports stood at 15,100 tonnes in January-February 2020, from 21,100 tonnes in January-February 2019. Imports of semi-finished products...
The United States Geological Survey found no notable development in Saudi Arabia’s aluminium plates, sheets and bars exports to the US in February 2020. In January, Saudi Arabia’s aluminium semis exports to the US were 7,470 tonnes, while that in February were 7,450 tonnes. The exports in January were down month-on-month by 27.47 per cent, as the aluminium plates, sheets, and bars exports from Saudi Arabia to the US were 10,300 tonnes in December. In November also, the exports were 10,300 tonnes, meaning they remained flat in December. Saudi Arabia’s total aluminium plates, sheets and bars exports to the US in the first two months of 2020 stood at 14,900 tonnes, down 38.25 per cent from 20,600 tonnes in the previous two months. Year-on-year, Saudi Arabia’s aluminium semis exports to the...
PARC Robotic Systems reinstated their two aluminium part factories in Pune at the western province of India. Bharat Gite, Director of PARC Robotic stated that he spent days servicing idle machines, sanitising his premises and putting in place social distancing norms for staff. The aluminium component manufacturer is facing a problem that it is becoming tough for their workers to return to their jobs post millions of Indians fled cities for their rural homes or on other cities when the Government of India executed a nationwide lockdown at the end of March’20. Bharat Gite said: “We haven't heard from customers in the last two months. It's a havoc situation. We don't know what is going to happen." PARC Robotics Systems has been a supplier company to General Electric Co. (GE), ABB Ltd., and...
The United States Geological Survey data showed Russia’s crude metal and alloys exports to the US rebounded in February 2020 after month-on-month drops in the last two months. According to the USGS report, Russia’s exports in February were 17,700 tonnes to the US, compared to 13,100 tonnes in December 2019 and 9,260 tonnes in January 2020. This represents that February saw a month-on-month jump of 91.14 per cent in Russia’s crude metal and alloys exports to the US, following a decline of 29.31 per cent in January. In November, the export amount was 15,500 tonnes, meaning the export in December decreased by 15.48 per cent. Year-on-year, Russia’s crude metal and alloys exports to the US in February stood higher by 73.52 per cent, as the country during the same period last year had exported...
Novelis Inc., the world leader in aluminium rolling and recycling, announced fourth quarter and fiscal 2020 results. Net income stood at $63 million in Q4 FY 2020, down 39% from last year. For the full year, net income decreased by 3% to$420 million Excluding tax-effected special items, the company grew its fourth quarter net income by 18% to $153 million, and its full year net income by 26% to $590 million. The increase was due to higher Adjusted EBITDA and lower interest expense. "Our strategy to invest in our operations and our people has delivered four consecutive years of record financial results and an exceptionally strong balance sheet. It is this solid foundation, coupled with an unwavering commitment to our purpose of shaping a sustainable world together, that will help us safely...
According to the data shown by the General Administration of Customs, China’s exports of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products decreased in April by 11.4 per cent over the year to 441,000 tonnes. In April 2019, China’s exports were around 491,274 tonnes. In March 2020, China had exported 518,600 tonnes of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products, down 5 per cent from 544,530 tonnes during the same period last year. This means the year-on-year decline expanded in April. Month-on-month, the exports plunged by 15 per cent. In the first three months, China’s total exports of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products had come in at nearly 1.19 million tonnes, which in April grew to 1.63 million tonnes. Compared to the last year, China’s total exports in the first four months of the...
