ABB has secured two orders from China’s Southwest Aluminum to supply integrated automation and digital technologies for two six-high aluminium cold rolling mills, supporting the manufacturer’s wide-strip production expansion and upgrade. The projects involve a 2,500 mm two-stand mill and a 3,000 mm single-stand mill, with both lines expected to be fully commissioned and operational by the end of 2027. Chongqing-based Southwest Aluminum is a subsidiary of the Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco). The orders build on the longstanding cooperation between ABB and the aluminium producer, with the latest projects focusing on process stability, control precision and production performance. Explore insights and forecasts for the aluminium flat rolled products (FRP) market from our...
India-based PG Foils Limited plans to establish a downstream aluminium manufacturing facility in Bahrain, focusing on electric vehicle (EV) battery foil and pharmaceutical foil production. The proposed investment is expected to expand the kingdom’s aluminium downstream capabilities and strengthen its manufacturing base. Bahrain’s Ministry of Industry and Commerce signed a letter of intent with PG Foils for the project. The agreement was signed by Industry and Commerce Minister Abdullah bin Adel Fakhro and PG Foils Joint Managing Director Sahil Shah during the fourth edition of the Gateway Gulf expo, which opened on November 1 in Manama. Explore: The most comprehensive and forward-looking industry-focused report – Aluminum Foil Market Report Forecast Till 2035 Hosted by the Bahrain...
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Ryobi, the aluminium casting maker has temporarily pulled down its Carrickfergus operation and send all of its 560 staffs on temporary lay-off until 3 rd April’20. This news was communicated to the employees by a senior person of the company at its Northern Ireland headquarters on 23 rd March’20. The company was founded in Japan more than 70 years ago and it is considered as the global leader in aluminium die-casting. It makes it the largest manufacturer in the north hit by the coronavirus pandemic, and comes as the entire European automobile industry has effectively shut down until mid-April. The Unite union, which represents many of the Ryobi workers, confirmed it had spoken to management. It said it was looking at details of the terms and conditions being offered to the workers under...
Hydro is reducing or halting production at some plants to meet change in demand due to the coronavirus outbreak. The company is cutting production in the auto and construction segments, and more broadly in southern Europe, the company said in a statement on Thursday. “Following effects from the Coronavirus situation, as well as the effect from actions implemented by authorities to fight the Coronavirus, customers are starting to reduce their production,” the company said. “The impact is currently most visible in the automotive segment and in building and construction, and more broadly in southern Europe. Consequently, Extruded Solutions is reducing and temporarily closing some activities in France, Spain and Italy.” Reducing or halting production at plants may lead to temporary layoffs,...
AVIC Shenyang Commercial Aircraft Corporation (SACC) in the northern Chinese city of Shenyang is the long-time provider of the DASH8 – Q400 fuselage to Bombardier in Canada. SACC awarded ThyssenKrupp Aerospace Suzhou for the delivery of over 1,000 cut-to-size aluminium plate items in various dimensions. ThyssenKrupp Aerospace Suzhou’s free-trade-zone facility will be managing material supply and processing nearly 500 metric tons during 2020-2022 In June 2019, Bombardier concluded the sale of the DASH8 – Q400 to De Havilland Aircraft of Canada. Patrick Marous, CEO of ThyssenKrupp Aerospace Global said: “We are proud that SACC chose ThyssenKrupp Aerospace Suzhou with its proven service base to power their raw material supply chain and to support the program under the new ownership of De...
On Thursday, March 19, Novelis Inc., the world leader in aluminium rolling and recycling, announced that two of its leaders were elected by the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative. Nick Madden is elected to the Board of Directors of ASI and Jessica Sanderson to the Standards Committee. Madden, being an expert in aluminium metal markets with 42 years of experience in the industry, is joining the board as part of its Production and Transformation membership class. Madden has served Novelis as a Senior Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer for many years. But now, recently stepped down and undertaking strategic projects for the company’s CEO. Sanderson, on the other hand, serves Novelis as Director of Sustainability and will now support the ASI for its focus on standards development and...
As updated by Shanghai Metals Market, inventories of aluminium billet in China continued to decline for the second consecutive week. Stocks of 6063 aluminium billet across five major consumption areas in China stood at 197,600 tonnes as of Thursday March 19, a decrease of 1,700 tonnes from March 12. The inventory dropped 19,500 tonnes in the week ended March 12. The chart below indicates the current status of aluminium billet inventories across China in more details: Inventories of aluminium billet in Foshan, Wuxi, and Nanchang came in at 90,600 tonnes, 53,900 tonnes, and 7,200 tonnes, down 4,300 tonnes, 1,100 tonnes, and 500 tonnes from March 12. But the stocks in Changzhou and Huzhou increased by 3,300 tonnes and 1,000 tonnes to stand at 23,000 tonnes each. The aluminium alloy (ADC12)...
Titagarh Wagons of India, the major stakeholder of Italy’s Titagarh Firema S.P.A., has announced the deferment of the inauguration of manufacturing the prototype of the new aluminium-bodied Pune Metro coaches. The plant operation has been suspended due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy. The commencement of the prototype manufacturing was supposed to set in motion on 8 th April’20. It was adjourned as the complete operations of the factory were halted till 31 st March’20 post an advisory from the Italian government. In August’19 Titagarh Firema S.P.A. secured an INR.1100 crore international bid to deliver Pune Metro rail as many as 102 avant-garde aluminium-bodied coaches. The Kolkata city (in India) based wagon maker Titagarh Wagons Ltd took over Italy’s Firema Trasporti in 2015 and...
The fright for the secondary aluminium to be hard hit is amounting as automotive giants like Toyota and BMW have decided to suspend their European production sites until further notice, in an attempt to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19. As the secondary aluminium alloys DIN226 is widely used in Europe for the manufacture of diesel-engine cars, production cutbacks will weaken demand for the material, according to some market participants. Toyota will close the plants in the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, France, Turkey, Poland over this week, as announced by the Japanese automaker itself in a statement on Wednesday, March 18. Toyota said it took the decision based on the government restrictions of people's movements designed to stop the spread of the virus, supply chain...
The secondary aluminium is likely to be negatively affected post the German automaker Volkswagen declared on 15 th March’20, that it will be suspending the production at its European output hub in Bratislava, Slovakia on 23 rd march’20. VW's move came after the Slovakian government declared a state of emergency earlier on Sunday due to the spread of the novel coronavirus. There were reports of a suspected case of the virus at the plant, but that has not yet been confirmed by the company. Secondary aluminium alloys, such as DIN226 in Europe, are used in diesel-engine cars, and production cutbacks will weaken demand for the material, according to some market participants. VW's announcement comes after Europe’s largest secondary aluminium producer, Italy’s Raffmetal, which supplies material...
According to Shanghai Metals Market report on Thursday, March 12, aluminium billet inventories fell after three consecutive weeks of increase, as the deliveries from warehouses outweighed arrivals. Data showed the stocks of 6063 aluminium billets across five major consumption areas in China shrank 19,500 tonnes from a week ago to stand at 199,300 tonnes, as of March 12. The chart below indicates the current status of aluminium billet inventories across China in more details: In Foshan, Wuxi, and Changzhou, the billet inventories declined by 2,700 tonnes, 5,000 tonnes, and 2,400 tonnes, respectively, from the last week to stand at 94,900 tonnes, 55,000 tonnes, and 19,700 tonnes, as of March 12. In Huzhou and Nanchang, the inventories came in at 22,000 tonnes and 7,700 tonnes after falling...
India’s largest fuel retailer Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), after joining hands with Israel-based start-up Phinergy early last month for developing aluminium-air batteries for electric vehicles, is now looking to set up a factory in India. Both Indian Oil Corporation and Phinergy are in talks with several governments for the project. R Sravan S Rao, executive director and state head of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh at Indian Oil, said: “We are looking to set up a factory in India to manufacture aluminium-air batteries for electric vehicles and stationary applications and facilitate the development of eco-system for aluminium-air technology-based batteries.” However, the exact location for the factory has not been announced officially. Only a report in the Financial Express suggests that...
Aluminium Stewardship Initiative announced on Thursday, March 12, that it certified Lotte Aluminium Co. Ltd. with Performance Standard Certification for rolling facility in Ansan, South Korea. The facility’s operations include rolling, sepa-slitting and annealing for the production of aluminium foil, which is primarily used for the packaging of food, cigarettes, pharmaceuticals, for electronics in batteries and automotive parts, and also for construction materials. The ASI Performance Standard Certification defines environmental, social, and governance principles and criteria, aiming to address sustainability issues in the aluminium value chain. It sets out 59 criteria that address biodiversity, Indigenous Peoples rights, and greenhouse gas emissions. Fiona Solomon, Chief Executive...
Coronavirus epidemic has broadly affected Italy within the European nations. As on 10 th March’20, more than 10,000 cases and more than 600 death deaths have been registered. The country has initiated emergency measures which includes travel restrictions and the banning of public gatherings, in a bid to stem the growth of infections in the country. Italy stands as one of the largest aluminium markets in Europe. As of 2018, it consumed around 950,500 tonnes. Italy is considered as the home of the two major European hubs for aluminium distribution: the port of Genoa on the northwest coast; and Italy's easternmost port in the north, Trieste. The aluminium industry in Italy continues to operate, despite the restrictive measures. The Italian government had elucidated to the companies that...
The world-leading aluminium rolling and recycling firm, Novelis Incorporation, has announced today, on March 11, that it has hired Roxana Molina, who would be leading the company’s global metal and non-metal procurement programs as Senior Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer. She will replace former Chief Procurement Office Nick Madden and report to President and CEO Steve Fisher. Molina will join Novelis with more than 30 years of global procurement experience in diverse roles. She worked at Ford Motor Company for 25 years in several purchasing leadership positions in Europe, North America, and South America. Steve Fisher said, "Roxana's impressive global experience managing thousands of suppliers while delivering record cost savings in challenging business environments will make...
The Netherlands is the ninth largest export economy of the world, exporting $435 billion of goods each year as recorded in 2019. The country shows a positive trade balance of $42.8 billion after deducting annual imports of $393 billion. The Netherlands has a 4.6% share of the annual $37.2 billion raw aluminium market and it is the sixth-largest exporter in the world. Germany is the largest export destination for the Netherlands' raw aluminium exports and they take 55% of the Dutch annual export total of $1.71 billion. The Netherlands is home to one of the primary aluminium smelting operations in the world, which is based in Delfzijl. The Netherlands aluminium structures export during 2017-19 stood at 121,755 tonnes and the foreign exchange earned during the same period was accounted to...
Azelio, the Swedish renewable energy firm has completed its renewable energy storage solution, with 24-hour clean power production, at the Noor Ouarzazate solar complex in Morocco. Azelio has designed a solution to adequately store renewable energy from solar and wind power and make it obtainable all hours of the day as electricity and heat. The storage medium system used recycled aluminium and restraining no rare minerals and suffers no reduced capacity over time. The system is expandable from 100 KW to 100 MW; therefore it fills a gap in the market that addresses global access to affordable and sustainable energy. The installation is a partial result of a joint technical and business development agreement between Azelio and Masen. The renewable energy storage solution was rolled-out...
China Customs data showed a drop in China’s exports of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products in the first two months of the year, primarily attributing to the production shut amid the outbreak of the COVID-19. The exports by China in January and February totalled at 669,000 tonnes after plunging by 25.2 per cent from the same period last year, showed the data. Due to the Coronavirus outbreak, aluminium processors in China mostly delayed their resumption of production by up to 20 days in February, while some small plants remained closed until early March. That caused the slowdown in China’s exports of unwrought aluminium and aluminium products in February. China’s exports also fell in late January this year, as aluminium processors suspended deliveries about two weeks ahead of the...
The US import of Aluminium semi-finished products (plates, sheets, bars, etc.) from Vietnam reflected a steady market during June-Nov’19 with a total volume of 10,320 tonnes. In June’19 the total import of US from Vietnam was accounted for 1470 tonnes, whereas in July’19 it was accounted at 1700 tonnes, a rise of 15.64%. The US import of aluminium semi-finished products from Vietnam showed a marginal drop in August’19 and the volume stood at 1680 tonnes, while in September’19 the import volume again reflected a drop, though marginal, with total import accounted at 1630 tonnes. In October’19 the US import from Vietnam stood at 1730 tonnes, a growth by 6.13%. Again the growth trend remained positive in Nov’19, as the total import stood at 2110 tonnes, a rise of 21.96%. The US import of...
Magna BDW technologies GmbH has become a new Industrial User member of Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI). This brings the total number of members working toward a responsible aluminium value chain to 116. Magna BDW technologies GmbH, a subsidiary of the Magna Group manufactures die-cast aluminium products for the automotive industry. The company has around 550 employees at the Markt Schwaben location. The main customers are Daimler, BMW and ZF. “At Magna BDW technologies we run our business with a view towards long-term social and environmental sustainability. We believe that ASI Membership is the next step to further increase the sustainability of our products,” said Markus Wimmer, General Manager, Magna BDW technologies GmbH. ASI is a global, multi-stakeholder, non-profit standards...
