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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Novelis says US aluminium tariffs on Canada are hurting downstream companies like Novelis in Oswego. The companies including Novelis are paying tariffs to import aluminium from Kingston, Ontario. Novelis has sought exclusions from the federal government on some of their imported aluminium products. Novelis produces about 454,000 tonnes of rolled aluminium products per year in its Oswego facility for the automotive, building and beverage can industries. Oswego Plant Manager Kevin Shutt said that they procure their raw materials from a plant in Kingston. “It really put a hurt on us, the tariffs, making it very difficult for us to ship back and forth across the border," Shutt said. "And that was just a normal part of business for us.” Trump administration implemented an umbrella tariff of...
According to the study of IMARC Group, the global aluminium powder market has grown at a CAGR of around 2.2 per cent during 2011-2018, reaching a volume of 617,238 tonnes in 2018. Aluminium powder is light in weight, odourless, and highly flammable substance mostly used in the making of paints and sealants, sparkles and glitters, aerated autoclave concrete, reflective roof coating, printing inks and much more. {newsStudioGallery} Currently, North America represents the biggest market for aluminium powder followed by Europe and Asia Pacific. Japan, known for a growing downstream aluminium manufacturing sector, had been found consuming a considerable amount of aluminium powder and flakes for the past three years. The graph below demonstrates that in 2018, Japan’s estimated import volume of...
According to Shanghai Metals Market (SMM), 6063 aluminium billet inventories saw a greater decline this week across five major consumption areas in China. As of Thursday, April 18, the inventories fell some 9,800 tonnes from a week ago and came in at 98,600 tonnes, SMM data showed. Higher demand from construction depleted inventories and it was the sixth consecutive week that aluminium billet inventories fell. In major cities like Foshan and Guangdong, the aluminium billet inventories as on today are hovering at 64,600 tonnes while that in Wuxi and Jiangsu at 18,500 tonnes. For more details, refer the chart below. However, in this background, aluminium alloys (ADC12) price has remained restrained today, April 18, at RMB 14,650 per tonne. Also, the price in the east, south, and west is...
Aluminium Foil is the 276th most traded product and China remains the top global exporter of aluminium foil exporting foils worth about US$3.4 billion every year. Aluminium foil being one of the most exported product by China, we would analyse if the exports were impacted by the import tariffs and anti-dumping investigations initiated by the US. {newsStudioGallery} China’s aluminium semi-finished products (“semis”) were partially hit by the fact that imports from the largest supplier to the U.S. market in the previous three years almost halved in 2018. Tariffs undoubtedly played a part in the drop, but product-specific anti-dumping duties and a saturation of supply-chain dependence between the US and China was also another driver. US tariffs actually diverted the foil export from China to...
The Aluminum Association has released its first new material registration record in nearly 20 years. The record called “purple sheets” will provide chemical designations for aluminium powder used in 3D printing or additive manufacturing. The purple sheets are addition to its “rainbow sheet” series, which provides aluminium alloy designations. Aluminum is the first materials industry to develop such a system for 3D printing. The Association granted its first registration for a high-strength aluminium alloy produced by HRL Laboratories. The company makes aluminium alloy powder and then 3D print the alloys. “The purple sheets are a true game-changer for the aluminum industry,” said Jerome Fourmann, global technical director at Rio Tinto Aluminum and chairman of the association’s Technical...
Novelis, Inc. hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of a US$4.5 million investment at its facility in Warren, Ohio on April 15. The world leading flat-rolled aluminium producer and recycler announced this investment in state-of-the-art technology for the plant in November 2017 in order to offer greater versatility for pre-treatments, improve operational efficiency and reduce costs. Novelis’ Warren facility has 75 employees. The plant specializes in coating application on rolled aluminium sheet. The sheets are then used for production of lids for the tops of aluminium beverage cans, producing more than one billion beverage can lids each month. “It is an exciting day for our facility as we complete this upgrade,” said Paul Nelson, Plant Manager. “We are committed to...
According to the latest report from US Geological Survey, semi-finished products import by the USA stood at 136,000 tonnes in January 2019, 19 per cent or 31,000 tonnes lower than the corresponding period of 2018. The country imported 167,000 tonnes of semi-finished products (plates, sheets, bars, etc.) in January 2018. But the volume increased 11.48 per cent or 14,000 tonnes from 122,000 tonnes in December 2018. Imports from Canada stood at 15,200 tonnes in January 2019, 37 per cent lower from 24,200 tonnes in January 2018. Imports from China dropped year-on-year to 14,200 tonnes in January. Semi-finished imports from Mexico rose 13 per cent YoY to 4,240 tonnes. The USA exported 77,400 tonnes of semi-finished products in January 2019, down 13.52 per cent from 89,500 tonnes exported in...
RUSAL has announced through a press release that it has collaborated with Braidy Industries Inc. to construct an aluminium rolling mill in Ashland, Kentucky, USA in order to produce flat rolled aluminium products for the US automotive industry. Braidy announced its plan to build the aluminium rolling mill in Kentucky in 2017 and broke ground in June 2018. Braidy promised to create more than 500 high-paying jobs in an area which is economically lagging behind. The mill is expected to produce 500 thousand tons of hot rolled and 300 thousand tons of fully finished cold rolled products per year. The mill’s output is expected to balance the anticipated deficit of the auto body sheet in the US market. RUSAL and Braidy Industries have agreed upon a Letter of Intent which details the commercial...
According to Shanghai Metals Market, the inventories of 6063 aluminium billet continue to drop for the fifth consecutive week across five major Chinese consumption areas, as consumption recovered at a slower pace. The SMM data shows the aluminium billet inventories as on today, April 11, are standing at 108,400 tonnes, after falling some 3,600 tonnes week-on-week. On April 4, the billet inventories had fallen by some 8,700 tonnes W-o-W and pegged at 112,000 tonnes. This indicates that today’s decline of inventories was slower than the previous week. The chart below indicates the current status of the billet inventories across China: In the above chart we can see that 6063 aluminium billet inventories in Foshan, Guangdong have recorded a plunge today by 5,000 tonnes to clock at 75,600...
While Canada and Mexico have signed the new USMCA trade deal with the US; there is still no confirmation on whether the US will remove the aluminium tariffs on its two big trading partners without imposing any import quota. The 10% tariff on imported aluminium that was imposed in March 2018 by Trump has complicated the trade equations with Mexico and Canada. We would try to analyse how the tariffs have impacted the foreign trade of semi-finished aluminium products (bar, rod, plates, sheets etc.) with this two allies. {newsStudioGallery} The US exported about 382,000 tonnes of semi-finished aluminium to Canada in 2018, a drop of about seven per cent from 409,000 tonnes in 2017. While about 250,000 tonnes of semi-finished products were imported by the U.S. from Canada in 2017, it dropped...
During the AMAG Austria AG Metall Annual General Meeting 2019 three new members were elected to the Supervisory Board, a comapny press release says. Dr. Wolfgang Bernhard, Peter Edelmann and Thomas Zimpfer were elected to the Supervisory Board. At the constitutive meeting of the Supervisory Board which followed the Annual General Meeting, Herbert Ortner, a member of the Supervisory Board since April 2018, was elected as the new Chairman of the Board. The 50-year-old industry expert succeeded Dr. Josef Krenner, who held the position since May 2012. Gerald Mayer, CEO of AMAG Austria Metall AG, comments: "We would like to thank Dr. Josef Krenner, Dr. Hanno Bästlein and Dr. Franz Gasselsberger for their excellent cooperation and support in our growth strategy. At the same time, we are looking...
Norway-based fully integrated aluminium company Hydro will reportedly upgrade its casting operations at Husnes with a newly developed in-house technology Low Pressure Casting (LPC). The technology is believed to enable Hydro to produce more advanced materials for various extrusion segments, including automotive aluminium forging. Ola Sæter, head of Hydro’s fully owned primary aluminium plants, said: “Forge stock for products like suspension arms and knuckles is an attractive market for aluminium within the automotive industry, which needs ever more aluminium to fill its need to lightweight cars and reduce emissions.” Hydro is ready to contribute its share to the growing automotive aluminium forging market, he concluded. The Low Pressure Casting technology, which was jointly developed by...
According to Shanghai Metals Market report on April 10, aluminium extrusion orders in north China declined in March, as the two political sessions and the slowdown in real estate discouraged downstream purchases. Production controls during China’s annual political sessions in Beijing suspended many constructions and also affected local manufacturers in March, resulting in lower demands of aluminium semi-finished products and thus, the orders across aluminium extrusion plants in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and nearby areas, such as Shandong and Shanxi provinces. The floor space of completed building stood at some 125 million m² in the first two months of 2019, down 11.88 per cent from the same period in 2018, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). A higher...
Wires form a large portion of the total aluminium product import by India as 48% of aluminium consumption in the country is in the electrical sector. In 2018, India had seen a sharp growth in aluminium wire import straight from 15,315 tonnes in 2017 to 70,396 tonnes, up 360 per cent according to global export-import data. Increasing demand towards diverse, innovative product grades for electrical and automotive applications particularly led to this notable growth in India’s 2018 aluminium wire import. {newsStudioGallery} But in 2017, India’s aluminium wire import volume stood down by 30 per cent year-on-year, as the country’s import amount in 2016 was at 21,953 tonnes. Even this year, India’s aluminium wire import is likely to be lower than the previous year at 44,529 tonnes, down 37 per...
Last week, a few leading downstream aluminium producers urged the Trump administration to remove the tariffs as they could not stop Chinese overcapacity. Top industry executives including JW Aluminum CEO Lee McCarter said that despite the tariffs, it’s still cheaper for U.S. manufacturers to buy imported aluminium than buying domestically. The tariffs, according to them have only made domestic products more expensive and uncompetitive. They have also opposed the import quota system proposed by the government for Canada and Mexico in lieu of tariffs and said that that will create a deficit for aluminium for US downstream buyers. “Unfortunately, the tariffs have done nothing so far to stop China’s trade-distorting behaviour in the market,” said Jean-Marc Germain, CEO of Constellium, which...
Export of aluminium by Russia to the US was down 48.03 per cent or 341000 tonnes year-on-year to 369,000 tonnes in 2018, according to the latest Mineral Industry Survey report from US Geological Survey. {newsStudioGallery} In December 2018, aluminium exports (crude metal and alloys and aluminium semi-finished products) came in at 30,100 tonnes, 57.49 per cent lower from December 2017 total of 70,800 tonnes. On month-on-month comparison, the volume dropped 20.37 per cent from 37,800 tonnes in November 2018. Semi-finished products (plates, sheets, bars, etc.) exports to the US stood at 22,100 tonnes in 2018, as compared to 17,700 tonnes in 2017. This records an increase of 24.86 per cent or 4400 tonnes over last year. In December, Russia’s exports to US stood at 1,810 tonnes, up 21.77 per...
Radaflex, Slovakia-based self-adhesive labels producer has reportedly replaced the Mark Andy 2200 press with Mark Andy Performance Series P3 at its facility in Tmava for printing on aluminium foil. The new 8-colour flexo press comes with an ability to cut waste by about 50 per cent and provides unmatched print quality. It is also configured with reverse side printing, two die cutting stations, and cold foil capability. It is fast to make ready between jobs, which is a bonus considering the range of work at Radaflex. Radaflex co-owner Daniel Lukac believes the mechanical drive of the P3 press and its manual registration and control is well suited for the company. He said, “The new P3 fits well with our existing production capability which sees 50% of our work supplied on aluminium foil to...
India has initiated an investigation into the alleged dumping of aluminium and zinc coated flat products originating in or exported from China PR, Vietnam and Korea RP. JSW Steel Coated Products Limited, which accounts for more than 60% of the total production in India, had filed an application for initiation of anti-dumping investigation and imposition of anti-dumping duty on imports of flat rolled product of steel, plated or coated with alloy of aluminium and zinc. India’s Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) said, “the Authority hereby initiates an investigation into the alleged dumping, and consequent injury to the domestic industry…, to determine the existence, degree and effect of alleged dumping and to recommend the amount of antidumping duty, which if levied, would be...
