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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Hydro has updated on the progress of its recovery processes in last week after the cyber-attack that created disruptions in its operations on March 19. The Press Release says that the cyber-attack has affected some administrative processes, including systems for reporting, billing and invoicing. As for production processes are concerned, most of the business operations are back to normal or reaching the normal level. However, the company insists that the process is complex and time consuming despite all the sincere efforts on behalf of the company and the solution providers. “The process to recover safely from this sophisticated attack is complex and time-consuming. We are making good progress, but it will take time to get fully back to normal IT operations,” says Hydro’s Chief Financial...
Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) announced that Kam Kiu Aluminium Products Group Limited has become a Production & Transformation member of ASI. This brings the total number of members working towards a responsible aluminium value chain to 84. “Kam Kiu is committed to strengthening the viability of its customers and communities, shaping a sustainable future through innovative aluminium solutions,” the press release from ASI said. Kam Kiu Aluminium Products Group Limited manufactures and supplies aluminium products for automotive, aerospace, marine, 3C products, renewable energy system and building system. The company is involved in activities throughout the value chain, from billet casting to the production of extruded aluminium products. “Powering industry advancement with...
Swedish rolled aluminium firm Gränges reportedly announced two days ago about refinancing the credit agreement that originally happened to finance its acquisition of American subsidiary - Gränges Americas Inc. This new credit facility is a revolving one available in several currencies of SEK2000 million with a 3-year term and an option to extend for another 2 years, a 5-year term loan of US$100 million, and a revolving credit facility for Gränges Americas Inc of US$50 million with a 3-year term. The mandated lead arrangers of these credit agreements were Danske Bank A/S, Danmark, Sverige filial, Nordea Bank Abp, filial i Sverige, and Svenska Handelsbanken AB (publ). Danske Bank A/S served as the facility agent. In addition, Gränges has entered into a 4-year term loan amounting US$25...
Constellium N.V. has signed a multi-year supply agreement with the American aerospace manufacturer and spaceflight services company, Blue Origin on April 4. Constellium will supply advanced aluminium products and solutions to the privately held company for its launch vehicle programs. The contract will seal Constellium’s position as a trusted supplier in the space industry. “We expect this new contract to strengthen our position as a key supplier of innovative aluminium solutions for the space industry, and as an industry leader more generally,” said Ingrid Joerg, President of Constellium’s Aerospace and Transportation business unit. “It helps demonstrate our know-how and expertise to provide tailored products and spurs our ambition to pursue growth in servicing our partners in the space...
According to Shanghai Metals Market, inventories of 6063 aluminium billet across five major consumption areas in China saw a smaller decline this week as value-added tax cuts lowered purchases. As of today, April 4, the inventories were found at 112,000 tonnes, after falling by some 8,700 tonnes from a week ago. This marks the fourth consecutive weeks of aluminium billet inventories decline across China. While most of the Chinese markets have seen a downfall in billet inventories, there are some that has seen a rise. For instance, Huzhou, Zhejiang where inventories have grown from 6,000 tonnes on March 28 to 7,000 tonnes on April 4. Inventories in Foshan, Guangdong; Wuxi, Jiangsu; Changzhou, Jiangsu; and Nanchang Jiangxi have, however, dropped. The chart below gives more details on the...
Aluminium consumption in the construction sector has been found growing year over year, resulting in a rising demand for aluminium bar rods and profiles. Aluminium profiles are gaining market share due to their slim structure, durability, and negligible maintenance cost. It is projected that by 2020 global aluminium extrusions market for the building and construction sector will account for almost 74 percent of the overall market share to continue its dominance as the key revenue generator. {newsStudioGallery} Among many countries across the world, the use of aluminium bar rods and profiles in Germany has been faring high due to massive infrastructural advancements and refurbishment. Global export-import data reveals that this year Germany is expected to import 522,325 tonnes of aluminium...
Aludium, a leading manufacturer of flat rolled aluminium products and a part of the Atlas Holding Group, has announced organisational restructure in the company effective from Monday, April 1. Markus Plakolm has been appointed as Vice President of Manufacturing reporting directly to the CEO of Aludium, Arnaud de Weert. He has been serving as the Director of Aludium's plant in Amorebieta. He has replaced Mick Wallis, Executive Chairman. Markus joined Aludium in 2018 to lead growth projects including changes to the cast houses in Amorebieta and Alicante. An expert in improvement, he is expected to provide Aludium with extensive experience in the laminate business. Alberto Ruiz joins as the Director of the Amorebieta plant (Vizcaya), succeeding Markus Plakolm. An ex-Alcoa, he was the...
In 2018, the US exports of aluminium semi-finished products (plates, sheets, bars, etc.) stood at 1 million tonnes. This marks a drop of 10,000 tonnes or 0.97 per cent year-on-year, according to the latest report from US Geological Survey. {newsStudioGallery} Exports to Canada stood at 382,000 tonnes in 2018, down 6.6 per cent from 409,000 tonnes in 2017. Exports to Mexico and China increased 7.9 per cent year-on-year to 464,000 tonnes in 2018. Exports to China dropped from 28,200 tonnes to 26,400 tonnes in 2018. In December, the US exports of aluminium semi-finished products came in at 62,200 tonnes, down 15.95 per cent from 74,000 in December 2017.On a month on month comparison, the volume decreased 21.46 per cent or 17,000 tonnes from the November export volume of 79,200 tonnes. On the...
Novelis, the world’s largest aluminium rolling and recycling company is confident of the growth in China’s automotive market despite its sales dip last year. The company believes the rise in aluminium demand will come from New Energy Vehicles and strict fuel emission standards. Steve Fisher, president and CEO of Novelis believes China will surpass bigger markets like the US and Europe in aluminium automotive applications. "We're talking about the overwhelming commitment that the government has to the environment here in China and pushing for new energy vehicles, which is going to drive a lot of growth for lightweight materials," he said. Currently, the automotive sector contributes about 20 per cent of Novelis's business, and China contributes 20 per cent of that. Globally 225 vehicle...
Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) certifies Hydro Aluminium Rolled Products against its Performance Standard for environmental, social and governance performance. With a primary aluminium plant in Germany and rolling mills in Germany and Norway, Hydro Aluminium Rolled Products manufactures aluminium foil, strip, sheet and plate for automotive, transport, building, shipbuilding, engineering, electrical, domestic, printing and packaging industries. Kjetil Ebbesberg, Executive Vice President of Rolled Products at Hydro, said: “We are happy and proud to receive this important certification from ASI, and to soon be able to offer certified aluminium to our customers. This is an important next step on our ambitious sustainability agenda.” The ASI Certification is the only comprehensive...
Garner Aluminium Extrusions, also known as Garnalex, has reportedly received its new state-of-the-art aluminium extrusion press. The route for the heavy haulage was via Ripley, travelling past the historic Heage Windmill. The main body of the extrusion press weighs about 170 tonnes. The machine is so big that it requires technicians to come down from the manufacturer’s facility in Germany for being assembled. Till date, Garnalex has made an investment of £9m, including the delivery of the aluminium extrusion press. Trading at Garnalex will start once the equipment is commissioned during August. Garner Aluminium Extrusion is a new aluminium trade extrusion company that was formed in March 2018 by Roger Hartshorn, who worked with HL Plastics for over 42 years and was also one of the...
During 2011-2018, aluminium powder market has reportedly grown at a CAGR of around 2.2 per cent, reaching a volume of 617,238 tonnes. The growth in primarily driven by the use and demand of aluminium in the form powder and flakes across various industrial sectors such as paints and sealants, sparkles and glitters, aerated autoclave concrete, reflective roof coating, and printing inks. During the said period, particularly in 2016 and 2017, aluminium powder and flakes export by the Russian Federation also recorded a year-on-year growth. As the chart below shows that Russia in 2017 had exported 24,413 tonnes of powder and flakes, compared with 22,413 tonnes in 2016. Thus, its export rose 9 per cent year-on-year in 2017. However, in the year 2018, the export dropped 15 per cent to 20,750...
Braidy Industries has extended its deadline for its stock sale. The company launched a roughly US$500 million worth of stock offerings in September 2018 in order to raise money to build a $1.7 billion aluminium rolling mill in Eastern Kentucky. The sale which was supposed to end in November has been extended twice to Dec. 31 and then to March 31. According to a company update Braidy has extended it further to June 15. The announcement also mentioned about an anticipated investment by a potential strategic investor though the company has not divulged any detail about it. The community of Ashland, Kentucky has been looking forward to Braidy Industries building an aluminium plant in the area which is expected to create employment and boost the economy. After Braidy’s announcement to build an...
MWheels, one of Europe’s leading wheel specialists and distributors of commercial vehicle wheels for a wide range of sectors, has expanded its Xlite and Xbrite forged aluminium wheels range with the introduction of next generation 9.00×22.5 wheels. Xlite and Xbrite forged aluminium wheels are five times stronger and 40 percent lighter than the standard steel wheel equivalent. The 9.00×22.5 wheels are designed for295/60R22.5, 315/60R22.5, 315/70R22.5 and 315/80R22.5 tyres, with a load capacity of 4,125kg. The 26mm stud hole variant weighs 25.9kg and the 32mm weighs 25.7kg. Xlite, spin-forged aluminium wheels, comes with a machined and polished finish. Xbrite is treated to deliver the highest levels of corrosion resistance and shine. These new wheels have a strengthened transition area from...
According to a recent report, Hilco Industrial, in partnership with Die Cast Machinery LLC, will conduct an online-only auction of more than 1000 lots of die cast equipment, CNC machining centres, quality assurance, and support equipment. The auction will open for bidding on April 4, with a 2-day closing on April 10 and 11. Major die cast assets that will be available for auction include four die cast machines from 600-850 tonne, with upgraded controls and proportional short systems, and five Lindberg MPH holding furnaces to 2,300-Lb. The CNC machine tools that cut aluminium only will include twenty-four Brother CNC vertical machining centers and Brother drilling & tapping machines – as new as 2015, seven Mori Seiki CNC vertical and horizontal machining centres, and sixteen Takisawa &...
Hydro updates with a press release that the company is slowly moving towards normal operations. Normal operations are running at four out of five business areas with the help of manual systems. Extruded Solutions, the worst affected business area in the attack is also slowly approaching normal production levels. Hydro reiterates that currently the company aims at restarting operations in a safe and secure manner, getting production back to normal, and limiting any further impact on customers, suppliers and other stakeholders. The cyber-attack has also impacted some of its internal administrative processes like systems for payroll, treasury and reporting. Hydro is also working towards restoring the IT systems in these departments. Currently operations at Energy, Bauxite & Alumina, Primary...
The trade data from the last years shows that despite U.S. tariffs on aluminium import and AD and CVD on foils and alloyed sheets, China’s exports of aluminium products grew throughout the year, with outbound flows on track to set a new record this year. U.S. trade measures have not been able to solve what the rest of the world regards as the core problem facing the aluminium sector. China’s exports of aluminium in all forms grew by 21 per cent to 5.8 million tonnes from January to December 2018. This is the preliminary figure released by China’s customs department on the export of primary metal, aluminium alloy and semi-finished products. Out of that about 5.2 million tonnes were aluminium semi-finished products. China’s exports of aluminium sheets, plates and strips, one of the highly...
According to Shanghai Metals Market, 6063 aluminium billet inventories across five major consumption areas in China has a dropped today, on March 28, marking a third week of decline. Upcoming value-added tax cuts drove downstream consumers to purchase aluminium billets, which in turn resulted in lowered inventories. As of today, the inventories are found at 120,600 tonnes, after they dropped 17,000 tonnes from a week ago, showed the SMM data. Last week, on March 21, aluminium billet stocks had dropped 6,900 tonnes week-on-week and pegged at 137,000 tonnes. This concludes that today the billet stocks have registered a greater week-on-week decline compared with that on March 21. The above chart indicates that in n Foshan, Guangdong, the stocks have dropped 7,700 tonnes over the week to...
