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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China's aluminium semi-finished products imports declined in January 2017, revealed data released by the General Administration of Customs, China, on February 24. The import volume totalled 26,740 tonnes, down 26.2 per cent from January 2016. Total aluminium alloy import also shrunk totalling 4,098 tonnes, down 28.17 per cent from the same period of previous year. Exports, on the other hand, surged for both aluminium semi-finished and finished products. Aluminium semi-finished product exports for January 2017 were up by 5.3 per cent, while finished products shipments ballooned by 21.87 per cent. Aluminium alloy exports for the month, however, have come down by 5.82 per cent year-on-year. {newsStudioGallery} Total import of aluminium bar rods and profiles by China in January this year...
AlCircle outlines the downstream aluminium industry developments through its weekly recap. From the past week the industry has seen many acquisitions, investments, agreements and announcement of yearly reports by some of the top players in the downstream industry. Let’s explore the top stories covering the downstream products vertical for the week that went by: Norican Global to acquire Light Metal Casting Solutions Group Norican Global, a leading metallic parts enhancement company has entered into an agreement with Auctus Fund III GmbH & Co. KG, and its fellow investors collectively referred to as "Auctus" to buy 100% of their shares in Light Metal Casting Solutions Group. Ma’aden and SNAM ink cooperation agreement to increase aluminium content in vehicles The Saudi Arabian Mining...
A billet is one of the most widely used aluminium product forms globally. Billets are created directly through continuous casting or extrusion or indirectly through hot rolling an ingot or bloom. The billet is normally suitable for alloyed aluminium. The foundry combines raw aluminium with other metals and/or minerals to form different alloys and grades of aluminum. Once the materials are combined, smelted, and all impurities removed...billets are formed by placing the aluminum in a form under intense pressure. The high pressure removes all air and gas bubbles, aligns the molecules forming a solid block of aluminum that is high in density without any visible grains or defects. The size and shape of the billet depends on the part which is to be carved out of it. Billets can be further...
California’s semi-fabricated aluminium maker Kaiser Aluminium has announced its fourth quarter and full year 2016 result posting better numbers for both the periods. The 2016 report states net sales of $332 million in 4 th quarter, slightly up quarter-on-quarter from last quarter’s total $321 million. The company’s net income for the quarter is at $25 million compared to last quarter's total of $15 million. The adjusted EBITDA margin stands at 25.8% with an increase of 3 per cent vs last quarter and adjusted EBITDA in the quarter stands at USD52 million higher than quarter-on-quarter from Q3’s total of USD45 million. The company’s full year 2016 sales result stands at $1.331 billion, slightly lower than 2015’s total of $1.392 billion. Its value added revenue Up 3% to $813 million from...
The global aluminium powder market is growing driven by the automotive paints and sealants and other industrial pigments sectors. During 2009-2016, the market has grown at a CAGR of two per cent reaching a volume of 589,012 tonnes in 2016. A recently published report suggests the market will grow at around five per cent CAGR over the next five years. The Asia-Pacific region accounted for 44 per cent of the global aluminium powder market share during 2014. Piggybacking the growth in China and India, the market is expected to grow further, both volume and value-wise, through 2020. Aluminium powder, also known as aluminium flake or metana, is a light, silvery-white to grey, odourless, granular powder having flammable reactive properties. It is used for several applications such as...
Norican Global, a leading metallic parts enhancement company has entered into an agreement with Auctus Fund III GmbH & Co. KG, and its fellow investors collectively referred to as "Auctus" to buy 100% of their shares in Light Metal Casting Solutions Group. "Two years ago we formed a strategic partnership with Altor, a leading Scandinavian private equity firm, to explore ways in which to better serve our customers", says Robert E. Joyce Jr., President and CEO of Norican Global. The President and CEO said that the company was proud to announce their first public step in this journey. The portfolio of aluminium parts formation products of Light Metal Casting Solutions Group is represented by StrikoWestofen, ItalPresse and Gauss. Norican feels through the acquisition of LMCS, and their...
Hindalco Industries, an aluminium manufacturing company and subsidiary of the Aditya Birla Group, have decided to invest INR 1,000 crore in order to expand their downstream business in next term. The company took the decision to boost overall sales of aluminium and copper value added products. Hindalco MD Satish Pai explained that the company plans to invest INR 3,000-4,000 crore in downstream expansion over the next five years. Also, the company targets an extra EBIDTA of $150-$200 a tonne. Next year, Hindalco is going to add 50,000 tonnes of aluminium value added products. The company’s proportion of aluminium value added products such as flat rolled products, foils and extrusions is about 3.40 lakh tonnes. He said, “We are committed to be capex disciplined and have tight control on...
Gulf region is the fasted growing aluminium producer and exporter in Asia after China. The volume of aluminium production in the GCC countries stood at 5.2 million tonnes in 2015, accounting for around 10 per cent of total global output of 58 million tonnes. This was due to the major expansion of existing smelters and commissioning of new projects that the production is increasing at a faster rate. After oil and natural gas, now aluminium is one of the key economic drivers for the Gulf region. About sixty per cent of the total aluminium production in the GCC region is exported to different parts of the world. {newsStudioGallery} Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) in UAE is the top aluminium producer in GCC and it is also among the five largest aluminium producers in the world. EGA’s consists...
Danieli Fata Hunter, a manufacturer of machinery for the production of aluminium strip and foil, has supplied and installed a cold rolling mill and a tension leveling line at the new Eurometal greenfield plant located in the new Kleszczow Industrial Park in Poland. Danieli FATA Hunter’s supplied equipment will make one of the up-to-date aluminium rolling plants in Europe. The equipment’s have been chosen on its innovative and advance design. The cold rolling mill produces 120,000 tons per year of aluminium coils with a thickness of 10 to 6 mm and rolled down to a minimum thickness of 0.15 mm. Danieli FATA Hunter has developed new features called the induction heating system for the tight edges control, a new VOC emission control to guarantee low emissions required by the European...
UACJ Corporation, one of Tesla’s aluminum part suppliers announced further investment to increase production of certain parts just before the beginning of Model 3 production. Though the level of steel versus aluminium parts in the car has not yet been revealed, the suppliers are making themselves ready for the production. The amount of steel and aluminium to be used in the car give insights into repair costs. Repairing aluminium parts is more expensive than steel parts. UACJ Corporation, a major Japanese aluminium group, announced that it would invest about US$26 million into an aluminium part manufacturing company which it acquired last year in order to supply aluminium parts for Tesla’s Model 3. UACJ acquired Michigan-based SRS Industries in 2016 which was already a supplier for Tesla’s...
Motor Wheel Service Distribution (MWSD), one of the leading independent European distributors of India’s forged aluminium wheels, has introduced the latest Xbrite+ forged aluminium wheels for the European market. The size of the Xbrite+ wheels is 17.5, 19.5 and 22.5 inch. The Xbrite+ wheels took the advantage of Wheels India’s upgraded multi-million pound production facility. MWSD has distribution rights for supply of Xlite and Xbrite+ forged aluminium wheels throughout Europe. The company signed a long-term agreement with manufacturing giant, Wheels India (WIL). Matt Mardle, chief operating officer at MWSD, said: “The latest generation of the Xbrite+ is a marked advancement on its predecessors, with the new production facility allowing far deeper penetration of the forged aluminium which...
According to the monthly aluminium highlights published by Aluminum Association, U.S. and Canadian producers shipped estimated 343.8million pounds of can stock during January 2017, registering rise of 3.1 per cent YOY. Month on month, shipments increased 9.1 per cent. Revised shipments for the full year 2016 stood at 4,154.4 million pounds, slightly off YOY. Producer shipments of can stock to U.S. markets rose 2.2 per cent YOY to 292.9 million pounds, while exports were up 8.8 per cent to 50.9 million pounds. U.S. and Canadian producers shipped estimated 75 million pounds of aluminium foil during January 2017, registering a slight drop YOY. Month on month, shipments increased 20.1 per cent. Revised shipments for the full year 2016 stood at 969.6 million pounds, up 2.8 per cent over the...
The Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) and the Saudi Arabia National Automotive Manufacturing Company (SANAM) has inked an agreement for increasing aluminium usage in automotive industry in Saudi Arabia. Khaled S. Alohali, Ma’aden Vice President of Strategy and Aluminium said, “Ma’aden and SANAM are united in our goal of increasing the use of aluminium in the automotive industry as an alternative to iron. Ma’aden operates one of the world’s largest fully integrated aluminium complexes and we are currently supplying Jaguar Land Rover with high quality auto sheet product from our world class rolling mill facility.” Ma’aden Aluminium, a multi-billion dollar joint venture between Ma’aden and global aluminium leader Alcoa Corporation, manufactures aluminium products for worldwide...
William L. Bonnell Co. Inc. or Bonnell Aluminum, a subsidiary of Tredegar Corp. has recently completed its acquisition of Utah-based Futura Industries Corp, a press statement from the group has confirmed. For more than 60 years, Bonnell Aluminum has built a reputation as one of North America''s leading manufacturers of custom aluminium extrusions. Chesterfield County-based Tredegar, a maker of plastic films and aluminium extrusions announced the acquisition deal on Feb. 1 in order to expand their aluminium extrusion business. The company has said the acquisition value of about $92 million has been funded with its existing revolving credit. Futura is one of the leading aluminium extruders in the world and the U.S. and delivers customized, start-to-finish aluminium extrusion services....
India's leading aerospace precision engineering and manufacturing company Aequs announced at the recently ended Aero India 2017 in Bengaluru that it will invest INR500 crore for setting up a dedicated facility for Indian defence production at Tuem, Goa. The multi capability manufacturing facility which will be a part of the Tuem Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM) hub is expected to create around 2,000 highly skilled job opportunities, said IT director and special secretary to the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Mr Ameya Abhyankar at the event. Aequs will manufacture defence aerospace components using composites and high-end alloys of aluminium, titanium, steel and other metals. The operations are expected to commence by February 2019. Aequs entered into the defence...
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The downstream aluminium industry has seen a lot of development in the last week. AlCircle wraps up the downstream products vertical covering general, market, project and technology segments. Here’s a sneak peek into some of the top stories of the week gone by: Cast aluminium segment took the largest share of 2016 automotive aluminium market A recent report from ReportLinker has projected that the automotive aluminium market would grow at a CAGR of 8.8% from 2016 to 2026, in terms of value. North American and Asia-Pacific regions would drive the growth of powertrain application segment of the market with their growing use of aluminium in automotive manufacturing. Wheels India's Q3 net profit more than doubles; forged aluminium wheels segment on track TVS Group promoted India's largest...
The global demand for aluminium wire is clearly on the rise. Earlier predicted to expand at a CAGR of 8.8% between 2014 and 2018, the material, critical for power infrastructure development has far outpaced the growth projections. The automotive and transportation, and construction, are the two major end-user segments that are driving the market for aluminium wire globally today. The two sectors combined accounted for close to 73% of the market share in 2016. The use of aluminium wire in electrical applications dates back to the late 19th century. In 1880, in Chicago, the head of station was refurbished replacing the deteriorating copper wire with aluminium wire. Since then, the use of the material in electricity grid development has increased enormously. Aluminium wire has several...
Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) has placed an order for the supply of an additional batch homogenizing furnace for the heat treatment of billets with Hertwich Engineering, a company of the SMS group. Including this new unit, which will go into operation at the end of 2017, a total of five batch furnaces of this type will be operating at EGA’s Jebel Ali plant and two at EGA’s Al Taweelah smelter. Emirates Global Aluminium is one of the largest industrial companies in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas. Its production makes the UAE the world’s fourth largest aluminum producing nation. EGA has smelters in both Jebel Ali in Dubai and Al Taweelah in Abu Dhabi. Batch homogenizing plant and cooling station, schematic view The cooperation between EGA in Jebel Ali and Hertwich goes back...
