
Bahrain’s aluminium wire exports continued to gain momentum in the second quarter of 2026, with shipments rising significantly compared with the corresponding periods of 2025 and 2024. The country exported 80,895 tonnes of aluminium wire in Q2 2026, taking its total shipments during the first half of the year to 143,518 tonnes. The export data covers aluminium wire under HS code 7605, excluding stranded wire, cables, plaited bands and similar products, electrically insulated wires and strings for musical instruments. Export volume registers strong Y-o-Y growth Comparing the quarterly figures, Bahrain’s aluminium wire export volume increased by 23.76 per cent Y-o-Y in Q2 2026, against 65,366 tonnes shipped during Q2 2025. The latest quarterly volume also marked a considerable rise from Q2...
India-based KEC International Limited is pushing ahead with Phase II of its aluminium conductor capacity expansion, even as a difficult second quarter dragged consolidated profit down. The Q2 FY27 investor presentation, dated November 2, lists the expansion as underway in its Cables & Conductors business, one of the few segments that grew in the quarter. The update comes over a year after KEC’s commissioning of the first phase of the plant in Vadodara in February 2025, marking an investment of about INR 600 million (USD 6.33 million). The company has not disclosed the capacity to be added, the investment or a completion date. Explore AL Circle’s report ALuminium Wires & Cables - Insights & Forecast to 2030 for insights into aluminium applications, industry developments and opportunities...
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More than 150 exhibitors from 20 nations will be participating in the premiere of ALUMINUM USA, which will take place in Detroit on 11 and 12 November. With this new trade show, the world’s third-largest aluminum market will get its very own industry meeting place. A glance at the list of exhibitors indicates just how interested the industry is in the event. Besides key US players such as ABB, Aleris, Almex, Bloom Engineering, Granco Clark and Wagstaff, numerous companies from Canada, Europe and Asia will exhibit in Detroit, including UACJ from Japan, SMS from Germany, Danieli & C. Officine Meccaniche from Italy and a large group of companies from Turkey. Nearly two-thirds of all exhibitors will make the trek from outside the US to showcase their innovations and products in this expanding...

Bonnell Aluminum, including its wholly-owned subsidiary AACOA, Inc., announced that it is implementing a price increase of $0.035 per pound on base conversion, 6% on anodizing, 10% on paint, and 3% on fabrication services, effective with shipments on and after January 11, 2016. “Due to the tight market for skilled labor in the areas where our plants are located, the costs associated with recruiting, training, and retaining skilled workers have continued to rise above what we are able absorb,” said Ira Endres, Vice President Sales and Marketing. “This price increase is necessary to offset the impact of these rising costs, and it allows for critical investments in our business to ensure that we have the quality, service, capacity, and capability to meet our customers’ demand.” The price...

PepsiCo has reported that it diverted 93 percent of its waste from landfills in 2014, surpassing its recycling goal and reusing 90 percent of its waste. The company also says it decreased the overall amount of packaging by 89 million pounds in 2014 versus the prior year and used 134 million pounds of food-grade recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) packages and bottles, an increase of 23 percent from 2013. The findings are included in the company's recently released 2014 Corporate Sustainability Report. PepsiCo also released a Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Report and its first-ever sustainability microsite, howwillwe.com. The consumer products company says its environmental sustainability programs saved it more than $375 million since its goals were established in 2010. PepsiCo...

Bahrain-based Garmco, an international aluminium rolling mill and one of the largest downstream aluminium facilities in the Middle East, has completed a major restructuring of its international operations. This is in line with the company's three-year strategy, which involves closing unprofitable subsidiaries and non-operating companies; and identifying additional opportunities for growth in high-margin markets where Garmco has established a strong presence, in particular South East Asia, the US and Australia, said a statement from the company. The restructuring has resulted in the closing of unprofitable subsidiaries in the saturated markets of China and Korea, and non-operating companies in Hungary and Cyprus, which do not add value to the company’s core activities, it added. Garmco US...

Instacom Group Bhd saw high volumes of trade the past two days following the acquisition of an additional 43.6 per cent stake in Neata Aluminium (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (Neata) which raised the group’s stake in Neata to 78.6 per cent from 35 per cent. Instacom was the third most active counter on Bursa Malaysia on Monday with more than 50 million shares traded, rising to a high of 23 sen and closing at 21.5 sen on Monday, October 12. According to Instacom executive director Choo Seng Choon, Instacom is confident that the acquisition will be beneficial to the group given the strong track record of Neata-Vivocom with its current order book or RM247 million – with visibility up to March 2018. “This means that, the Instacom Group will have strategically diversified into new areas and viable...

Shandong Weiqiao Pioneering Group (China) is building an aluminum flat rolling plant in Weihai with a large 2,300 mm-wide rolling mill and 1,850 mm-wide thin strip rolling mill. The rolling mills, both of which are brought on line, will represent together the core of most modern production for litho sheets. This is in line with Shandong Weiqiao's strategic decision that it took a few years ago; it was decided then that the company would advance its presence in the aluminum industry by investing in a new state-of-the-art aluminum flat rolling plant. Shandong Weiqiao management now feels vindicated in choosing the right suppliers with Achenbach, constituting an ideal combination of state-of-the-art technology and extensive experience.

Faurecia and Beijing WKW Automotive Parts have signed a 50/50 joint-venture agreement to create an entity named Beijing WKW-FAD Automotive Interior Parts. Beijing WKW Automotive Parts is a major supplier of vehicle interior aluminium decoration in China. Faurecia, which claims to be the world market leader for aluminium decoration, will gain an industrial footprint in China to serve its customers, starting with Infiniti and Volvo. Together, the partners claim, they will lead the Chinese market and achieve synergies. With total planned investment of EUR14m (US$15.9m), BWKWFAD will specialise in interior aluminium decoration parts for the Asian market, covering development, manufacturing, assembly and marketing. The company will also provide after sales services and technical consulting....

The Jaguar F-Pace that is awaiting launch will be followed by a smaller SUV built on a different platform. The machine is called the E-Pace. It is part of Jaguar's plan to play catch-up on the global crossover craze and follows shortly after the already-testing F-Pace, originally, the C-X17 concept car. The F-Pace will be an expensive SUV and will go up against the BMW X3 and Mercedes GLC. The projections suggest that Jaguar's second crossover model should generate enough volume to make a serious impact on the bottom line. Especially as the engineering profile would put it on equal footing with the Range Rover Evoque, helping curb development and production costs. The F-pace employs the British carmaker's aluminium intensive XE platform and would have proved to be too expensive for the...

Sapa President & CEO Egil Hogna took his first close look at the company’s aluminium building systems organization in Ulm and its zero-energy test center in Bellenberg. At both German sites, the message was clear: Sustainable solutions come first. After joining Sapa as its chief executive on September 1, Hogna (pictured) said he wished to spend much of his first 100 days visiting company locations and meeting with employees around the world. His visit to Ulm and nearby Bellenberg on October 8 was part of the plan. After spending the morning at Sapa’s multi-brand building systems office in Ulm, Hogna and executive vice president Karsten Lundgaard, who leads Sapa Building Systems, moved on to Bellenberg to visit the systems-dedicated extrusion plant and the Wicona-brand test center. At the...

Kaigo Co., Ltd. organizes the only international exhibition in Taiwan dedicated to metal technology with the support of Messe Düsseldorf GmbH, taking place at Kaohsiung Exhibition Center at the heart of Taiwan’s heavy industry clusters. Within Taiwan’s manufacturing industry, metal and machinery manufacturing account for roughly 30% of the total industry. Kaohsiung is with 2.946 km² and 2.779 million inhabitants Taiwan’s No.1 trading port and home to many major key players in the metal industry, such as China Steel Cooperation. With an exhibit profile covering foundry technology, heat technology, metallurgy, and castings, amongst others, iMT Taiwan represents a great opportunity for one-stop sourcing, networking, connecting with reliable business partners and ultimately expanding...

Danieli has signed a contract with Taybah Steel to supply MI.DA® micromill for its new Greenfield project in Pakistan. The contract signing ceremony took place at the headquarters of Danieli & C. in Buttrio/Italy on the 21st of September, 2015 with the participation of executives of both parties. The new Mi.Da mill is the next step of cooperation between Danieli & Taybah Group after having Danieli being chosen as a supplier for the actual phase 1 of a further 1,0 Mio t/y meltshop investment Taybah Steel is currently undertaking in Abu Dhabi / UAE. The start-up of this first phase mill is scheduled for the 4th quarter of 2015. The plant, which is the 1st phase of a two-stage investment program in Pakistan, will have a rated capacity of 500,000t/y rebars with a start-up of the plant early...

Alcoa shares dropped in extended trading on Thursday last week after it missed third-quarter earnings and revenue forecasts and slashed its outlook on key Chinese end markets. Earnings sank 77% to 7 cents per share, as revenue dropped 11% to $5.57 billion. Consensus was for EPS of 13 cents on revenue of $5.65 billion in revenue. The metals giant said the drop in revenue reflected "a 21% decline from divestitures, closures and market headwinds, partially offset by a 10% revenue increase from aerospace and automotive organic growth, acquisitions and Alumina sales." Alcoa backed its earlier forecast for 2015 global aerospace sales growth of 8%-9%. In North America, Alcoa tightened 2015 estimate for auto production growth to 2%-4% from 1%-4% earlier. But for China, Alcoa cut its estimate for...

Danieli, one of the three largest suppliers of equipment and plants to the metal industry in the world, announced that it has acquired FATA, a referenced player in the field of industrial plant engineering and construction. FATA, established in 1936 with headquarters in Pianezza (TO), employs a workforce of approximately 200 employees and has a yearly turnover of about Euro 150 mio. It operates worldwide as a referenced player in the field of industrial plant engineering and construction with its subsidiaries in the USA (Fata Hunter), India (FATA Engineering), China (Fata Shanghai) and the UAE (Fata Gulf). FATA is divided into two main businesses: • FATA EPC - based on 50 years of experienced activity in the field of turnkey plant engineering, procurement and construction, with a...

U.S.-based Novelis expects a 3 percent rise in rolled aluminium product demand in Europe in 2016, despite the knock-on impact of sluggish growth in China, its European head said. This would be down slightly from the 4 percent increase in aluminium product growth expected in 2015, Erwin Mayr, Europe president for the rolled aluminium products group, told in an interview for LME Week at the London Metal Exchange. "I expect the positive trend to continue in 2016, although the slowdown in China could reduce Chinese demand for imported European products containing aluminium," he said. Aluminium drink cans and the automobile sector are expected to remain the main growth drivers in Europe in 2016 after strong performances in 2015, he said. "We are seeing especially strong demand for drink cans...

HyPlus aluminium line sets are lighter and cost less than their copper equivalents. Sapa presented the aluminium tubes to HVAC&R companies at the Febrava trade exhibition in São Paulo, Brazil. The selling points of the HyPlus line sets are plenty, including lighter weight, corrosion resistance, and lower cost than the copper equivalent. When Febrava visitors lifted the HyPlus coils at Sapa’s booth, the light weight of aluminium tubing became readily apparent, potentially easing the workload for installers and providing more attractive margins for distributors. Febrava is the largest HVAC&R exhibition in South America. Sapa promoted the HyPlus line sets in cooperation with LG Brazil. LG Brazil also promoted the HyPlus tubes at its stand as well as during the technical seminars the company...

State-run transmission utility Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL) has incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary company named Grid Conductors to manufacture aluminium and aluminium alloy electricity conductors at an estimated cost of INR 127.35 crore on 15 September, 2015. PGCIL owns and operates about 1,19,579 ckt kms of transmission lines at 800/765kV, 400kV, 220kV & 132kV EHVAC & +500kV HVDC levels and 197 sub-stations. As on 30 September, 2015, the company has transformation capacity of about 2,40,954 MVA. This gigantic transmission network, spread over length and breadth of the country, is consistently maintained at an availability of over 99%..

Lightweight metal major Alcoa Inc reported after-tax operating income (ATOI) decline in third quarter 2015 in its rolled products and end use segments. However, strong productivity gain was reported in both the segments, which has long-term significance, as far as Alcoa's diversified business is concerned. Following are the financial highlights: Transportation and Construction Solutions ATOI in the third quarter was $44 million, down $6 million year-over-year. The decline was driven by cost headwinds and the unfavorable impact from currency, which were offset by strong productivity gains. This segment delivered an adjusted EBITDA margin of 15.2 percent, compared to 15.5 percent for the same quarter last year. Global Rolled Products ATOI in the third quarter was $62 million, down $7...

Barnshaw Metal Bending has supplied Aim Engineering, a manufacturer of bespoke tooling for composite aerospace components, with rolled metal sections to replace press-formed components that had started to crack. The start of the manufacturing process for many aerospace components is the production jig, which has taken on a greater prominence with the growing application of resin transfer moulding (RTM) process, which is capable of producing complex three-dimensional components using carbon fibre as the structural element. Aim Engineering is a specialist manufacturer of bespoke production tooling for a variety of industrial sectors including aerospace and had been contracted to produce an aluminium jig for creating fan cowl components for a turbofan engine. The base for the moulds is a set...