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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Lexus has already confirmed that the RX Facelift, which includes both the RX350 and the RX450, will be released later this year and they will come with some aluminium-made parts. In detail, the Lexus RX Facelift will have its hood, tailgate and closures all made of aluminium. The application of this trending metal is aimed at dragging the weight of the RX Facelift down. With a lighter body, the RX Facelift will surely be better optimized for power while also being more fuel efficient at the same time. Of course, we have yet to receive any performance figures yet and this will have to wait until the RX Facelift gets fully unveiled at the end of this year.
Built by the Italian shipyard Perini Navi in 2014, pictured here is the 60 metre sloop Perseus 3 in Malta. Her naval architecture, interior and exterior design was completed by Perini Navi, with Ron Holland Design collaborating on her interiors. Built entirely out of aluminium, she has a Gross Tonnage of 498 and accommodates 12 guests over five cabins. She is the second hull in the Perini Navi Group’s 60 metre series of yachts, and features a twin rudder system with innovative twin rudder control system. For the first time ever on a Perini Navi built boat, she is also equipped with a carbon bowsprit. A couple of her most attractive features include her two opening beach platforms as well as two 6.20 metre carbon fibre custom tenders.
Brazeway announced recently that it will invest in a new extrusion press and expansion in its Shelbyville facility. The move is designed to continue Brazeway’s leadership in the HVAC, refrigeration and automotive aluminum heat transfer markets. The press will be the largest extrusion press in North America for aluminum extruded tubing. Shelbyville Mayor Tom DeBaun welcomed the news. “Brazeway has been a longstanding employer in Shelby County, and I am pleased to see them growing at their Shelbyville location. The announcement of this project is a direct result of the city and county units of government, as well as the Shelby County Development Corporation, coming together successfully for economic development purposes. The city and the county were compelled to put forth a cooperative...
At the 12th annual Rexam Supplier Awards, Rexam, a leading global beverage can maker, brought together 75 suppliers from 47 different companies to recognise accomplishments and innovations that have been key in driving growth and success within the beverage can industry. AkzoNobel were the big winners of the night and were declared ‘Supplier of the Year’ for their collaborative approach to developing a global partnership with Rexam that is underpinned with comprehensive local plant support. Nominated across a number of award categories, AkzoNobel has continuously delivered a superior product and supported Rexam’s efforts towards the Dow Jones Sustainability Index. The Excellence Award for Quality also went to AkzoNobel, who have consistently supplied outstanding product quality throughout...
The average operating rate at 15 Chinese A356 aluminum alloy producers fell from a month ago to 60.91% in March, SMM’s latest survey showed. Output at those surveyed dropped to 106,600 tonnes, due to maintenance or non-market-driven production cuts, SMM data showed. Processing fees for A356 aluminum alloy changed little from February at 700 yuan ($114)/tonne (delivery to factory). Many aluminum wheel rim manufacturers reported moderate orders. This explains why falling supply did not lift processing fees.
Oman Aluminium Rolling Co (OARC) plans to double output by 2017 with shipments to the US, India and Italy. Production will jump to 140,000 metric tonnes of aluminium parts from about 70,000 tonnes last year, Graham Bruce, chief commercial officer, said in an interview at the Aluminium Middle East conference in Dubai. The US$385mn OARC plant at the Sohar Industrial Estate was inaugurated in December 2013. OARC is benefiting from a perception that aluminium products made in the Middle East are ten per cent cheaper than the rest of the world because of lower electricity and natural gas costs, Bruce said. “We’re new,” he said. “There’s a lot of interest from Korea and India.” Aluminium prices will probably trade between US$1,700 to US$1,800 a tonne for the rest of the year, even with demand...
The Aluminium Federation (ALFED) has chosen former Top Gear presenter Quentin Willson to be the guest speaker at its annual dinner. Willson, who currently presents Channel 5’s Classic Car Show with Jodie Kidd, co-hosted BBC’sTop Gear from 1991 with Jeremy Clarkson. Until the original format ended in 2001, he appeared every week on the programme, often as an expert on used cars. He has also presented motoring programmes such as The Car’s the Star and Fifth Gear. He is passionate about cars, especially about lightweighting and the use of aluminium in vehicle construction. The Aluminium Federation’s annual dinner will this year be held on Thursday, 10 September at the Tortworth Court Four Pillars Hotel in south Gloucestershire. The dinner will, as in previous years, be preceded by a members'...
Alufoil Trophy 2015 produces an outstanding selection of winners, with aluminium foil and closure concepts for the food, beverage and pharmaceutical sectors Once again companies from every part of the aluminium foil industry have embraced the opportunity presented by the Alufoil Trophy. With the diversity of the 57 entries, covering a wide range of products across all the entry categories, the judges had a demanding task but finally selected 12 worthy winners. The judges were led this year by Jean-Paul Duquet, global packaging eco design manager of Bel Group, who brought a wealth of experience in aluminium foil to the table, having had a long and distinguished background in the alufoil industry. He commented, “It is very refreshing to see so much creativity from the aluminium foil sector...
Aluminum alloy cable will find wider applications in coming years, inengyuan.com quoted Johnson Xiao, Managing Director at General Cable (China) as saying. Aluminum alloy cable sales in China were estimated at 3-4 billion yuan ($ 490-650 million) in 2013, inengyuan.com reported. Based on experience overseas, the market promotion stage typically lasts 15-20 years, implying that aluminum alloy cable will become increasingly popular over time, Johnson Xiao said.
Professional visitors from nearly 60 countries visited the China (Shanghai) International Boat Show. Many spent time viewing the extruded aluminium solutions from Sapa Marine. This year was the 20th anniversary of the show, held April 9-12 at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition. Ship builders are constantly looking for production savings and ways to reduce weight to improve a vessel’s quality and efficiency. Sapa helps customers achieve these goals by combining its extrusion technology and friction stir welding techniques. In Shanghai, Sapa Marine stood out with its range of extruded aluminium solutions. Company sales staff and technicians provided support, giving visitors to the Sapa booth an introduction to the company’s products and technology, and laying a foundation for future...
Production of Jaguar's new XE premium saloon has begun at Land Rover's Solihull factory. The West Midlands based plant marked the beginning of production of the XE with the official opening of its state-of-the-art £500m ‘factory within a factory’. Jaguar says the car represents £2bn of product, infrastructure and technology investment,along with an additional £4bn worth of contracts committed to 55 UK based tier one suppliers. Together these suppliers, which cover the length and breadth of the country, have provided 55% of the components included in the new model. Jaguar Land Rover purchasing director Ian Harnett said: “Jaguar Land Rover is one of the UK’s success stories, not simply because it has seen an upsurge in demand thanks to sustained investment, but because it has been able to...
All-aluminium frame will reduce truck weight by over 40 percent compared to steel frames, saving nearly 408kg per vehicle, increasing fuel efficiency and payload. Lightweight, high-performance metals company Alcoa, in collaboration with Metalsa, a global supplier of light and commercial vehicle and chassis structures, recently displayed a lightweight, all-aluminium commercial truck frame at the Mid-America Trucking show in Louisville, Kentucky. Still under development, the lighter weight frame will reduce truck weight by over 40 percent compared to steel frames, saving nearly 900 pounds (408kg) per vehicle, increasing fuel efficiency and payload. Additionally, the frame’s increased stiffness will double rigidity, enabling a smoother ride. The aluminium frame also offers superior corrosion...
PanAsialum Holdings is planning to spend 200 million yuan ($33 million) in building an aluminum processing project in Xinjiang, finance.sina.com reported yesterday. The company will build 300,000-tpy high-end aluminum extrusion bar project and 50,000-tpy high-end flat-rolled aluminum project, it added. Construction is scheduled to be completed within one year and a half.
South Africa’s automotive sector is currently one of the key drivers of aluminium demand in the country, which stakeholders attribute to the global trend of manufacturers using an increasing amount of aluminium for vehicle components, particularly for passenger vehicles. As a result, aluminium foundries are starting to pursue advanced technologies and techniques in their processes, says aluminium industry representative organisation the Aluminium Federation of South Africa (Afsa). “Aluminium weighs a third of the weight of steel; it is extremely corrosion-resistant and can be made as strong as steel with advanced foundry techniques,” explains Afsa executive director Mark Krieg, noting that Germany-based car manufacturer Mercedes Benz’s C-Class was the first car built in South Africa using...
Automotive pistons are in demand as vehicle production climbs, but the trend is not without its challenges as a there is a growing shift in popularity to electric cars and smaller engines with fewer cylinders per vehicle. Newer technology can leave engines like this inline 6-cylinder design in the history books. For key companies in the industry like Mahle GmbH (Germany), Aisin-Seiki Co. Ltd. (Japan), Rheinmetall AG (Germany), Hitachi Ltd. (Japan) and Federal-Mogul Corporation (U.S.) the consumer trend toward electric cars could force piston engine manufacturers to improve efficiency or fade into the past. China, South Korea and India are the main contributors to the growth of the automotive piston system market in the Asia-Oceania region where many OEM’s are expanding to meet huge...
In order to remedy a capacity shortfall, alloy wheel manufacturer Borbet GmbH has decided to erect a new factory. After evaluating the suitability of several sites in Germany as well as locations in Poland, Hungary and Brazil, the company has decided upon Kodersdorf in the German state of Saxony as the host region for its new greenfield facility. At present Borbet can produce around 20 million cast aluminium wheels at its seven factories – Altena, Medeback, Solingen, and Bad Langensalza (Germany), Ranshofen (Austria), Port Elizabeth (South Africa) and Auburn (Alabama, USA) – and it says this isn’t enough to meet rising demand. The planned factory in Kodersdorf is expected to have an annual capacity of two million light alloy wheels, and it will add a further 300 to 400 jobs to the...
Shares of Ess Dee Aluminium have moved higher by 7% to INR 252, extending its past five day’s rally on the bourses, despite clarification by the company that the rise of its share price is unexpected and unwarranted. In past six trading sessions, the stock zoomed 105% from INR 123 on March 31, on the National Stock Exchange (NSE). The CNX Nifty gained 3% during the same period. With reference to the increase in price, Ess Dee Aluminium has clarified to BSE that "As of now the company does not have any information/announcement that have a bearing on the operation/performance of the company which include all price sensitive information in regard to the company that could have led to the sudden spurt on the price behavior and volume of transactions of the company's scrip." The stock opened...
The automotive industry agrees almost unanimously that multi-material designs are the optimal route to low-weight vehicle architectures, yet the critical challenge still remains on how to reduce the cost and time of joining steel, aluminium and composites. The Global Automotive Lightweight Materials (GALM) team conducted an exclusive poll to find out more. 46% of industry professionals admitted the cost and time of multi-material joining is the biggest hindrance to further reducing vehicle weight. This compares to 29% who felt the design challenges of new materials was the largest barrier, 17% were concerned about the cost of material supply and just 8% decided the forming of components was the biggest wall to shaving more grams from the car. OEMs and suppliers were also quizzed over...
