
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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The “Aluminium Closures – Turn 360°” campaign will be present for the first time at ProWein (15-17 March 2015 in Düsseldorf), the leading international fair for the wine sector. The campaign, which promotes the advantages of the growing segment of aluminium closures for wines, is taking part in a dedicated “Packaging & Design” show adjacent to the ProWein Forum. The stand “Aluminium Closures – Turn 360°” organised by EAFA, the European Aluminium Foil Association, will be located in Hall 13 D44. There they will explain how wine makers, retailers and other professional users in catering and hospitality can benefit from the convenience, taste and quality protection, technological and economic advantages, as well as the sustainability and recyclability offered by aluminium closures. The...

Novelis, the world leader in automotive aluminum sheet, and Henkel Adhesive Technologies today announced the signing of a long-term agreement to collaborate on the development of advanced bonding technologies for the use of aluminum in high-volume vehicles. “Through a partnership built on a shared commitment to technology innovation, Novelis and Henkel are developing industry-wide solutions, without barriers to adoption, to make more aluminum-intensive vehicles a reality,” said Jack Clark, Senior Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, for Novelis. “Our goal is for these next-generation solutions to be adopted broadly by the aluminum supply base, free from licensing, because it’s the right way to ensure long-term success for our industry and our OEM partners.” The first product to...

Belgian-based additive manufacturing and 3D printing expert, Materialise, has broadened its manufacturing offering with a new aluminium 3D printing service. AlSi10Mg will become the first metal option to join a portfolio of more than twenty 3D printing polymers currently offered to industrial customers. Jurgen Laudus, director additive manufacturing solutions, Materialise, said: “We believe that offering aluminium alongside a wide range of polymers allows us to be of better service to our customers. Aluminium is a perfect addition to the plastic materials we already offer and it opens doors for new applications.” AlSi10Mg is an aluminium alloy that combines good strength and thermal properties with low weight and flexible post-processing possibilities. For these reasons it is often used...

Professor of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Professor Maduike Ezeibe, yesterday announced the development of a new drug that can cure HIV/ AIDS. Ezeibe told the Daily Trust in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, that the Aluminium-Magnesium Silicate has passed through “a series of successful tests.” “We are at the threshold of making history, in the sense that we seem to have with us something that will permanently take care of what over time seemed to have defied all solutions. We are talking about the latest discovery of Aluminium-Magnesium Silicate in Nigeria as possible cure for HIV/AIDS virus,’’ he said. He said research on the project started in 1994, when plasma samples from five infected patients were confirmed positive for HIV. Ezeibe added: “The existing...

Gulf Extrusions (Gulfex), a leading global manufacturer of extruded aluminium products, was awarded the Gulf Aluminium Council (GAC) Health and Safety Award, during a special awarding ceremony held at the Gulf Hotel in Bahrain. The award was given to Gulfex in recognition of the company's implementation of excellent health and safety initiatives and its significant contribution towards the efforts to achieve key sustainability in the Gulf region. Modar Al Mekdad, General Manager, Gulf Extrusions, said, "We are truly honored to have been given this recognition by the Gulf Aluminium Council. This award serves as a testimony to the effective implementation of our strategic initiatives in health and safety, which has not only resulted in the improved welfare of our employees but has also...

Aleris, a Cleveland-based manufacturer of aluminum rolled products, has announced it has completed the sale of its recycling and specification alloys businesses, which operated as Global Recycling and Specification Alloys (GRSA). The sale has been completed to an affiliate of Signature Group Holdings for $500 million in cash and $25 million in Signature’s preferred stock. The sale, which was announced Oct. 17, 2014, includes 18 production facilities in North America and six in Europe that offer a range of metal recycling services and specification alloy products. “The sale of the recycling and specification alloys businesses will allow us to place a stronger focus on aluminum rolled products, ensuring that we are poised to capture the benefit of strong projected growth in a variety of...

A new tank system made of drawn aluminium tube for use in dust collection plants allows high pulse volumes and is corrosion resistant. The tank system incorporates tank and valve in one unit and thus reduces construction effort and installation time. The tank's innovative aluminium profile combined with the patented clamp construction at the outlet and the aerodynamic flow geometry allow high flow rates and high volumes per pulse. It is made of anodized aluminium, so compared to welded steel tanks, corrosion is no problem. The tanks are designed to comply with the requirements of the European pressure equipment directive 97/23/EG, module B1+D and AMSE. Regarding valve spacing and fastening angle, they can be fully adapted to up to lengths of 3 m and a maximum of 18 valves to meet the...

Aluminum Association reports Aluminum net shipments in North American (US & Canada) for the month of January 2015. Aluminum net shipments (including exports) by domestic U.S. and Canadian facilities totaled an estimated 1,928 million pounds during January 2015, down 1.9 percent from the January 2014 total of 1,965 million pounds. Shipments of aluminum mill products totaled 1,253 million pounds, 4.9 percent above a year ago while shipments of aluminum ingot for castings, exports and destructive were down 12.5 percent, totaling 675 million pounds. Compared to December 2014, January 2015 shipments increased 9.8 percent. Preliminary estimates indicate that during 2014, producer shipments totaled an estimated 23,107 million pounds, 3.9 percent above the 2013 total of 22,235 million....

The first Gulf Aluminium Casthouse Conference or GulfCast, held on the 2nd and 3rd of March 2015, at the Sharq Village & Spa in Doha came to a successful end on Tuesday. The conference was organized by Qatalum under the patronage of His Excellency Dr Mohammed Bin Saleh Bin Abdullah Al-Sada, the Minister of Energy and Industry. Eminent people from the aluminium industry like CEO of Alba Tim Murray, Secretary General of GOIC Mr. Abdul Aziz Al Ageel, CEO of Muntajat Mr. Abdulrahman Ali Al Abdulla and top officials from Qatalum attended the conference. The two days were divided into three sessions – morning, afternoon and evening with each session focusing on key areas of interest in the aluminium industry. The Day One saw ten presentations spread across the three sessions, which included...

Kobe Steel Ltd., supplier of aluminum sheet to half of the nation’s auto industry, is considering building a ¥100 billion plant in the U.S. to expand sales to Japanese carmakers operating in North America. The prize is an expected tenfold increase in demand for aluminum sheet in the U.S., where stricter fuel economy standards have ignited a race among carmakers to save weight and boost the efficiency of new models, driving up demand for the lightweight metal. The size of Kobe Steel’s potential investment is larger than anticipated because the company may need to add capacity at the plant to process aluminum alloy, Senior Officer Hiroshi Kato said last week in an interview at the company’s Tokyo offices. Such an integrated plant would be three or four times bigger than originally planned...

Qatar Aluminium Chairman, Abdulrahman Ahmed Al-Shaibi said in a Doha conference on Tuesday Automobile customers accounts for around 60% of the company’s products. The rising demand for automotive aluminium is pulling the overall demand for aluminium which is rising nearly 6% a year. The company says the falling oil prices are not affecting the demand for aluminium automotive parts and the company did not have to cut back on production. The initial drive towards aluminium use in automobiles was the fuel efficiency due to lighter weight. But as analysts predict that the lower oil prices could hamper the fuel efficiency benefit in aluminium cars in future as a result manufacturers are trying to push the recyclability factor. David Wilson, an analyst at Citigroup says, “At a 75 percent...

Constellium N.V. will announce its 2014 fourth quarter and full year financial results on Thursday, March 12, 2015. A conference call and webcast to present the results will take place at 11:00 a.m. (Eastern Standard Time) on the same day. The conference call will be hosted by Pierre Vareille, Chief Executive Officer, and Didier Fontaine, Chief Financial Officer. Details of the conference call, webcast and accompanying presentation will be available on the Constellium Investor Relations page at the company website. The webcast can be accessed live at the video news wire site. To participate by telephone, please dial the following number and ask to be connected to the Constellium Q4 earnings call: USA: 1-866-376-8056 France: 0 805 102 319 Germany: 0 800 589 5393 Switzerland: 0 800 246 787...

Senaat, the state-owned industrial holding company, plans to invest Dh5 billion over the next two years to develop downstream industries and is considering an initial public offering of one of its units this year, the chairman said. Abu Dhabi-based Senaat, which has invested more than Dh16bn developing the metals sector over the last five years, will finance the projects through 30 per cent equity and 70 per cent debt, said Hussain Al Nowais on the sidelines of a conference in Abu Dhabi. “Recently our trend is towards downstream, industries which will use the raw materials coming from our main industries. We will be investing in pipes which are used for the oil and gas [sector] and we are also investing in the downstream industry,” said Mr Al Nowais. “The fact that Emirates Global...

Rexam, a leading global beverage can maker and Felinfoel, Wales’ oldest brewer, have collaborated to launch the award-winning Double Dragon Craft Ale in Rexam 440ml cans. The partnership sees the alignment of two brands with a reputation for launching innovative products first to market. Whilst Rexam is recognised for evolving printing technologies, the first to launch patent pending Editions™ in 2013 and Super Premium Editions™ in 2014 (allowing printing of high definition detailed images onto cans), Felinfoel has a rich history dating back to 1878. Their first conical cans with screw cap tops have evolved to the two-piece cans with a ring pull we see today – introduced by Felinfoel in 1936 as the first brewer to do so. The new relationship between Felinfoel and Rexam was founded on a...

Aleris announced today that it has completed the sale of its aluminum extrusions business to Japanese building products and extrusions manufacturer Sankyo Tateyama, Inc. The sale, which was announced in December, includes four production facilities in Europe and one in China. Sankyo Tateyama paid a purchase price of €35.5 million for the business (less €6.4 million in net debt) and assumed approximately €60.9 million of pension liabilities. "With the sale of our extrusions business now complete, we can completely shift our focus to growing our aluminum rolled products business where we continue to invest in our capabilities to best serve industries including automotive, aerospace, and building and construction, " Steve Demetriou, Aleris Chairman and CEO said. "We wish our former...

Sapa, the world leader in aluminum extrusions, has announced its partnership with Ford to supply the all-new F-150 with structural aluminum tubing, and provide ongoing development support for future aluminum extrusion applications. The 2015 Ford F-150, which Ford calls its “toughest, smartest, most capable F-150 ever,” features a high-strength, military grade, aluminum-alloy body, and is about 700 pounds lighter than the 2014 model. Despite lighter weight, engineers indicate that a truck body using aluminum can equal or outperform steel in overall strength and dent resistance, depending on the type of material used, its thickness and how the structure is designed and assembled. For the F-150, a global team of Sapa engineers and metallurgists rigorously tested and analyzed the extruded...

National Aluminium Products Co (Napco) is planning a RO7mn capacity expansion to substantially increase volumes and increase market share. The company will install two additional extrusions presses in a phased manner this year and also set up a power coating plant. The company board has approved the capacity expansion in line with its business strategy. “The estimated cost of the expansion will be approximately RO7mn, including related civil construction. With the strategy devised, upon achievement, the company expects a substantial increase in volume and profitability post expansion,” Napco said in yearly financial report submitted to the Muscat Securities Market on Sunday. The company said it will focus on broadening local market share as well as more exports to GCC, African and Asian...

Construction just wrapped up on a 275,560-square foot automotive manufacturing facility in the Riverside Horizons Industrial Park. Martinrea International, the owner of the recently constructed $19 million facility, is an Ontario-based manufacturer of quality steel and aluminum metal parts for the automotive and industrial sector. Their production of automotive parts is supplied to vehicle manufacturers and automotive suppliers around the world. Their newest plant in the Riverside Horizons Industrial Park will begin full-fledged production later this year. Martinrea will spend an additional $30 million on specialized robotics, necessary equipment, and furnishings in the plant. Martinrea International is expected to bring an estimated 300 new jobs to the area. Employees at the new facility...