This week, the operating rate of major aluminium processors in China remained stable with a slight overall rebound, rising 0.1 per cent month-on-month. Performance was mixed across sectors, as the industry continues a moderate recovery trend. The operating rate for primary aluminium alloys climbed 0.6 percentage points to 61.4 per cent, driven by improved order volume and year-end momentum from automakers to meet their annual targets, with a positive short-term outlook. The operating rate for aluminium wire and cable rose 0.4 percentage points to 64.8 per cent, supported by recovering photovoltaic demand and restored margins, although the sustainability of the upward trend remains to be seen. The operating rate for secondary aluminium rebounded 0.6 percentage points to 53.9 per cent, with...
Novelis reported a 20 per cent year-on-year increase in adjusted EBITDA to USD 508 million in the second quarter of fiscal year 2027, while rolled product shipments declined 2 per cent to 919,000 tonnes. Net sales rose 25 per cent to USD 5.9 billion from USD 4.7 billion in the corresponding quarter last year, mainly due to higher average aluminium prices. Higher shipments of beverage packaging and aerospace products were partly offset by lower volumes in automotive and speciality products. Net income attributable to Novelis' common shareholders increased 29 per cent to USD 210 million, compared with USD 163 million a year earlier. Excluding special items, net income also rose 29 per cent to USD 146 million. Explore further insights and forecasts for the aluminium flat rolled products...
Grow with
AL Circle
Alcoa has increased its focus on sustainability. The company’s announcement that it will invest $21 million in expanding B&C Research – a part of Alcoa’s wheel and transportation products business – is its latest pro-environment expansion plan.
Production of aluminium products is also rising, it said. Output of rolled products increased by about 4.3 percent to 814,637 tonnes. Extrusion press producers raised output by 11.8 percent to 255,847 tonnes, the GDA said.
Alcoa Architectural Products of France has launched a new aluminium cladding panel that cleans both itself and the surrounding air. “These cladding features mean the building is no longer just a structure,” explained Guy Scheidecker, marketing and distribution manager for Alcoa Architectural Products. “Architects can create a quality appearance that will last for a long time.” In addition, cleaning costs are reduced over a building’s lifetime," said Scheidecker.
Alucobond Architectural has designed its ALUCORE aluminium composite panels for use in high wind load applications, and where large unsupported spans are required. Manufactured in a continuous coil process, these composite panels feature a PVF2 stove lacquered finish, which ensures an extremely high weather resistant surface.
An improved operational performance underpinned a 167% rise in Hulamin’s interim headline earnings to R71-million for the period to June 30, 2011. But the aluminium re-roller warned that the turnaround had been achieved off a “low base” and expressed caution about the outlook, owing to the continued strength of the rand, local supply and sales disruptions, as well as a softening of markets in Europe and the US. The JSE-listed group’s results during the period were also bolstered by an insurance payment of R26-million, arising from a breakdown of the Camps Drift hot mill in 2009.
Copper, aluminium products and electrical appliances are among the most expensive items on Dubai's import bill and represent opportunities for the emirate to become a self-sufficient producer of locally manufactured goods, says a new report from Dubai Exports. The report identified 10 "substitution opportunities" where imports have surged by more than 25 per cent between 2005 and 2009, accounting for more than Dh360 million (US$98.01m) of yearly spending.
CS Aluminum, the subsidiary company of Taiwan's China Steel Corporation has broken ground on July 19th 2011 for its second stage of the plant expansion project. The new plant is expected to complete its construction and start its official operation in the Q3 2014. As soon as its new plant starts running, CS Aluminum's annual output will increase by 100,000 tonnes and the company's total annual output will reach 226,000 tonnes. It will also help the company to get into high quality aluminum flat products supply chain in the coming future. The major investment included four sets of hot roll finishing mill lines, one set of cold roll line and the other necessary tension leveler lines, annulling line and cutting lines.
Hulamin Ltd. (HLM), Africa’s biggest maker of fabricated aluminum products, said it will be able to provide for its own raw material needs even if BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP) halts its supply of so-called rolling-slabs in June next year. Hulamin, which is based in the South African town of Pietermaritzburg, buys about 90,000 metric tons of aluminum slab from BHP to produce aluminum sheet, foil and plate. In 2008 BHP said it would close part of its Bayside aluminum smelter in the town of Richards Bay, cutting its ability to supply Hulamin.
Pittsburgh-based Alcoa (AA), the largest domestic producer of aluminum, saw its Q2 profit increase more than 100% “after higher prices for the lightweight metal outweighed increasing raw-material costs,” according to a Bloomberg article. Alcoa’s sales increased 27% to $6.59 billion last quarter, driven by 24% price increases on the London Metal Exchange and skyrocketing global demand, especially in the aerospace and transportation sectors. Alcoa was not the only aluminum company posting massive profits. Gerhard Halch, the head of Amag, told Reuters that “demand for aluminum will double within the next 10 to 12 years, so a global growth rate of 7 percent. This is a nice picture. Demand for… products has put the company on target to match or beat 2010’s record year for earnings.”...
In July, with its Reynobond®|Reynolux® with EcoClean™, Alcoa Architectural Products is launching an aluminium cladding panel that cleans both itself and the surrounding air. This means that for the first time there is aluminium cladding that actively generates sustainability and is both economic and environmentally friendly. With the aid of the sun and moisture, the titanium dioxide-based coating renders particles of dirt and smog harmless, thereby contributing to cleaning the cladding itself as well as the surrounding air. “This self-cleaning capability means that cleaning costs are reduced over a building’s lifetime,” explains Guy Scheidecker, Marketing and Distribution Manager for Alcoa Architectural Products.
Hulamin Ltd. (HLM), Africa’s biggest producer of fabricated aluminum products, appointed Jeff Watson, a former Alcoa Inc. (AA) employee, as international director and Brand Pretorius, the former head of Reunert Ltd. (RLO), to its board today at an annual general meeting near Pietermaritzburg in South Africa.
The Bertram and Judith Kohl Building, a virtual rhapsody in Alcoa’s Reynobond aluminum composite material (ACM), has applied to become the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certified music conservatory in the U.S. The $24 million, three-story, 37,000-square-foot structure is the new home for the Jazz Studies Program at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is composed of three basic elements: an aluminum exterior, which wraps and encloses the programmatic elements; openings created by cutting and peeling away the aluminum composite material shell; and an abundance of daylight streaming into the building.
The following companies had unusual price changes in Argentine trading. Stock symbols are in parentheses and share prices are as of 4:24 p.m. New York time. The Merval Index climbed 0.9 percent to 3,324.99. Aluar Aluminio Argentino SAIC (ALUA AF), which produces and markets aluminum products for industrial uses, rose 1.3 percent to 4.83 pesos. Aluminum prices gained on the London Metals Exchange.
Kaiser Aluminum Corp. announced it began expansion of its facility at 6520 W. Allison Road. The company makes aluminum rods, sheets, plates, tubes, wires and other aluminum shapes that are machined into parts by the aerospace industry using extrusion technology, a process in which the aluminum is shaped by forcing it through a die. The $11 million investment is expected to be used to purchase equipment.
Aluminum foam maker Cymat Technologies Ltd. (TSX:CYM) narrowed its fourth quarter net loss on higher revenues, with one of its products being used in the 9/11 Memorial in New York City and a congress centre in Mallorca, Spain. Cymat reported a net loss of $210,000 for its fiscal fourth quarter, down from a loss of $1.2 million in the same quarter a year before. Revenue was $1.2 million, up from $238,000. For the fiscal year, the company's net loss was $4 million. That's lower than the $5.1 million in the previous fiscal year.
The company this week is preparing a 75-ton melting furnace for shipment to an automotive manufacturer. It takes a day just to set up the trailer - it has 13 axles - that will haul the machine to the plant where it will be put into service. The system, which took six months to engineer and build, has been a collaboration among the company's local suppliers as well as Stotek, a Danish company with operations in southern Wisconsin that has a manufacturing and design relationship with Modern Equipment. The order is contributing to an uptick in business and helping to create a backlog for Modern Equipment.
Alcoa announced on June 9 the development of new aluminum-based solutions for the aerospace market, reducing the weight and an increase in fuel economy on top of the savings from new engines. Maintenance and manufacturing costs make the new material much cheaper over the life cycle when compared against carbon fiber. As a sign of support, Airbus signed a deal worth an estimated $1 billion to provide the new composite for use in planes. At the Paris Air Show, Boeing and Airbus signed a combined $94 billion in new order volume, providing both companies with a backlog of over 7.5 years of current production. Aluminum is a major component in airplane manufacturing and the backlog indicates strong demand well into the future for Alcoa. On May 9 Alcoa announced that it will begin selling an...
The Memphis-Shelby County Industrial Development Board approved five payment-in-lieu-of-taxes applications Wednesday afternoon that will result in the creation of 259 new jobs, while approving a retention PILOT that will save 246 jobs at the Memphis operation of San Francisco-based McKesson Corp. Penn A Kem LLC, Memphis Specialized Operations, Jordan Aluminum Extrusion Co. LLC, Trane and Praxair Inc., all received approval for their PILOT applications. Trane will invest $15 million to lease and renovate a 600,000-square-foot warehouse and distribution facility at 5200 Tradeport Drive that would employ 146 people. Penn A Kem LLC, is planning to spend $28 million on manufacturing machinery that would enhance new product development in its Memphis research and development department. That...
