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...
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The Port of Oswego is busy this summer handling grain, aluminum and windmill parts coming in for shipment to other sites. The port was named in the latest release called “Marine Delivers,” which includes statistics on shipments on the St. Lawrence Seaway. The release notes grain shipments are up more than 20 percent as the river sees an increase in international demand for American and Canadian wheat. One segment of shipping that is booming on the seaway is wind turbine parts, the statistics show. “One port experiencing this influx is the Port of Oswego,” said Rebecca McGill, director of trade development for the Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. Jonathan Daniels, executive director of the Port of Oswego, said windmill parts came in by ship and were offloaded to trucks for shipment...
Give your Ford/Chevy/Ram dualie some extra style with these Strike forged aluminum wheels by American Force Wheels. The wheels comes in 22-inch, 22.5-inch, 24-inch, and 26-inch sizes, and are available in a polished or black finish. The wheel is made from 6061 forged aluminum and can be custom powder-coated in your choice of colors. We first saw these wheels at the 2010 SEMA show at Ford's booth on this 2011 Ford F-350 Super Duty by Cars by Kris and Airhead Kustoms. Called the Pit Boss, this mean F-350 is designed to serve as a tow and support vehicle. The 24-inch wheels on this truck are wrapped in 295/40/24 Falken Tires. Pricing for four 22.5x8.25-inch Strike wheels with two steel inner wheels starts at $3,100 for the set and ranges upward depending on size and finish.
Available from HH Robertson , Sigma extruded aluminium louvres are architecturally striking and can be used for a variety of building applications ranging from industrial to office buildings. Complementing traditional and modern buildings, Sigma extruded aluminium louvres feature smooth, rounded blade edges that not only improve aerodynamic performance, but also enhances their aesthetic appeal. The blade design has been tested for structural and aerodynamic performance, producing optimum spanning and pressure loss performance. Sigma extruded aluminium louvres are versatile and offer flexibility of design, and can be supplied as a modular box type louvre or continuous system to cover large areas. Additionally, the flexible clip device enables the pitch arrangement to be altered according...
Japan Prime Minister Naoto Kan's statement late Wednesday that the country should move towards a nuclear-free energy policy has sparked concerns in the aluminum rolling mill sector that end-users will be negatively impacted, industry sources said Thursday. Nuclear power accounts for 30% of Japan's total power supply source, according to the Japan Atomic Power Industrial Forum. "Japanese manufacturers will run away from Japan, which will affect the metal industries," said a former senior official at a Tokyo-headquartered aluminum rolling mill. The mill produces aluminum sheets and extrusion used for automobiles, beverage cans and other industrial machinery. "There are possibilities of power rate hikes, and the premier's policy [plan] raises questions if there will be enough power supply,"...
lcoa’s (NYSE:AA) efforts to diversify geographically received a significant boost late last month when its joint venture with the Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) secured a $1 billion loan for the aluminum smelter and rolling mill at Ras Az Zawr. [1] Alcoa owns a 25% stake in the JV named Ma’aden Bauxite and Alumina Company which is expected to commence operations in 2013-2014. Alcoa is the world leader in the production and management of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum and alumina. Its competitors include Rusal, Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO), BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) and Chalco (NYSE:ACH). We have a $19.75 price estimate for Alcoa, roughly 10% above the stock’s market price. The Ma’aden-Alcoa super-project in detail Ma’aden and Alcoa agreed to work together on the $10.8 billion super...
The lightweight Apple iPad 2 alongside a physical QWERTY keyboard definitely increases productivity but reduces overall portability, which is not the case when you have a super thin keyboard case to increase wpm (words per minute) and deliver a chic accessory. MIC has released the Aluminum Keyboard Buddy Case for Apple iPad 2, converting the iOS device to a mini version of the popular MacBook Air for only $50. Obviously, Apple iPad keyboard cases have existed for quite a while now, but the MIC keyboard case offers more than its Air-like form, costing half the price of a ZaggMate keyboard case. Users who are eager to boost productivity with a touch of elegance may have found the right keyboard case. While touchscreen keyboards are intuitive and handy, adding a physical QWERTY keyboard case...
BPA and water bottles have never had a cozy relationship. Studies in the past have shown that people could lower their levels of BPA by eating fresh, rather than packaged, foods and by avoiding plastic food containers like plastic water bottles. Therefore, many have chosen aluminum bottles as a “greener” alternative to avoid trace amounts of BPA – BPA has been linked to birth defects, issues with brain and nervous system function, reproductive abnormalities and even some kinds of cancer. However, a new study reported in WebMD Health News says that some types of aluminum may be releasing more BPA than the clear polycarbonate plastic bottles they were intended replace. According to WebMD Health News, sales of one brand of reusable water bottles have tripled in the four years since it was...
Elemental LED Introduces Three Aluminum Channels, Creating New Aesthetic Options for LED Lighting Design Elemental LED, a San Francisco Bay Area-based LED lighting company, introduced a new line of products aimed at satisfying demand for stylish LED strip light installation options. The addition of aluminum channels exemplifies the company’s core values: Style and sustainability. Elemental LED is highly regarded for offering a broad range of LED strip lights and light bars that are easy to install out of the box. Aluminum channels provide an opportunity for adding more style to an LED strip light installation. The Elemental LED staff suggests using the aluminum channels in cabinet installations, display cases and for architectural accent lighting. Alternatively, channels can be used in...
NEW YORK Alcoa Inc. has predicted sales will improve across its range of businesses this year, from aerospace to beverage cans. During a second-quarter conference call with analysts Monday, Chairman and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld forecast Alcoa's sales to aerospace businesses would grow about 7 percent in 2011. The aluminum-manufacturing giant sells aluminum plates, sheets and engineered products to the aerospace industry. During the recent Paris air show, the order volume for Boeing and Airbus more than doubled from a year ago, with a combined backlog of more than 7,300 planes, he said. That translates into about 7.5 years of current production levels. He also discussed the company's $1 billion, multiyear agreement to supply Airbus with aluminum sheet and plate products, which was announced...
Indonesian Electric Wire Plant Association chairman, Noval Jamalullail, has complained about the lack of aluminum materials for local wire production. PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum), the company providing the raw materials, does not have sufficient supply. “Businessmen have to import them from Australia and India,” he said. Out of the 50,000 tons of raw materials for aluminum set by Inalum for local companies, 20,000 tons are controlled by manufacturing company PT Masipon and the rest is divided between 45 wire companies. The amount is considered insufficient because companies need 150,000 tons of raw materials, 10,000 tons more than last year.
Morgan Stanley is out with its report today on Alcoa (NYSE: AA), maintaining Overweight. In a note to clients, Morgan Stanley writes, "Alcoa's 2Q revenues beat our estimate; earnings were in-line on cost pressure. Downstream contributed ~45% of earnings and alumina pricing remained above historical trend, benefitting from improving spot exposure. This supports our thesis on AA, our preferred defensive play." Morgan Stanley maintains a $22 PT on AA. At the time of posting, shares of AA were trading pre-market at $15.85, down 0.38% from Monday's close.
World demand for aluminium will double in the next decade, driven by growing use in aircraft, transportation and luxury cars, the head of major European products maker Amag said on Monday. 'We forecast that demand for aluminium will double within the next 10 to 12 years, so a global growth rate of 7 per cent. This is a nice picture,' Gerhard Falch, the Austrian aluminium group's chief executive, told Reuters. Demand for its products has put the company on target to match or beat 2010's record year for earnings. 'At least, we will be in line with the results of the record year of 2010,' he said. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization were 139.0 million euros ($197 million) last year. Amag, capitalised at $865.35 million following an April listing in Vienna, makes...
Driving south from Vancouver, Canada, towards Seattle, the scenery is perfectly pastoral with rolling hills and grazing cows. But suddenly, dominating the horizon, the view is interrupted by a phalanx of refinery towers shooting white-gray plumes into the sky. These industrial spires of BP's Cherry Point refinery loom high over Whatcom county, a lush border region a little more than 100 kilometers north of Seattle. Washington State's largest refining complex provides jet fuel, gasoline and diesel to markets up and down the west coast of North America. I had driven there on a rainy morning last month, hoping to learn more about the economic alchemy that transforms crude oil from Alberta's oil sands and elsewhere into ever ubiquitous aluminum beverage cans. Cherry Point plays a little known...
Alcoa is set to kick off earnings season once again on Monday, and there's a good chance the aluminum giant will deliver a fifth straight above-consensus quarter. The Pittsburgh company is the third-largest producer of aluminum in the world, making it not only a barometer for health of the industry but a good gauge on the health of the manufacturing sector as well. It's always the first component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average to report its results. Alcoa's shares tend to take their cue from aluminum's price on the London Metal Exchange -- the only market in the world that trades the metal. For the quarter that closed on June 30, the LME quote fell by about 3.1%, or $80 per ton, to roughly $2,510. Aluminum hit a high of $2,770 per ton in late April, but dropped sharply as member...
Alcoa has updated its comprehensive product handbook known as the 2011 Alcoa Commercial Vehicle Wheels Spec Data Guide (Spec Data Guide). The Spec Data Guide features a complete product portfolio, including new LvL One Wheel applications recently launched. Users can refer to the Spec Data Guide for complete part catalog information, product names and finish details, as well as complete technical information for heavy-duty, wide-base, bus and medium-duty wheels. It serves as a one-stop shop to reference Alcoa commercial vehicle wheels. The newly revised guide now utilizes color coding to enhance readability of the many data fields. In addition, the Spec Data Guide includes a new sustainability component as it has been redesigned to decrease from a six-page document to just four pages. This...
Reuters reported that India's National Aluminum Company Limited sold 1,500 tonnes of aluminum billets at USD 150 per tonne premium over the average LME cash price on a cost insurance and freight basis. Mr Ansuman Das director commercial of NALCO said that the aluminum will be shipped to an Australian firm in six batches of 250 tonnes each from August to January. NALCO, whose tenders serve as a global benchmark, last sold 6,000 tonnes of aluminum ingots in June to a European firm at USD 103 per tonne premium over the average LME cash price.
xlite has become a worldwide brand thanks to an exclusive trademark agreement between European distributor, Motor Wheel Service, and manufacturer Wheels India. Under the terms of the 10-year agreement, all of the forged aluminium wheels produced by Wheels India will feature xlite branding on the products, boxes and cleaning kits, creating a global standard to aid the end user. The move will also allow the product to develop in Australia, the South American countries and The Far East, where the Manchester-based company is actively seeking new distribution partners. xlite wheels are forged from a single aluminium billet using a computerised numeric control machine to produce a higher degree of production accuracy.
Synergy Design and Production has announced it has inked a deal to become the exclusive distributor of AHT all-aluminum liftgates in Canada and the US. Synergy builds lightweight medium-duty trucks including its SynergyLite Green Truck. Austrian company AHT claims to be the world's only manufacturer of lightweight, all-aluminum liftgates as well as a manufacturer of hydraulic equipment. It constructs its liftgates of high-tensile aluminum alloy. "AHT is the only company in the world that manufactures an all-aluminum liftgate. Our partnership with Synergy Design & Production is the perfect combination of their lightweighting strategies and our liftgates. We are proud that they will be our exclusive, authorized distributor in the United States and Canada," announced AHT president Walter...
