Europe holds 10% of global aluminium extrusion demand, supported by Germany’s Constellium, France’s Hydro Extrusions & Italy’s Metra
Across Europe, aluminium extrusion has become closely woven into some of the region’s biggest industrial and construction markets. From automotive and transport to buildings and industrial applications, extruded profiles are finding demand across a wide range of sectors. This is reflected in Europe’s position in the global market: the region accounted for 12 per cent of global aluminium extrusion capacity, making it the second-largest regional contributor after China. At the same time, Europe represented 10 per cent of global aluminium extrusion usage, out of total global usage of 35.35 million tonnes . With production capacity and usage shares relatively close, Europe’s extrusion capacity and consumption are broadly at par. If we break down Europe’s 10 per cent share of global aluminium...
H1 2026 sees more renewable energy than ever: Here’s a region-by-region guide to renewable energy supply in the recent past
In the first half of 2025, humanity generated more electricity from renewables than from coal for the first time ever. What led to it? It was possible only because of two decades of falling solar panel prices, taller wind turbines, and governments finally treating clean power like an economic opportunity instead of a favour to the planet. But the renewable energy scenario cannot be portrayed as a single global story. To get the full picture, one has to connect dozens of regional stories moving at wildly different speeds. Some countries are already powered almost entirely by sun, wind and water. Others are still warming up. Here is a tour of how renewable energy supply looks across the world’s regions right now, and who is actually leading the charge. The global scorecard: Renewable energy...
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Europe’s 6.8% dross generation from aluminium recycling reflects global standard- how the continent is scaling its recovery efforts
Did you know? Around 7 per cent of black dross is generated from the total volume of recycled aluminium worldwide, and Europe reflects a similar ratio of black dross generation at around 6.83 per cent. Aluminium dross occurs in two forms: black and white. White dross is generated mainly in primary aluminium smelters and during the melting of clean or pre-treated scrap in foundries. It forms when molten aluminium reacts with oxygen during smelting, refining, or casting, creating a residue with relatively high aluminium content. Black dross, by contrast, forms during recycling, particularly where mixed or contaminated scrap is melted. Coatings, oils, and other impurities increase oxidation and slag formation, producing a darker residue with lower aluminium content. On a global scale, dross...
Middle East aluminium attacks have a limited impact on China's prebaked anode exports
On March 28, Emirates Global Aluminium's (EGA) Al Taweelah plant in Abu Dhabi and Alba's production facilities in Bahrain were hit by precision drone strikes, damaging some equipment. EGA and Alba have annual capacities of 1.6 million tonnes and 1.623 million tonnes, respectively. The Middle East accounted for about 9 per cent of global aluminium capacity, totalling 6.9 million tonnes/year. Before the attacks, Middle East electrolytic aluminium output had been cut by nearly 10 per cent. With additional damage from the strikes, an estimated 30 per cent of the region's electrolytic aluminium capacity could be affected. For the global aluminium value-chain 2026 outlook, book our exclusive report “ Global ALuminium Industry Outlook 2026 " Producing one tonne of electrolytic aluminium required...
China seizes opportunity to boost aluminium exports amid the Middle East conflict – which countries stand to gain?
中文翻译附于新闻末尾，敬请继续阅读。 Restricted trade from the Gulf countries through the Strait of Hormuz and EGA’s Al Taweelah smelter becoming inoperative for a year due to Iranian strikes are seen as an opportunity for China’s aluminium export growth by many market analysts. Whether this ambition may turn real or not is something to be assessed, but it stems from the void being caused in the market due to the Gulf region's inability to serve the global aluminium demand at this moment. The Gulf not only produces 10 per cent of the world’s aluminium but also supports the global supply chain by contributing 9 per cent to the total. In figures, Gulf countries export more than 5 million tonnes of wrought and unwrought aluminium to the world. As per the International Trade Administration data of 2025,...
Does the Hormuz freeze, hitting 9% global supply, reopen the door for an alternative 5-6 Mt aluminium supplier?
The recent escalation of conflict in the Middle East, notably a US-Israeli movement involving Iran in early 2026, has sent tremors through global aluminium markets. Gulf-region smelters account for roughly 9 per cent of the world’s primary aluminium supply (and over 20 per cent if China and Russia are excluded). Over 6.16 million tonnes per year of aluminium are produced in the Gulf states, and about 75-80 per cent of that is exported to global consumers. With the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut to shipping, exports from Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and other Gulf producers have been disrupted, forcing curtailments and raising fears of a major supply squeeze. As one recently published article by S&P Global notes, “trade via the Strait of Hormuz – a vital shipping corridor for aluminium – has...
Brazil’s bauxite exports increase by 20% in 2025 even as production remains stagnant at 30–33 Mt
Brazil sits among the world’s five major bauxite players as of 2025-alongside Guinea, Australia, Vietnam and Indonesia-with reserves estimated at around 1.7 billion tonnes. But that hasn’t translated into higher output. Production reached 33 million tonnes in 2025, unchanged from 2024, and has been moving in the same 30–33 million tonnes range for the past five years. This gap between what the country has and what it produces shows in other sector too. In rare earths, Brazil holds 23.3 per cent of global reserves but contributed only 0.01 per cent of output in 2024, pointing to a wider structural issue in the mining sector. Domestic refineries shape bauxite use A large part of the explanation is where the bauxite goes. Much of it stays inside Brazil instead of being exported, feeding the...
Global aluminium plates, sheets and strips trade 2025: Policy, cost and geopolitics reshape export
Global exports of aluminium plates, sheets and strips between 2023 and 2025 have formed a chain that goes beyond routine market cycles. The export trend depicts the reshaping of the market by policy decisions, geopolitical tensions and evolving supply chains. Latest trade data accumulated from the International Trade Administration throws light on how these factors directly influence export performance across major producing nations. Explore- Most accurate data to drive business decisions with Global ALuminium Industry Outlook 2026 across the value chain With the global consumption of aluminium plates, sheets and strips standing at 26.92 million tonnes in 2025, the total quantity traded by the top 10 exporters stood around 23.09 million tonnes, reflecting their dominance in the global...
Aluminium as a ‘Critical Mineral’ – how much is it catching up with the label given in the US, EU, UK, Canada and Africa?
Across major economies – from the United States and European Union to the United Kingdom, Canada, and Africa, aluminium has formally entered the league of critical minerals – not because the metal is rare but it is indispensable for economic and environmental growth. Aluminium, over the period of time, has made itself a non-substitutable element in modern economies through critical applications in industrial growth, defence capability, and decarbonisation. It is also the metal that has built direct relation with global economic structures; hence, any disruption in its supply chain affects employment, trade balances, and industrial output. Economic contribution – a mature industry with strategic weight To all these regions stated above, the aluminium industry supports a substantial share...
From copper oversupply to aluminium crisis: Middle East conflict reshapes metals market
What began as an overall surge in the metals market towards the beginning of the year has quickly turned far more uneven, as the ongoing Middle East conflict enters its fifth week. While early market sentiment was dominated by fears of a copper crisis, the unfolding reality focuses on a different crisis surrounding aluminium. Global institutions, including the International Energy Agency, International Monetary Fund and World Bank, have already referred to the conflict as one of the most severe recent energy shocks. Beyond the immediate humanitarian impact, the geopolitical situation is disrupting trade routes, hoisting energy prices and introducing fresh volatility across markets. Explore- Most accurate data to drive business decisions with Global ALuminium Industry Outlook 2026 across...
Market surplus lets alumina price on LME hardly cross $315/t when aluminium soars past $3500/t
At a time when aluminium prices are climbing sharply, alumina - the very raw material that feeds it - is barely moving. This unusual split raises a simple question: why is the input material weakening while the output strengthens? The answer lies in a mix of supply, expansion, demand shifts, and geopolitical shocks that are pulling the two markets apart. The divergence has been clearly visible since late 2025, with both commodities moving in opposite directions and creating an imbalance across the value chain. Alumina price opened 2026 at USD 304 per tonne and briefly touched USD 309.14 in early January, but failed to sustain momentum. Prices stayed confined to a narrow range through the month before softening. By mid-March, they had dropped to USD 300.14 per tonne and eventually settled...
Bioenergy in India’s aluminium sector: Scale potential meets a 3-million-tonne reality
India reports abundant bioresources and rapidly growing biofuel markets. Modern bioenergy from biomass, biogas and biofuels already supplies about 13 per cent of India’s total final energy. It is expanding fast, with the International Energy Agency (IEA) projecting bioenergy use to rise by roughly 45 per cent between 2023 and 2030. This growth is driven by policy mandates, including ethanol and biodiesel blending targets, a 5–7 per cent biomass co-firing target in coal power plants by 2026, and compressed biogas (CBG) expansion under the SATAT initiative. By one estimate, India’s liquid and gaseous biofuel use doubled from 2018 to 2024 (from 101 to 210 petajoules) due to ethanol and CBG programmes, and could more than double again by 2030 with stronger policy support. Modern solid...
Europe aluminium foil production rose 3.1% in 2025, but import dependency persists - explore market dynamics and trade flows
The European aluminium foil industry appeared to regain its footing in 2025, extending the stabilisation seen a year earlier. Demand moved in a positive direction overall, yet the recovery did not follow a straight line. As the year progressed, momentum began to soften, with the fourth quarter emerging as a clear weak spot. The question, then, is not whether recovery happened -but how steady it really was. Despite an installed production capacity estimated at 1–1.4 million tonnes annually, actual output has consistently remained a bit below this range, underlining persistent underutilisation across the sector. The past few years help explain why. Output edged up slightly by 0.4 per cent from 967,000 tonnes in 2021 to 971,300 tonnes in 2022. Then came a sharp fall of 14.4 per cent to...
The $4,000 price tag forecast: Iran’s blow to the global aluminium value chain
The kinetic targeting of primary aluminium production facilities in the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain on March 28 2026 represents a seminal shift in the intersection of regional conflict and global commodity security. For decades, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations have leveraged their abundant natural gas reserves and strategic maritime positioning to establish a dominant posture in the global aluminium market, currently providing approximately 9 per cent of the world’s primary metal. The coordinated strikes by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Emirates Global Aluminium’s (EGA) Al Taweelah smelter and Aluminium Bahrain’s (Alba) production complex have not only idled significant portions of global capacity but have effectively weaponised the supply chain...
European aluminium premium reaches a record $472/t in March - is it a build-up from last year or the Hormuz crisis?
The European aluminium premium, the extra cost buyers pay above London Metal Exchange prices to obtain physical metal, has risen in early 2026, indicating higher costs and tighter supply in the region. It was at USD 335 per tonne on January 2, 2026 and stayed within USD 340 per tonne to USD 360.63 per tonne through February. The change became evident in March. Premiums moved up to USD 369.5 per tonne on March 2, rose to USD 427.5 per tonne by March 4, and continued increasing to USD 472.22 per tonne on March 25. Over this period, average aluminium costs in Europe rose by roughly 17–18 per cent compared to late 2025. The timing lines up with rising tensions in the Middle East. The Persian Gulf, producing about 6.8 million tonnes of primary aluminium each year, is a key supplier to Europe...
Global aluminium scrap trade trend: US sells, Asia buys
中文翻译附于新闻末尾，敬请继续阅读。 Ever since the emergence of recycled aluminium as a key lever for both decarbonisation and supply security in the industry, the United States (US) has emerged as one of the world’s leading exporters of aluminium scrap, with a well-established collection network and surplus generation. Large volumes of US-origin scrap are shipped to processing hubs in Asia, indicating a strategic supply corridor between the West and the East. That being said, with the stark demand surge for recycled aluminium across the world, the US has also been weighing the value of the metal, and as advised by the Aluminium Association, looking to treat its “aluminium scrap as a strategic asset.” Explore- Most accurate data to drive business decisions with Global ALuminium Industry Outlook 2026...
India’s power pivot: 520 GW today, 900 GW ambition tomorrow. Here's where aluminium quietly fits in!
In India, electricity deficits are overcome by the engineering dominance — that is what has been the ethos at the Bharat Electricity Summit 2026. Here, what emerged wasn’t event rhetoric. It was a shift in how the country is thinking about power, industry, and global positioning. Beneath the presentation numbers lay a deeper industrial signal of India building an electricity system that could redraw cost curves for energy-intensive sectors like aluminium. Start with the baseline. India has crossed 520 GW of installed capacity, with over 40 per cent already coming from non-fossil sources. A decade ago, the country was running a power deficit of around 4-5 per cent. Today, it is operating close to surplus, with a grid sophisticated enough to handle 15-minute scheduling and increasingly...
MYSTEEL: Middle East supply disruptions seen supporting China's aluminium prices
On March 18, the regional conflict had entered its third week, with its impact extending beyond market sentiment to materially disrupt primary aluminium smelting in several Middle Eastern countries, the report noted. For instance, on March 12, Qatalum, the 50/50 joint venture between Norsk Hydro and Qatar Aluminium Manufacturing, announced it would maintain output at around 60 per cent of capacity due to reduced gas supply, following an earlier move to implement controlled production cuts. On March 15, Aluminium Bahrain reported a 19 per cent reduction in output amid disruptions to raw material supply and transportation. Explore- Most accurate data to drive business decisions with Global ALuminium Industry Outlook 2026 across the value chain Within the region's aluminium supply chain,...
NBS: China's primary aluminium output rises 3 per cent Y-o-Y during Jan-Feb
Normally, the NBS consolidates production data for January and February to minimise distortions caused by the Chinese New Year (CNY) holiday, which usually falls in either of the two months, Mysteel Global notes. To know more about the global primary aluminium industry 2026 outlook, book the report “ Global ALuminium Industry Outlook 2026 ”. On a daily basis, primary aluminium output nationwide averaged 127,627 tonnes during the first two months of the year, rising by 2.9 per cent on year, Mysteel Global calculated based on the NBS figures. The increase in output was largely associated with the relatively higher operation rates among Chinese primary aluminium smelters during the two months compared with the same period of the previous year, market watchers said. Most smelters had...
Middle East disturbed: 350 dry bulk vessels restricted, 9% of global aluminium at risk & some buyers pay over $5,000/t
The global economy is staring at a supply shock triggered by a waterway barely 33 kilometres wide at its narrowest point. The Strait of Hormuz, sitting between Iran, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, has become the most dangerous chokepoint in global trade since the beginning of March. The waterway handles roughly 20 per cent of global seaborne oil flows, but its role in the aluminium value chain is increasingly critical. The Middle East now hosts around 7 million tonnes of aluminium smelting capacity, equivalent to about 9 per cent of global supply. When shipping through Hormuz slows, it affects two directions simultaneously: Raw materials moving into Gulf smelters Finished aluminium moving out to global buyers In the past two weeks, vessel-tracking platforms and maritime insurers have...
