AL Circle Analysis: US scrap imports hit 580kt as China slips 3.2%, who drives aluminium recycling?
Aluminium scrap is no longer a side story in the metal’s market. Rather, aluminium’s next standoff is over scrap. As US imports surge 37 per cent while China’s purchases decline, manufacturers in Europe and India are confronting a common challenge of securing affordable, reliable raw materials. With recycling rates, trade barriers and low-carbon production reshaping market, the global industry faces a critical question: who will control the metal that powers its circular future? Join the fourth edition of the webinar "Hedging for recyclers - Become an expert in 6 hours" by Jorge Dyszel. A 1.1-billion-tonne stockpile: US stocks up, China steps back, India asks for access The US imported 580,000 tonnes of aluminium scrap worth USD 2.07 billion in H1 2026 , with Canada accounting for 63.62...
A should-cost analysis of an aluminium tower furnace in India: Comparing the economics of LPG, PNG, and electric energy sources
In precision non-ferrous casting and high-volume die-casting operations, thermal energy conversion represents one of the largest controllable operating expenses. In modern aluminium foundries, where margins are squeezed by primary metal price fluctuations and stringent customer cost breakdowns, even a modest INR 1–2/kg variance in liquid metal melting cost can translate into tens of lakhs of rupees in annual cost differences. A rigorous, transparent should-cost benchmark is therefore essential for procurement teams, foundry managers and strategic sourcing leaders. This analysis examines a baseline should-cost model for a 1,000 kg/hour aluminium shaft or tower furnace in an industrial foundry. It compares liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), piped natural gas (PNG) and electric energy across...
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iRecyle in Pretoria to reward donors of recyclable aluminium cans and bottles
An initiative to encourage people to recycle will launch on June 6 in Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa. The project will be launched with the introduction of a recycling machine that rewards donors of recyclable bottles and aluminium cans. Mfundo Mkhize‚ project manager for Emvelo iRecycyle‚ said the first machine for collecting recyclyable aluminium cans and bottles will be unveiled at the Department of Environmental Affairs in Pretoria. Four other machines will be installed at the University of Pretoria‚ Wits University‚ Vaal University of Technology and University of Johannesburg. The machines are about the size of a vending machine and host a portal where an individual creates a personalised ID that needs to be entered when one deposits recyclable bottles or...
SHFE Aluminium to gather rising strength
SHFE 1607 aluminium will challenge RMB 12,500/mt on May 18 with longs gathering strength, SMM observes LME aluminium will struggle around the 5-day moving average and range USD 1,540-1,560/mt during Asian trading hours Wednesday. Spot aluminium will trade at discounts of RMB 10/mt and premiums of RMB 30/mt against SHFE 1606 aluminium. Key macroeconomic indicators for base metal prices Diverging trend is expected for base metals on Wednesday with eyes on US last week’s crude oil inventories and euro-zone April CPI. The final reading of annualized April CPI in euro zone should be negative. Inflation in euro zone shows no sign of upward momentum, European economists said. Though crude oil prices continue rallying, the flash annualized CPI for April fell short of forecast and remained in the...
Aluminium futures rise on global cues, spot demand
Tracking firmness in base metals overseas coupled with strong demand at domestic spot markets, aluminium prices edged up 0.19 per cent to INR 103.70 per kg in futures trade today as participants’ enlarged positions. Marketmen said apart from increased domestic demand, a firming trend in the base metals in global market, supported the upside in aluminium futures. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, aluminium for delivery this month inched up 20 paise, or 0.19 per cent, to INR 107.75 per kg, in a business turnover of 270 lots. The metal for delivery in June rose by a similar margin to trade at INR 104.60 per kg in 11 lots.
GE ties up with IIT-M to set up Digital Twin of an aluminium smelter
US-based conglomerate GE has signed an agreement with the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT Madras), to set up an Industrial Internet Centre of Excellence. The Centre is being established to develop applications that will help companies save costs. The first of these will be the Digital Twin of an aluminium smelter. Digital twins are digital replicas of physical smelters, from whom they collect data to analyse and support maintenance of the actual facility. One of the biggest challenges that aluminium smelters face worldwide, is high maintenance cost. According to senior company officials, GE would invest around Rs three crore in the first six months and could commit around Rs 30 crore over five years depending upon the outcome. Aluminium smelters are refineries for extracting...
Aluminium China joins hands with Guest of Honour India to explore Southeast Asian market
Upon the closing of the “Two Sessions”, it has become a central topic that China’s economy has entered the “New Normal”. The Report on Government Work made by Premier Li Keqiang has set the GDP growth target of 6.5-7 per cent for the year of 2016 based on a comprehensive assessment on the difficulties of future economic growth. In the past year, China only saw a GDP growth rate of 6.9 per cent, which was the lowest over the past 25 years. President Xi Jinping has said previously: “Nowadays, the recovery of world economy is hard and tortuous, and the Chinese economy also faces downward pressure in a certain degree. The key to resolve the issues is adherence to innovation-driven development and exploring new development approaches.” Focus on India and Other Southeast Asian Markets to Open...
CME Group expands base metals offering with new Aluminum A380 Alloy (S&P Global Platts) futures
CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, today announced it will expand its base metals offering with the introduction of a new Aluminum A380 Alloy (S&P Global Platts) futures contract to begin trading on June 6, 2016. Pending relevant regulatory review periods, the new contract will be available for trading on CME Globex, for submission for clearing through CME ClearPort, and will be listed with and subject to the rules and regulations of COMEX. "This new contract will provide our customers and market participants with an effective and transparent solution for hedging aluminum alloy price risk," said Young-Jin Chang, CME Group Executive Director of Metals Products. "Aluminum A380 Alloy futures will complement our diverse suite of physically delivered and...
Bahrain's 'green' building projects to boost demand for aluminium construction systems
Bahrain is working on 40 environment-friendly building projects as part of its sustainable development initiative aimed at reducing power and water consumption besides carbon emissions at these facilities. The initiative will likely boost the demand for aluminium construction systems in the Gulf country. The green building initiative is one of most important strategic objectives for the Ministry of Works, Municipalities Affairs and Urban Planning and is being implemented on all the existing and new construction projects for various governmental ministries and entities in Bahrain, which is being designed, supervised or maintained by the ministry. The ministry's Construction and Maintenance unit has applied sustainability measures in most projects, which are in the design, tendering and...
About 67% Chinese aluminium smelters expect aluminium prices to rise this week
SMM surveyed 36 Chinese aluminium smelters about their opinions over aluminium price outlook. Those optimists see SHFE 1607 aluminium breaking through the 10-day moving average and LME aluminium rising above USD 1,550/mt. First, aluminium capacity restarts in China are limited. China’s aluminium output fell 2 per cent YoY to 2.49 million mt in April, also down from March. Second, operating rates rose at aluminium processors, especially wire & cable producers, and will remain high in May. Third, aluminium stocks in China five major markets fell at 40,000-50,000 mt pace each week after a brief slowdown in the first week of May, and are now below 600,000 mt. Fourth, speculative capital has flowed out of SHFE aluminium market, meaning price movement will depend mainly on market fundamentals....
LME Aluminium may hover above $1,529
Aluminium on London Metal Exchange (LME) has found a key support at $1,529 per tonne, and may hover above this level or bounce to a resistance at $1,559. The support is provided by the 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement on the rise from the Nov. 23, 2015 low of $1,432.50 to the April 29 high of $1,686. Given that the drop from $1,686 could be too sharp to sustain, the metal has a better chance of pausing around $1,529 and bounce towards the 50 percent level at $1,559.
AluSolutions ended with success in Abu Dhabi
The AluSolutions conference and exhibition took place at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre on 10 – 11 May 2016. More than 300 visitors from across the international aluminium industry gathered on the first day to hear presentations from representatives from Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), Gulf Extrusions (GULFEX), Taweelah Aluminium Extrusion Company (TALEX), The Bureau for Middle East Recycling and Emirates Environmental Group. The conference was inaugurated by Senaat's ACEO, H.E Eng. Jamal Al Dhaheri (pictured), who welcomed the event to the region and highlighted the growing aluminium industry in the Gulf. The sessions continued with a look at tracking aluminium through the supply chain, downstream development and recycling and sorting technologies. Day two saw the Aluminium...
Hope for 15% safeguard duty: Satish Pai, VP, Aluminium Association of India
Indian aluminium industry seeks a safeguard duty of at least 15 per cent covering all product categories from primary to value-added, said Satish Pai, Vice President of Aluminium Association of India, in a recent interview. Pai said, "We have been always asking as you rightfully said about 15-20 per cent. Now, the government has in the last Budget, increased the duty on aluminium from 5 percent to 7.5 per cent. So, we got 2.5 per cent more duty. Now, the important point is that in that same Budget, the green cess on coal went up from INR 200 a tonne, it actually doubled to INR 400 a tonne and 40 per cent of the cost of production of aluminium comes from power. "So, that 2.5 per cent increase in duty got negated by the increase in cess on the coal. So, as a part of the overall procedure,...
Power price hikes for Aucklanders likely to weigh on Tiwai Point aluminium smelter's operations
Consumers in the upper North Island would face the biggest increase in national electricity grid charges under the Electricity Authority's proposed changes to transmission pricing while the Rio Tinto-controlled aluminium smelter at Tiwai Point would get less than half the benefit it may have hoped for. The authority released a consultation paper on transmission pricing that proposes replacing the current two main charges - $150 million a year for the HVDC link between the North and South islands and an interconnection charge of $639 million a year, with two new charges: an area-of-benefit (AoB) charge of $296 million and a residual charge for Transpower's costs of $500 million a year, spread across the country. Because consumers in Auckland and the Far North have received the biggest...
China alumina supply deficit to turn into surplus, SMM predicts
Alumina supply in China will gradually shift into a small surplus with release of new and restarted alumina capacity in May, SMM foresees. SMM estimates about 200,000 tonne supply deficit in domestic alumina market, excluding imported alumina. There is still room for alumina prices to rise in the near term, but the upside space will be limited by growing supply, SMM added. As of May 17, SMM alumina price was reported at 1,996 yuan per tonne.
Gladstone's alumina refineries could get exemption: Labor
Australian Labor Party candidate Zac Beers voiced a strong opposition against senator Matt Canavan's comments yesterday that a Labor government would send Gladstone's aluminium industry offshore by saying Labor's policy was about creating and nurturing industries not wrecking them. Liberal senator Mr Canavan said last night that Labor's renewable energy target of 50 per cent by 2030 was the biggest risk facing the alumina refineries and aluminium smelters operating in the region. But Labor's Flynn candidate has said the 100 per cent exemption that Queensland Alumina Limited, Rio Tinto Yarwun and Boyne Smelters Limited currently had was not off the table if Labor won the forthcoming election. "If the Labor party was elected we would engage in an extensive consultation process with related...
CBIX up, Malaysia exports to resume
Bauxite prices were up 3.5 per cent (US$1.5/dmt), closing at US$44.9/dmt for the week, driven by higher ViU-priced cargos from Brazil. In Malaysia, AK and Spring Energy have resumed mining and are planning to export through Kemaman port, some 20-30km north of Kuantan port. We therefore expect to see exports from Malaysia hit the radar again in the near term, although capacity through Kemaman has some constraints, so it’s unlikely to be large tonnages over the next few months. Malaysian prices remain in the range US$25/dmt to US$27/dmt (unadjusted) for unwashed material. Bauxite originating from Guinea continues to increase its presence in the traded bauxite market (into China), as the SMB joint venture consolidates itself as a consistent export entity with increasing market influence....
Rehab programme underway in Fiji's bauxite mining areas
The Fiji Government is monitoring the rehabilitation work at bauxite mining sites in the North as outlined by XINFA Mining in their rehabilitation plan. The programme is to be continued until the site is fully rehabilitated, Director Mineral Resources Raijeli Taga said in an official update. Ms Taga said the rehab work was being closely monitored to ensure the conditions set out by the department were being followed. She added, so far, the programme had been carried out well with 120,000 pine trees planted on the Nawailevu South post bauxite mining site. "This rehabilitation work is closely monitored by the department so that it is according to the conditions of rehabilitation given to the company. This monitoring will apply to all their mine sites," Ms Taga said. Mrs Taga said they had...
Gladstone alumina industry may go offshore with government’s 50% renewable energy target: opposition
According to Senator Matt Canavan, Labor & Green government's 50 percent renewable energy target by 2030 would close the alumina refinery and smelter and send the industry off shore. The Liberal National Party senator said the only way Labor could achieve those targets would be to get the major producers to buy the more expensive renewable energy. Aluminium smelters such as BSL and alumina refineries like Queensland Alumina Limited and Rio Tinto Yarwun are exempt from the renewable energy targets. The Australian Government increased the exemption to 100 percent in 2015 to "ease pressure on business" and "improve the competitiveness of Australian industry" the Clean Energy Regulator website reads. "(But) If (those industries) have to come back into renewable energy, buy renewable energy,...
Magellan Aerospace secures multi-year contracts with GKN Aerospace
Magellan Aerospace announced an agreement today between Magellan Aerospace (UK) Ltd and GKN Aerospace for a contract extension to deliver precision aluminium and titanium components and assemblies to GKN Aerospace's Filton facility where complex wing structures are manufactured and assembled for the A320, A330 and A380 aircraft programs. This contract extension is projected to generate revenues in excess of CDN $130 million through to December 2020 and the components and assemblies will be supplied from Magellan facilities located in the United Kingdom and Poland and its joint ventures in India. Magellan was also awarded a new contract to supply A350 outboard flap precision machine details and assemblies. This new contract is projected to generate revenues of CDN $36 million to December...
