AL Circle Analysis: Aluminium’s recycling economics, trade walls and carbon rules converge
The story of the aluminium industry is starting a chapter wherein scrap availability, recycling technology, trade policy, carbon costs and demand growth are becoming increasingly interconnected. From the US and Canada to Europe, India, New Zealand and China, recent developments show that the global aluminium supply chain is being reshaped on several fronts at once. These developments point to a changing aluminium business model: access to metal alone may no longer be enough. Quality of recycled feedstock, domestic processing capacity, carbon intensity, trade exposure and the ability to meet increasingly specific customer requirements could become equally important competitive factors. Join the fourth edition of the webinar “Hedging for recyclers - Become an expert in 6 hours” by Jorge...
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...
Grow with
AL Circle
Indian aluminium firms await respite
Indian steel companies have seen their fortunes swing back after implementation of the minimum import price but aluminium majors await similar triggers. The recommendation of the Directorate General of Safeguards for a provisional safeguard duty of five per cent ad valorem for 200 days had lifted sentiment but this has subsided, with the Street cautious on implementation and its benefits. Prices on the London Metal Exchange had touched $1,660 a tonne in end-April and are now about $100 less. Thus, it is not surprising that Hindalco, National Aluminium and Vedanta’s stocks have fallen by nine to 13 per cent in the past fortnight. Analysts believe the respite and benefits from imposition of the safeguard duty will be limited. For one, even if it is imposed, price rises in the domestic arena...
Orbite appoints Charles Taschereau as Chief Operating Officer
Orbite Technologies Inc. has announced the appointment of Charles Taschereau as Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer (COO) for the company, effective June 6, 2016. Mr. Taschereau joins Orbite from Congo Equipment S.A.R.L., a Caterpillar equipment dealer with 1,200 employees and over $350 million in annual sales, where he was CEO. Prior to joining Congo Equipment, he was COO at Canada Lithium Corporation, prior to its acquisition by RB Energy. At Canada Lithium, Mr. Taschereau was responsible for management of its feasibility study, financing and subsequent construction of its lithium project in Quebec. Throughout a career spanning over 25 years, he has held various senior management positions, including project management mandates, financing responsibilities and process engineering...
Bauxite Hills EIS open for public comment
The environmental-impact statement (EIS) for the proposed Bauxite Hills project, in Cape York, has been opened for public comment after the Queensland government accepted the document. ASX-listed Metro Mining in April submitted the EIS to the Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection. The company said on Thursday that having the EIS open for public comment was a major milestone in the approvals process for the Bauxite Hills project, and followed the securing of native title and access agreements in January. The EIS considered the development of a direct shipping ore bauxite mine, producing up to five-million tonnes a year. The project would not require a tailings dam or dredging or bed levelling of the Skardon river, and would be operated during the dry season, which...
Iran to seek bids for Guinea bauxite pipeline in aluminium push
Iran expects to issue a tender by the end of 2016 to build a pipeline in Guinea for transporting bauxite mined in the West African nation to a port for shipment to the Persian Gulf country to provide raw material for a planned $10 billion aluminium production push. The tender would be issued after an economic feasibility study is received by German consultants DMT GmbH in the next two to three months, Mohammad Aghajanlou, director of the mineral industries department of state-owned Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, said in an interview in Tehran on Thursday. Iran plans to boost aluminium production to 1.5 million metric tons a year by 2025. Iran has a joint partnership with Guinea’s government to develop a bauxite mine in Dabola, about 370...
Constellium reports First Quarter 2016 financial results
Constellium N.V. today reported results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2016. The company began 2016 with solid first quarter results. Revenues for the first quarter of 2016 were €1.2 billion, a decrease of 17 per cent from €1.4 billion in the first quarter 2015, primarily driven by lower metal prices and a 5 per cent decrease in volumes. On a like-for-like basis (excluding the impact of movements in London Metal Exchange prices, premiums and currency exchange rates), revenue was down 5 per cent from the prior year. Adjusted EBITDA was €92 million, which represented a decrease of 3 per cent from the first quarter 2015 Adjusted EBITDA of €95 million. First quarter 2016 shipments were 362k metric tons, a decrease of 5 per cent from Q1 2015. Adjusted EBITDA per metric ton for the first...
Windorex + Glass & Aluminium Oman 2016 awaits to uncork opportunities for SMEs in the Sultanate
Windorex + Glass & Aluminium Oman 2016 – the Sultanate’s first of its kind trade event on the windows, doors, glass, aluminium, facades and sun protection systems industry – opens at Oman International Exhibition Centre next week, spotlighting one of the fastest growing segments of the all-important construction sector. Organised by the well-known events management firm, Global Exhibitions & Conferences LLC (GEC), the Windorex + Glass & Aluminium Oman 2016 will be formally inaugurated by HE Dr. Fuad Jaffer Al Sajwani, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, on 16th May 2016. With its focus on a wide array of products and services associated with the construction industry, the three day expo promises to present a plethora of opportunities for investment, trade, partnerships and SME...
Clondalkin invests in Berhalter’s SMARTembossing system for aluminium lids
Clondalkin Flexible Packaging Bury has invested in Berhalter’s SMARTembossing system to increase print quality on aluminium lids. Clondalkin is claimed to be the only pre-cut lids manufacturer in the UK to have the SMARTembosser technology, which increases branding opportunities on foil lids. SMARTembossing enables customers to select whereabouts on the lid, which have the embossing. It helps customers to emboss the rim of the lid only, leaving the rest of the lid smooth and any graphics unaffected. Clondalkin Flexible Packaging lids technical manager Paul Whelan said: "Embossing is a technical requirement on all pre-cut aluminium lids and traditionally this is produced with an all-over embossing pattern. "Customers can also choose to emboss the entire lid, but use the SMARTembosser to...
LME representative among BIR Nonferrous speakers
The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) Non-Ferrous Metals Division has announced three guest speakers who will address “the main parameters that are currently determining the market dynamics for nonferrous metal scrap” at the BIR’s World Recycling Convention in Berlin on May 31, 2016. The Non-Ferrous Division meeting will feature presentations from the three speakers followed by “an open exchange [discussion] that promises to touch on some key issues affecting the recycling industry,” according to the BIR. The three guest speakers are: • Oscar Wehtje, head of product development at the London Metal Exchange (LME), whose presentation will offer a look at “current parameters for demand and supply of copper and aluminium,” says BIR; • Eugen Weinberg, managing director - head of...
Aluminium futures firm up as spot demand hardens
Aluminium prices edged up by 0.68 per cent to INR 104.40 per kg in futures trade yesterday, May 11, as participants enlarged positions amid a firming trend overseas. Moreover, strong demand in spot markets influenced metal prices. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, aluminium for delivery in the current month inched up 0.68 per cent, to INR 104.40 per kg, in a business turnover of 787 lots. Metal for delivery in June also rose by 70 paise, or 0.67 per cent, to trade at INR 105.30 per kg in four lots. Traders said that apart from increased domestic demand, a firming global trend as data showing firming inflation eased demand concerns in China, the world's biggest user, helped aluminium futures trade higher.
Indonesia's Inalum to double aluminium output to 500,000 T/yr by 2020
PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum), Indonesia's state-owned aluminium producer, has announced plans to increase its aluminium smelting output to 500,000 tonnes a year by 2020. The current production level of the aluminium producer stands at 260,000 tonnes per annum, said Dante Sinaga, who heads the firm's coal power station development project. Inalum also plans to increase its output to 1 million tonnes per year by 2025 as demand for aluminium having a wide range of applications from foils to aerospace is projected to more than double from current levels in nine years, he added.
LME aluminium to correct at lows, SMM forecasts
LME aluminium has found support at the 40-day and 60-day moving averages and will consolidate at USD 1,560-1,580/mt on Thursday. SHFE 1607 aluminium will range RMB 12,000-12,200/mt, with support at the 40-day moving average. In China’s spot aluminium market, spot discounts of RMB 0-20/mt and spot premiums of RMB 0-20/mt are expected over SHFE 1605 aluminium contract. Key Macroeconomic Indicators for Base Metal Prices Market attention will focus on US initial jobless claims and April import price index on Thursday. Despite disappointing US April non-farm payrolls, US initial jobless claims for last week remained below 300,000 for 61 weeks in a row, which will have limited impact on market. Rising crude oil prices will potentially improve US inflation in April. US import price index is...
Vedanta pegs aluminium production cost below $1400 in FY17
Diversified metals and mining major Vedanta Resources has pegged its aluminium production cost below the level of $1400 a tonne in this financial year, aiming to close in on the gap with global producers like Rusal, Rio Tinto Alcan and Norsk Hydro. For Vedanta, keeping to its projected cost seems a challenge tough to negotiate given its dependence on coal-based power. This is unlike global peers such as Rusal, Rio Tinto Alcan and Norsk Hydro, who exploit cheap hydro power to prune production cost. Aluminium smelters with the lowest production cost are concentrated in the Persian Gulf, Russia, Canada, Iceland and South Africa where manufacturing cost is in the range of $1,100-1,450 a tonne.The Maaden smelter in Saudi Arabia, where Alcoa holds 25 per cent stake is the most cost effective...
Iran seeks partners for $10 bln expansion in aluminium
Iranian miners are seeking $10 billion to develop a domestic aluminum industry that could serve to export 60 percent of production to meet growing demand for the metal used in cars to jets and beverage cans. The raw material bauxite needed to achieve that goal is proving hard to find. Iran’s aluminum production of 350,000 metric tons a year is below capacity of 470,000 tons because of a shortage of bauxite and insufficient electricity generation, Mehdi Karbasian, managing director of state-owned Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization, said at a conference in Tehran Wednesday. With additional investment, Iran could boost output to 1.5 million tons by 2025, he said. Unlike Iran’s oil industry which was crippled because of international sanctions, the...
Shandong Weiqiao gets approval for large alumina project in Indonesia
Shandong Weiqiao Aluminum & Electricity Co.’s large-scale alumina project in Indonesia has recently been approved by Shandong Development & Reform Commission. It is learnt from industry sources that the project, located in West Kalimantan and with total investment at $ 1 billion, will have an annual capacity of 2 million tonnes.
Metro Mining Ltd extends Gulf Alumina merger offer to 26 May 2016
Metro Mining Ltd has now extended the close of the Gulf Alumina merger offer to 26 May 2016. The offer was 3.3 shares in Metro for every one share in Gulf. On 8 March 2016, the Offer was declared to be free of all conditions. In its Second Supplementary Bidder’s Statement, dated 6 April 2016, Metro intends to increase the consideration offered under the offer to 3.5 shares in Metro for every one share in Gulf, subject to conditions set out in statement. The merger would create a much larger independent Cape York bauxite company with enhanced market relevance, and would effectively double the reserve base of circa 96 million tonnes. The new entity would also realise significant operational synergies, such as economies of scale and enhanced financing capability given improved economics and...
Nalco turns world's cheapest alumina producer
Public sector aluminium firm National Aluminium Company (Nalco) has achieved the rare distinction of becoming the world's cheapest alumina producer. "Nalco is now the cheapest alumina producer in the world. We have cut alumina making cost by $30-40 per tonne", said Nalco's chairman and managing director (CMD) T K Chand. Chand said, Nalco started its focus on cost reduction since August 2015 when it unveiled its new business plan to buck the slowdown in global aluminium industry. Nalco's alumina production cost has fallen to $190 a tonne compared to the global benchmark of $220-230 per tonne. "Nalco has emphasized on cost curtailment and productivity improvement. Our single flight conveyor system measuring 14.6 km and transporting bauxite from the captive mines to the Damanjodi refinery...
UC RUSAL invests $2 mln in Boksitogorsk alumina refinery modernization
UC RUSAL , a leading global aluminium producer, has commenced the modernization of the Boksitogorsk Alumina Refinery. The goal of the modernization programme is to increase the production of corundum, which is used in the manufacturing of abrasive and fire-resistant products. The project investment will total about USD 2 million. Completion of the modernization project will allow for product range expansion on account of new fractions’ production, as well as allowing for an increase in annual corundum production volume by 10 thousand tonnes – up to 73 thousand tonnes per annum. The products will be supplied to Europe, Japan, the USA, Russia and the CIS. The modernization program is scheduled to complete in 2017 and will take place in several stages. Currently, project documentation is...
Growing supply to limit alumina price gains, SMM expects
While the latest round of alumina price rise in China is nowhere near end, future upside room will be curbed by growing supply from production recovery, SMM predicts. Alumina capacity restarts are still on the rise, while aluminium capacity restarts cannot keep up pace. This means alumina supply will turn into surplus in the medium term, SMM foresees. SMM learns that Shandong Lubei Chemical Co. brought 250,000-tpy metallurgical-grade alumina capacity back online in May. Luoyang Xiangjiang Wanji Aluminium Co. plans to restart 600,000-tpy alumina capacity in late May. It is said Shandong Weiqiao Group has restarted 1 million-tpy alumina capacity to match its new aluminium capacity.
