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...
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China aluminium semis exports unlikely to rebound significantly in March
A slump in China’s aluminium semis exports in February sparked concerns over export volumes in March. SMM sees any potential rebound to be marginal. Higher SHFE/LME aluminium price ratio, which climbed above 7.6 in March, will be the main constraint on aluminium semis outflows, SMM explained. Some Chinese traders told SMM that they will cut exports against unfavorable price ratio. Large aluminium processors reported stable export orders, though, SMM learns, since those producers have signed long-term contracts with overseas buyers. Customs data showed China’s aluminium semis exports totaled 260,000 tonnes in February, down 34.1 per cent from a year ago and down from January’s 330,000 tonnes. The Chinese New Year holiday was mainly blamed for the decline.
MCX Aluminium strengthens on increased demand
Aluminium prices at Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) Mumbai, advanced by INR 2 per kg at the non-ferrous market on March 26, Saturday, largely due to pick-up in demand from consuming industries. However, other base metals held steady in thin trade. Traders said increased demand from consuming industries and reports of a firm trend in its prices in Asian region kept aluminium prices higher. In the national capital, aluminium ingots, sheet cutting, wire scrap and utensil scrap added another INR 2 each to INR 150, INR 146, INR 146 and INR 144 per kg respectively. Following were the rates of aluminium and aluminium products (in INR per kg) on March 26: • Aluminium ingots INR 150 • Aluminium sheet cutting INR 146 • Aluminium wire scrap INR 146 • Aluminium utensils scrap INR 144
Australian Bauxite hopes improving market conditions will fire up its Campbell Town mine
Australian Bauxite hopes it will be able to finally lock in a sale within the next month for some of the 120,000 of material extracted from its Campbell Town mine last year. Trouble struck the small mining company’s Bald Hill mine in December when the global bauxite mining collapsed, just after it commenced operation. This resulted in the cancellation of a substantial sale to a Chinese buyer shortly after. Australian Bauxite Chief Executive Ian Levy said market conditions were gradually returning due to a decision earlier this year by the Chinese government to ease bank credit conditions. He said the company was now negotiating sales contracts and receiving requests that they were not receiving last year. “Because we are such a small operation, we need to be paid when it is put on the...
Aluminium touches six-months high in China as metals rise
Aluminium increased for a third day to the highest level in six months as metals advanced in Shanghai after a report that industrial profits increased in China, ending a seven-month losing streak. The London Metal Exchange was closed for a public holiday. The metal used in everything from beverage cans to window frames added as much as 1.1 per cent to 11,830 yuan ($1,818) a metric ton, the highest since September 25, before trading at 11,810 by 11:29 a.m. local time. Futures in Shanghai have rallied about 22 per cent from their record low on November 24 as China’s biggest smelters vowed to curb capacity and output fell 7.7 per cent from a year earlier in the first two months of 2016. Other non-ferrous metals declined last week, as commodities were hurt by a stronger dollar. Industrial...
Aditya Aluminium commissions 360th Potline
Aditya Birla Group’s Odisha based Aditya Aluminium at Lapanga in Sambalpur district has announced having achieved its full capacity utilisation. Start up of the 360th Pot of Potline was done on Friday, thereby completing the commissioning phase, a company statement said on Saturday. Aditya Aluminium is a smelter-power plant complex at Lapanga with 360,000 tonnes smelter supported by a 6 x 150 MW coal based captive power. On this occasion a function was held in the plant premises where senior officials from the company’s management and a large number of employees were present. The MoU with Odisha government for Aditya Aluminium was signed in 2005 and the MoEF clearance was obtained in 2006. The first concrete was laid in February, 2011 after getting 2nd stage forest clearance from MoEF...
Nalco zeros in on Oman, Iran, Qatar for $2bn smelter unit
India's state-owned aluminium producer National Aluminium Co (Nalco) has zeroed in on three locations in the Arabian Gulf - Iran, Oman and Qatar - to set up a nearly US$2bn smelter unit. Iran is the frontrunner to host the new facility. Nalco has been on the look out for a location abroad to build the 500,000 metric tonnes-per-year aluminium smelter. The company also considered potential sites in South East Asia and the UAE, in addition to Iran and Oman. According to latest available reports, Nalco is in advanced stages of discussions to explore the possibility of setting up the smelter in Iran. The company will also visit Oman and Qatar to work out the best place to set up the project. Low power and infrastructure costs are among the key considerations of Bhubaneswar, Odisha-based Nalco,...
India’s aluminium demand to rise to 20 mt, says Vedanta Chief
The total consumption of aluminium in India is going to experience a major leap in the foreseeable future reaching 20 million tonnes (mt) from the present 2mt, claims Vedanta Resources Chairman Anil Agarwal. According to Mr. Agarwal, “It (India’s aluminium consumption) is going to be 20 mt. Large industries will move to aluminium products. Railways, construction, aerospace, automobiles will contribute to higher growth of the metal.” At a recently held CII event in New Delhi, he said aluminium as a light metal has immense potential of becoming the mainstay of industries in future and setting up a small and medium enterprise (SME) in the sector would require an investment between INR 25-500 crore. On being asked about credit related issues SMEs face in India, Mr. Agarwal said: “It is a myth...
Australia outpasses Malaysia to become China's top bauxite supplier
Bauxite shipments from Astralia to China have zoomed past Malaysia's bauxite shipments to China. According to the latest export-import data released by the General Customs Administration of China, Australia shipped 1,057,321 million tonnes (mt) of bauxite, the principal ore of aluminium, to China in February 2016, while Malaysia shipped 986,930 mt during the same period. Malaysia’s three-month ban on bauxite mining, which started on January 15, sent China’s imports from the once top supplier down 54.3 per cent month-on-month in February. Such decline in bauxite shipments caused China’s total imports to tumble 39 per cent from January to 3.22 mt in February, customs data showed. SMM attributes lower imports of bauxite partly to production cuts by major Chinese alumina refiners, especially...
China alumina import rises 23% and export 83% YoY during Jan-Feb 2016
Alumina import to China rose 13 per cent year-on-year in February 2016 and 23.12 per cent year-on-year during January - February 2016, revealed data released by the General Administration of Customs, China on March 21. Total alumina imported in February stood at 372,375 million tonnes, while it scaled up to reach 879,903 million tonnes during January - February 2016. Australia shipped 191,152 million tonnes of alumina to China in February and 550,296 million tonnes over January - February. Alumina import from Brazil to China during January - February also increased 25 per cent from the corresponding period previous year. Customs data showed, alumina imports from Vietnam and India to China during January - February period declined 26 per cent and 73 per cent respectively from the same...
LME aluminium to test support at $1,470
LME aluminium is expected to test a support at $1,470 per tonne, with a good chance of breaking below this level and falling more towards $1,449. The support is identified as the 86.4 per cent Fibonacci retracement on the rise from the January 12 low of $1,449 to the March 7 high of $1,605, blocking the way towards $1,449. Labelled B, the third wave of a three-wave cycle from the November 23, 2015 low of $1,432.50 has ended at $1,449. Wave theory suggests that this low may be approached. Resistance is at $1,486, the 76.4 per cent level, a break above which may open the way towards the 61.8 per cent level at $1,509.
Beck Aluminum makes good on expansion plans of its recycling facility
Less than a year after relocating to a 192,000-square-foot building at 7505 Durand Ave., Beck Aluminum has expanded its operations, making improvements in both capacity and efficiency. It has added 25 jobs, bringing their total number of employees in Mount Pleasant to 68, according to the Racine County Economic Development Corporation. Part of Ohio-based Beck Aluminum Alloys, Beck Aluminum is one of the only suppliers of both primary and recycled aluminium ingot to the casting industry. Beck Aluminum has recycling plants in Racine WI, and Lebanon PA. The company moved from its original location at 1349 23rd St. last year and settled on the Durand Avenue location based after considering several strategic factors. After relocation, the company made a number of improvements to the building,...
China's Sinolight Aluminium introduces aluminium coils, discs for industrial applications
Sinolight Aluminium, the largest aluminium processing enterprise in China, has introduced a wide range of aluminium coils, discs foils, color coated coils etc for industries around the world. Aluminium is a light metal and its coils, discs, foils could be used in a variety of industries. China based Sinolight Aluminium produces aluminium coils and discs of various specifications for industrial use. Recognized as the largest aluminum processing industry in China the company with high grade aluminum metal and with the modern technology produces quality coils and discs for offset printing household appliances and construction and decoration and other industries. The leading aluminium manufacturer boasts of its manufacturing facility and the equipment to help deliver international class...
Eaton unveils aluminium DC collection system for utility-scale solar
Eaton has added to its Crouse-Hinds series with the new Sunnector aluminium direct-current (DC) collection system, which is designed for use with 5 MW and larger-scale, grid-tied solar PV projects that incorporate fixed-tilt ground-mount racking. The power management company says the new system includes wire harnesses and combiner boxes meant to support DC strings made with aluminium wire, which help reduce labor and material costs by 15 per cent, on average. According to Eaton, the system allows installers to take advantage of lower-cost and lighter-weight aluminium wire while providing equivalent performance to copper wire. Cost savings correlate to string length, and the system is designed for applications where string run lengths are longer. While taking advantage of the cost savings...
More Korean car makers use aluminium to reduce vehicle weight
As the global car industry is going greener, South Korean carmakers are working on making car bodies as light as possible to guarantee higher fuel efficiency, meaning less greenhouse gas emissions. Kia Motors Corp. said Thursday that it used aluminium made by U.S.-based leading automotive aluminium maker Novelis Inc. for its new hybrid utility vehicle Niro slated for launch next week in the car’s hood and tailgate in an effort to reduce the overall weight of the car. Its sister company Hyundai Motor Co. also used aluminium for its first dedicated hybrid IONIQ. The Korean car makers hope to improve fuel efficiency and lower emissions by using aluminium, which is known to weigh one-third of steel, in their cars. Hybrid cars are usually heavier than gasoline-run cars because they are fitted...
Jaya Hind Montupet opens new INR 200 cr plant in Dewas
Jaya Hind Montupet, a joint venture of Jaya Hind Industries (a subsidiary of Force Motors) and Montupet France, inaugurated its ultra-modern gravity die casting foundry at Dewas, near Indore in Madhya Pradesh. While the Pune-based Jaya Hind Industries is engaged in aluminium die casting, Montupet is a French industrial group which specialises in the design and production of complex cast aluminium parts for the automotive industry. The new facility was inaugurated by Yashodhara Raje Scindia, Minister for Commerce, Industries and Employment, Madhya Pradesh; Dr Abhay Firodia, chairman, Abhay Firodia Group of Industries, and Prasan Firodia, director, Jaya Hind Montupet. The joint venture has been set up for the development and manufacture of automotive cylinder heads in India. A combination...
Mojave Aluminum shelves remelt and casting house project in Lenwood
Mojave Aluminum President Eric Shen has officially notified the city that his company will not proceed with building a $120 million, 500,000-square-foot aluminium remelt and casting house plant in Lenwood. In a letter addressed to Mayor Julie Hackbarth-McIntyre and City Council Members dated received on March 17, Shen blamed the project's demise on the Dupre Analytics report that was released in August. The report accused China Zhongwang Holdings Limited of fraudulent market practices. Shen was named as a "key player" for China Zhongwang's Chairman Liu Zhongtian in the report. "I have tried earnestly to convince, appease and appeal with Mojave Aluminum's lender to reconsider its decision to cease all funding activities," Shen said in the letter. "Mojave Aluminum's lender has issued its...
Wan Junaidi cites lack of rules for slow reaction to Pahang bauxite crisis
A lack of regulations and coordination among government agencies were the main reasons why Putrajaya was slow to respond to the Pahang bauxite mining crisis, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar admitted today. He also said the state lacked thorough procedures to deal with bauxite mining. “Kemaman MP also had been pushing me every week to carry out the decision made by the Cabinet but I had to discuss with all the stakeholders, I have to be careful with the way I step. The delay did happen, I don’t deny what is said. “Secondly, we don’t have the best procedures, the best practice was not there. Another thing there were no rules for transportation, no rules for the stockpile… there were no rules at all. There were some guidelines,” he said in...
China aluminium at 5-month high after Head of Govt says economy stabilizing
Aluminium in China traded at the highest level in five months after China Premier Li Keqiang said the world’s second-largest economy is showing signs of stabilizing, bolstering the outlook for demand for metals. Aluminium rose as much as 1.3 per cent to 11,670 yuan ($1,789.71) a metric ton on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the highest intraday level since October 12, and traded at 11,645 yuan at 9:51 a.m. • The London Metal Exchange is closed for a public holiday. • China’s economy has gotten off to a “good and stable” start this year and the government’s low debt levels give policy makers the tools to ensure growth in the range of 6.5 per cent to 7 per cent, Li said at the Boao Forum on Thursday.
