AL Circle Analysis: Bauxite developments, alumina trade & primary aluminium market dynamics across Australia, Guinea, US & India
The aluminium industry is entering another phase of supply-chain repositioning. Across bauxite, alumina and primary aluminium, companies are investing in new resources, consolidating strategic assets and expanding processing capacity, while governments are increasingly treating domestic supply as a strategic priority. The latest developments from Australia, Guyana, Guinea, Indonesia, the US and India point to a market where resource security, processing location and control over supply chains are becoming as important as production growth. At the same time, new trading mechanisms and changing investment patterns are beginning to influence how aluminium and its raw materials reach the market. Bauxite supply expands, but securing the right tonnes is becoming harder In Western Australia, VBX...
China's 22.87 Mt extrusion market faces a structural shift as 317 GW solar growth counters weak construction demand
The global aluminium extrusion landscape is undergoing a structural transition driven by industrial decarbonisation, global electrification, and the rapid deployment of clean energy infrastructure. Historically anchored by civil engineering and residential real estate, demand for extruded aluminium profiles in China, the world’s dominant manufacturing hub, is decoupling from traditional property sectors. Persistent structural weakness in China’s domestic construction market has slowed the consumption of conventional architectural profiles such as window frames, door sections, and curtain walls. Conversely, advanced industrial applications, specifically solar photovoltaic (PV) racking, battery energy storage systems (BESS), power grid modernisation, and electric vehicles (EVs), have...
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NALCO inks R&D agreement with Chalieco
An agreement has been signed between NALCO, a Government of India enterprise and Chalieco of China, for R&D cooperation in the fields of mutual interest. Projects to be taken up by these two companies include separation of iron concentrate from Red Mud and Extraction of Gallium from Bayer Liquor, according to an official release issued here. “Extraction of marketable iron concentrate from Red Mud will be our first R&D project with Chalieco. This will be a major step in extracting value out of Red Mud, which is otherwise treated as an industrial waste,” said Tapan Kumar Chand, CMD of NALCO. “On successful completion of the project, efforts will be commercialized through a demonstration plant,” Chand added. The agreement was signed on Tuesday at Bhubaneswar by B.K. Satpathy, Executive...
Margins set to improve for auto component makers in 2016
Auto component makers including aluminium and aluminium alloy based die-cast component manufacturers may finally turn in a decent performance in the year to March. A few quarters ago, the industry was worried, given the prolonged auto slowdown in global markets, especially Europe and the US, and sluggish sales across most segments in domestic markets. These concerns were mirrored in the underperformance of shares of leading auto component makers over the last one year. Stocks of companies like Motherson Sumi Systems Ltd and Bharat Forge Ltd that have supplies to overseas original equipment (OE) makers have been battered more as exports slowed down. But there are reasons for optimism now, observe analysts. Domestic sales in India, which account for most part of the total auto component...
Iran plans to double mining share in GDP; Mining SEZ under construction
With the fall in oil prices, Iran’s focus has drifted to non-oil sectors and the government is aiming to increase the mining sector’s current GDP share from less than 1 per cent to more than 2 per cent within next ten years, a report said. The Islamic Republic is also targeting growth in relevant downstream industries from 5 per cent to 20 per cent, added the report titled "Iran Drifts to Non-Oil Based Sectors, Mining Sector to get Impetus” from Frost & Sullivan, a growth partnership company. This requires mining and relevant industries to grow at 10-12 per cent per annum. “The boom in the mining sector will help the Iranian Government reduce the unemployment rate and raise non-oil revenues significantly,” said Ali Mirmohammad, senior consultant and business development manager - Iran,...
Protectionism rises as govts seek to help aluminium and other metal manufacturing
Protectionist action is clearly on the rise and even as economies slowly recover next year anti-dumping action can be surely expected to get worse not better across the world. Aluminium along with other industrial metals have hit the headlines most this year, not surprisingly as the volumes are greatest for these major commodities and, arguably, China’s excess capacity is worst in these two metals than any other. But it is not just China that has been the subject of anti-dumping action. Brazil gratefully received news the EU was not persevering with a 17.6% levy on aluminium but UC Rusal is incensed that the European Commission turned a provisional 12.2% duty introduced in July on aluminium foil from Russia into a definitive five-year levy. That duty targets Rusal, the only Russian...
Alba wins the Gold at the International Green Apple Awards 2015
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba)’s, one of the world’s leading smelters and a well-known environmental champion, is the proud winner of the Gold category in the prestigious International Green Apple Awards 2015 for its project ‘Aluminium Smelter to Green Oasis’. The Green Apple Environment Awards - one of the world’s foremost environment award campaigns - recognises, rewards and promotes environmental best practices around the world. Commenting on this occasion, Alba’s Chief Executive Officer, Tim Murray said, “Recognised as an environmentally-friendly smelter, Alba, over the years, has made considerable investments in eco-friendly measures that have enhanced sustainability as well as aided the preservation of a healthy environment for generations to come. Winning the Gold at the...
Aluminium market rises on short covering, open interest drops 10.43%
Aluminium settled up 0.15% at 100.70 as other metals rallied also support seen after the update that China's aluminium smelters have pledged to shut more production this month and not to add any new capacity in 2016, but market participants say this would do little to dent global overcapacity that has ballooned as the world's No.2 economy slows after decades of breakneck growth. Demand in China that alone accounts for a major portion of the industrial metal demand has slowed down due to the country's tepid property market and weaker infrastructure investment growth. China's economic growth has cast a shadow on investors' view of commodities demand and, as a result, brought down demand for metals, leading to price weakness. China's GDP in the third quarter slowed down to a six-year low to...
Noranda awaits arbitrators’explanation regarding bauxite levy
In a December 18 Form 8-k filing to the US Securities Exchange Commission, Noranda Aluminium Holdings Company (NAHC) Limited said it is looking forward to an explanation by the United Kingdom- based arbitration panel which granted the government of Jamaica an increase in the levy paid on locally mined bauxite. Noranda noted in its filing that the “arbitration panel rendered the decision without including an explanation of the reasons for its decision. The company anticipates that the arbitration panel will issue an explanation of the reasons for its decision in the first quarter of 2016.” The arbitration proceeding addressed a dispute between Noranda Bauxite Limited - an NAHC associated company - and the Government of Jamaica regarding the extent to which NBL must make production levy...
Slowing demand from China weighs LME aluminium down 0.3 percent
London aluminium edged lower on Wednesday, December 30th, giving up some of their gains from the previous session as concerns over slowing demand in top consumer China and weakness in crude oil weighed on prices. LME aluminium slid 0.3 percent to $1,530 a tonne. "LME aluminium price is under pressure, the slow demand growth in China is a major concern," said Jackie Wang, a consultant at CRU in Beijing. "The Chinese aluminium market was down at the beginning of this week, which is getting reflected in LME prices." A weakness in crude oil prices also demonstrated concerns over economic growth and ample commodity supplies. Crude oil futures fell more than 1 percent as the market remained under pressure from slowing demand and high supplies, while forecasts that a cold snap in Europe and the...
Santee Cooper board authorizes new Century Aluminum contract
The board of directors of Santee Cooper authorized management to execute a new power supply contract for Century Aluminum's Mt. Holly plant. The three-year contract, which takes effect on Friday, January 1st, specifies Santee Cooper will deliver 100 percent of the plant's electric needs, according to a release from the company. “This new contract essentially continues terms Mt. Holly has had since 2012, utilizing a combination of Santee Cooper and third-party generation, which already has saved Mt. Holly $130 million,” Santee Cooper president and CEO Lonnie Carter said in a statement. Santee Cooper announced on December 18 Century Aluminum had accepted in principle an agreement for the utility to power the plant, thereby reducing by half the estimated 600 layoffs that had been scheduled...
US aluminium producers to go slow on their smelter capacity cut plans
Aluminium producers across the United States have eased plans to cut primary aluminium smelting capacity, helping to slightly soften the blow to US anode-grade petroleum coke markets. The cuts still shrink the US aluminium industry's demand for coke by nearly one-third from 2014 levels. Early fourth quarter plans by US aluminium producers Alcoa and Century Aluminum to slash domestic smelting capacity would have cut the US industry's demand for petroleum coke by about 37 percent compared with 2014. But recent announcements to keep some of that capacity operating have lowered that figure to about 32 percent. Pittsburgh-based Alcoa on November 24 scrapped plans to idle its 130,000t/yr Massena West smelter in New York. And Chicago-based Century on 17 December retracted its plans to cut...
Balco unions seek PM's intervention to bail out local players
Already hit by more than 1,000 job cuts at Vedanta Group company Balco's Chhattisgarh unit, the company's trade unions have approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help bail out local aluminium makers from cheaper imports from China. After Balco shut its rolling mill in Chhattisgarh leading to 1,000 job cuts citing economic unviability, its major trade bodies including those affiliated with INTUC, AITUC, CITU and HMS have submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister seeking protection under 'Make in India' drive to revive the sector. The unions have demanded hike in import duty on aluminium apart from bauxite and coal linkages to aluminium makers. Government holds 49 per cent stake in Balco, which in August shut its rolling mill citing slump in global price of aluminium and rise in...
Aluminium futures weaken on global cues
Aluminium prices fell 0.55 per cent to INR 100 per kg in futures trade today after traders reduced their exposure amid weak global cues. Besides, sluggish demand in the domestic spot market weighed. At Multi Commodity Exchange, aluminium for delivery this month eased 55 paise, or 0.55 per cent, to INR 100 per kg in a business turnover of 544 lots. On similar lines, the metal for delivery in January next year contracts traded lower by 55 paise, or 0.54 per cent, to INR 100.95 per kg in 63 lots. Globally, aluminium sank 2.3 per cent at the London Metal Exchange (LME). Marketmen said the weakness in aluminium in futures trade is mostly in line with a weak trend in the metal at the LME on concern that slowing growth in China will hurt demand next year.
China appetite for imported bauxite to weaken
China’s appetite for imported bauxite will weaken as Chinese alumina giants announced massive output cuts. Shandong Weiqiao Pioneering Group and Shandong Xinfa Group announced in December to slash alumina production by 3 million tonnes. China imported 5.42 million tonnes of bauxite in November, up from 4.48 million tonnes in October and up 110.84% from a year ago, customs data showed. The month-on-month increase was mainly contributed by imports from Malaysia, India, Brazil and Guinea.
Global aluminium price hinges on China production, observe analysts
With an interest-rate increase from the U.S. Federal Reserve out of the way, battered metals investors are returning their focus to China, where plans to trim a supply glut (read aluminium oversupply) have sparked hopes for a rebound in prices in 2016. Price of aluminium is trading up 6%, from recent multiyear lows. Uncertainty about the Fed’s move and its impact on the U.S. dollar helped to keep a lid on metals prices ahead of the central bank’s announcement. Most commodities are priced in U.S. dollars. But analysts say it is too early to declare a complete recovery and prices remain low by historical standards. Three-month aluminium futures on the London Metal Exchange are currently at $1,515 per metric ton. “We expect to see some fundamental recovery only by second quarter next year,”...
China primary aluminium imports down 23,200 mt MoM in November
According to China Customs, China imported 11,700 mt of primary aluminium in November, down 23,200 mt MoM. The SHFE/LME aluminium price ratio fell back in November. Chinese processors received fewer orders under tolling trade as Christmas holiday was nearing. Yuan’s depreciation weakened Chinese buyers’ purchasing power. All these three negative factors resulted in lower import volumes. The SHFE/LME aluminium price ratio rebounded in December. Despite a higher price ratio, yuan’s devaluation and Christmas holiday in western countries mean China’s primary aluminum imports will continue falling in December.
LME aluminium to retest support at $1,420 in three months
LME aluminium is expected to retest a support at $1,420 per tonne over the next three months, a break below which could cause a loss to the next support at $1,255. These supports are identified respectively as the 61.8 percent and the 76.4 percent Fibonacci projection levels of a downward wave (c), the third wave of a bigger wave C from the May 2011 high of $2,803. Except the 23.6 percent level at $1,852, all other projection levels work well either as resistances or supports, such as the 14.6 percent level at $1,954 and the 50 percent level at $1,554. That means over the next three months, aluminium's moves could still be controlled by the relevant projection levels. The wave (c) could be strong enough to extend to $988, its 100 percent projection level, which looks too far away to be a...
China alumina imports down 33.6% MoM in November
China imported 386,000 mt of alumina in November, down 33.6% MoM, customs data showed. Three factors led to the decline. First, imported alumina enjoyed no price advantage over domestic alumina. FOB price of Australian alumina was USD 203/mt in late December, which is equivalent to over RMB 1,700/mt (including VAT, sea freight and port charges). The price was higher than domestic alumina prices. Second, yuan’s depreciation weakened Chinese buyers’ purchasing power. Yuan weakened to 6.45 against the US dollar in November. Third, imported alumina stocks were piling up at Chinese ports after aggressive imports in October. As of mid-December, alumina stocks across the Port of Lianyungang, the Port of Rizhao, the Port of Qingdao and Bayuquan hit as high as 1.47 million mt.
UK's aluminium foil recycling rate more than doubled
The number of local authorities collecting empty aerosol containers for recycling has increased from 87 to 96% in the UK, according to new figures published by Alupro, the aluminium packaging recycling body. The figures also show that over the past three years the number of councils collecting aluminium foil for recycling increased from just 35% of councils in 2007 to currently 86%. ‘These latest statistics indicate foil is now also eligible for widely recycled status, comments Jane Bevis, chair of the On-Pack Recycling Label (OPRL). Seven in ten consumers act on clear recyclability advice, states Bevis. ‘500 brands use our labels across hundreds of thousands of products, so that can make a real difference,’ she adds.
