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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ET Seminar Committee invites nominations for Maurice H. Roberts Award
The ET Seminar Committee, through the ET Foundation and the Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC), currently is inviting nominations for the Maurice H. Roberts Award of Excellence, the highest honor bestowed by the Committee. The namesake of this high honor, Maurice Roberts, was a pioneer in the aluminum extrusion industry and one of the founders of the International Aluminum Extrusion Technology Seminars – also known as the ET Seminars. Established by the ET Seminar Committee in 1984, the Maurice H. Roberts Award of Excellence has been presented six times at the past ten ET Seminars, given to a professional whose accomplishments and contributions to the aluminum extrusion industry have been deemed exceptional. The first recipient was Maurice Roberts to reflect his outstanding contributions to...
Tianjin Zhongwang’s aluminium plate stretcher finishes its trial run
In a recent announcement Tianjin Zhongwang Aluminium Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liaoning Zhongwang Group Co., Ltd, said the aluminium plate stretcher in its production mill has finished its trial run. The stretcher is imported from SMS MEER Company in Germany, and is a key device in the production line of aluminium medium-to-high thickness plates for the nation's 'large airplane' project. The success in trial run will not only break the technical monopoly from foreign companies on aviation aluminium products, but also mark as a significant milestone of independent domestic supply of such products for the 'large airplane' project. The stretcher is a key device in the production line of medium-to-high thickness aluminium plates in Tianjin Zhongwang. It integrates various...
Kaiser Aluminum announces capital investment project at its Trentwood facility
Kaiser Aluminum Corporation announced that it has commenced a five-year, $150 million capital investment project at its Spokane, Washington facility to further advance the Company’s cost and quality leadership position and to meet continued demand growth. The investments will focus on equipment upgrades throughout the process flow to reduce conversion costs and increase efficiency, further improving the competitive cost position on all products produced at Trentwood. A significant portion of the investment will also be focused on modernizing the legacy equipment and process flow for thin gauge plate to achieve KaiserSelect® quality enhancements for these aerospace and general engineering products. In addition, the investments will result in further expansion of Trentwood’s manufacturing...
North American aluminium scrap prices declined on Index
The North American aluminium scrap prices declined on ScrapMonster Price Index as on December 15th, Tuesday. 1100 Scrap and 3003 Scrap prices were down by $0.02 per Lb each on Index. A down move of $0.02 per Lb was witnessed in 356 Aluminium Wheels and 6061 Extrusions. 5052 Scrap prices too dropped by $0.02 per Lb. 6063 Extrusions and 6063 Extrusions/Fe declined by $0.02 per Lb over the previous day. The prices of Al/Cu Radiators and Aluminium Radiators dropped by $0.03 per Lb each. Al/Cu Radiators/Fe prices were down by $0.04 per Lb over the previous day. Aluminium Radiators/Fe prices went down by $0.02 per Lb. Aluminium Transformer prices too declined by $0.02 per Lb on Dec 15th. Breakage 50% Recovery prices witnessed decline of $0.02 per Lb. Chrome Wheels and MLC Clips prices dropped...
REDWAVE Metal Days shows new recycling possibilities
The REDWAVE Metal Days, at BT-Wolfgang Binder in Gleisdorf, provided the context for international experts from various sectors of the metal and aluminium recycling industry to exchange information on markets, technologies and practical experience. In addition, the new REDWAVE XRF-M sorting system, for recycling in the metals sector, was presented to the participants. The interest of the participants was very large and exceeded initial expectations. International visitors, from 16 countries and three different continents, gained an overview of the metals recycling sector through presentations and the demonstration of live sorting. To kick-off the Metal Days, Mr. Joerg Schaefer (GDA - General Association of the Aluminium Industry e. V.) from Germany gave a current account of aluminium...
BSTDB supports aluminium producer in Romania
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) provided a USD 60 million long term loan to Alro S.A., Romania’s only aluminium producer. The loan will help finance the company’s investment program with the total cost of USD 190.3 million to be co-financed by other IFIs and commercial banks. The program aims at capacity increase, quality improvements and development of new products, more efficient energy consumption, as well as less exposure to the aluminium and electricity price swings, according to BSTDB. BSTDB's financing is expected to generate a significant development impact in Romania mainly through increased export and tax revenues. Alro S.A. was established in 1961 and is the largest primary aluminum manufacturer in Central and Eastern Europe, with installed production capacity...
China aluminium stockpiling likely to be funded by commercial loans
Some large aluminium smelters in China are likely to participate in a commercial stockpiling programme, which would cut the availability of the metal to support prices and increase cash to producers, industry sources said on Wednesday. An executive at a medium-sized aluminium smelter said the volume of stockpiling had not been set and would depend on the scale of production cuts by participating smelters in the second half of 2015. "That means a smelter can sell as much as the capacity it idled," the executive said. The timing of the financing deal was one year and could be extended, he added. He said the buying price would be a monthly average of the front-month aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange in the late third quarter or the fourth quarter of this year. The first...
Indian aluminium makers push for change in duty structure
Aluminium makers in India, including Vedanta, are pitching for a correction of the prevailing inverted duty structure, under which taxes on the raw materials are higher than on the finished products, by reducing the import duty on inputs to 2.5% from 5-7.5% now and raising customs duty on the metal to 7.5% from 5%. “Import duty on aluminium metal is only 5% in India, whereas the duty on import of its raw material varies from 5-7.5%. This has led to higher production cost for Indian aluminium, especially for alumina, which accounts for 40% of the production cost of aluminium,” said a Vedanta official. With the gradual decline in the prices of aluminium on the London Metal Exchange (LME) over the last one year, many aluminium producing nations have come up with a series of measures to...
UC RUSAL joins Aluminium Stewardship Initiative
UC RUSAL, a leading global aluminium producer, announced that it has joined the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (“ASI”) with a view to take part in developing global sustainability standards for international application in the aluminium value chain. The ASI standards are designed to be applicable to all stages of aluminium production and transformation, with a specific focus on; bauxite mining, alumina refining, primary aluminium production, semi-fabrication (rolling, extrusion, forging and foundry), material conversion, and refining and re-melting of recycled scrap, as well as material stewardship criteria relevant to downstream users of aluminium. The importance of the aluminium industry’s sustainable development has acquired greater attention with the 2015 United Nations Conference...
Indonesia's Antam signs MoU with Chinalco for Mempawah alumina refinery
Indonesian minerals miner Aneka Tambang has signed a memorandum of understanding with Aluminum Corporation of China to develop a smelter-grade alumina refinery in Mempawah, West Kalimantan, the company said in a statement late on Wednesday. The move is aimed at integrating the production process. Currently, Indonesia exports an abundance of bauxite and imports it back after being refined into alumina, which is then smelted by Inalum to make aluminum. The Antam-Inalum alliance will simplify the process and cut costs. It will allow Antam to sell aluminum at home and abroad at lower prices, and will secure Inalum stable orders from the increasing number of automakers and parts makers in Indonesia. Months before the memorandum, Antam and Inalum agreed to set up a joint venture to build a...
New insights into aluminium rolling technical support
Innoval Technology (Innoval) has announced the relaunch of their website. The site, which has been completely overhauled and given a new design, focuses on how the company can help visitors from the aluminium industry. Whether a potential client wants to build a partnership with the company’s technical experts, work with them to solve their current production problems, improve product quality or prepare a business case for an investment, the web site explains everything Innoval can do to help. New additions to the site include a section on ‘Technology’, which showcases the areas in which the Innoval team has particular expertise, such as rolling, extrusion and continuous casting. Detailed coverage of the company’s government-funded R&D work also features, as do biographies of every...
Packaging maker RPC Group eyeing Global Closure Systems
RPC Group, Europe's plastic packaging market leader with a robust portfolio featuring glass and aluminium-packaging solutions, announced it is buying French bottle-top maker Global Closure Systems (GCS Group) for an enterprise value of €650 million. RPC has been on the prowl looking for deals in eastern and Western Europe over the past few years. The deal marks an exit for private-equity firm PAI Partners whose funds bought GCS Group in 2005 for €583m from Crown Holdings. Headquartered on the outskirts of Paris, GCS boasts footprints across more than 100 countries. The company specializes in manufacturing plastic lids for mineral water and milk bottles, as well as child resistant closures for pharmaceutical products. It was reported in October that a combination of trade buyers and...
Panasonic unveils new aluminium electrolytic capacitators
Panasonic Automotive & Industrial Systems has unveiled a new series of miniaturized, cost-effective, aluminium electrolytic capacitors that not only save space, but also increase system reliability. The new FKS series features an increase in capacitance of up to three times when compared to the company’s most popular FK series in the same can size. For example, the new 25V 33µF FKS capacitor, which comes in a 4×5.8mm can size, uses just 62% of the space of previous generation parts; in fact the highest capacitance achieved by FK series in a 4×5.8mm can is 10µF. So, one of the new parts can replace three of the FK devices. Commenting, Dr. Martina Ciacchi, head of Panasonic capacitor team in Europe, said: “By increasing the capacitance density we simplify our customer´s design, enabling a...
Flooding Chinese aluminium semis angers overseas rivals
Massive outflows of Chinese aluminium semis, as a way out against saturated domestic market, have aroused growing anger and barriers from overseas. President and CEO of the Aluminum Association of US (AA) and the Aluminum Association of Canada (AAC) recently wrote a joint letter to US Secretary of State John Kerry, asking the US to pressure China on carbon emission in its primary aluminium production. According to the letter, China should set a sub-goal to limit and reduce the overall CO2 emissions by its primary aluminium production, as well as commit to setting appropriate standards for aluminium production emissions and coal usage. Reuters reported earlier this month that the US Commerce Department has agreed to raise discounted anti-dumping duties on aluminium extrusion imports from...
Chinese aluminium scrap prices advance in line with SHFE aluminium
Chinese aluminium scrap prices advanced on Scrap Register Price Index as on Monday, while aluminium futures prices at Shanghai Futures Exchange settled higher as support seen after the update that China's aluminium smelters pledged last week to shut more production this month and not to add any new capacity in 2016, as the industry pushes to shore up plunging prices. According to the Scrap Register Price Index, the major Chinese aluminium scrap commodities like 6063 extrusion, aluminium scrap, aluminium can and EC wire (Al >99%) traded up on Monday. However, the most active 1602 aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange settled up by 1.05% to 10,595 yuan per ton on Monday from the previous close of 10,485 yuan per ton. The SHFE aluminium prices touched an intra-day high of...
Aluminium falls by 0.6% on global cues
Aluminium prices fell by 0.59% to INR 100.50 per kg in futures trading today, tracking a weak trend in global markets. Furthermore, muted demand in the domestic spot markets weighed on the metal prices. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, Mumbai, aluminium for delivery in January month eased by 60 paise, or 0.59% to INR 100.50 per kg in business turnover of 31 lots. Similarly, the metal for delivery in December contracts traded lower by 55 paise, or 0.55% to INR 99.75 per kg in 716 lots. Analysts attributed fall in aluminium futures to a weak global trend on concern commodities risk extending declines on slowing demand from China, the world's biggest user. Meanwhile, aluminium fell 0.8% at the London Metal Exchange.
43% of Chinese smelters bullish toward aluminium prices this week, SMM Survey
43% of the 42 Chinese aluminium smelters surveyed by SMM are bullish toward this week’s aluminium prices. Another 33% expect prices to stabilize, while the rest 24% paint a gloomy picture. The optimists expect LME aluminium to rise above USD 1,500/mt and SHFE 1602 aluminium to climb above RMB 10,800/mt. Aluminium production cuts in China are yielding result, as reflected in decline of aluminium stocks in China’s five major trading markets to around 810,000 mt. Tight supply in spot market will trigger a short squeeze. Most smelters will not open short positions for hedging purpose at current price level, as they expect prices to rise further. Those neutralists see SHFE 1602 aluminium meeting resistance at the 60-day moving average, arguing that longs will be cautious about entering. On the...
Aluminum Association recognizes industry’s safest year ever
2014 was the safest year on record for the U.S. aluminum industry, according to recently released data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report - the BLS Workplace Injury and Illness Summary – showed that the number of recordable workplace safety incidents in the aluminum industry fell to their lowest level since tracking began in the current system in 1994. Recordable incidents declined 17 percent year-over-year in 2014 to a rate of 3.4 per 100 full-time employees while DART (Days away from Work, Restricted, or Transferred) cases similarly dropped 16 percent to 2.1 recordable incidents per 100 full time employees that resulted in lost or restricted days or job transfer. Both of these rates surpassed the performance of U.S. manufacturing as a whole which averaged a 4.0...
