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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UK's rolled aluminium coil manufacturer celebrates 25-years business anniversary
The UK’s only remaining manufacturer of rolled aluminium coils is celebrating a prestigious milestone this month, with its Litho Centre marking 25 years in business. Bridgnorth Aluminium is celebrating a quarter of a century since the launch of its offset lithographic aluminium strip manufacturing centre – the only place in the UK where aluminium printing plate material is made. “We’re thrilled to be celebrating this fantastic milestone,” explained Simon MacVicker, Managing Director of Bridgnorth Aluminium. “Over the past 25 years, our business truly has gone from strength-to-strength, and our demand for lithographic printing material is continuing to grow.” Used by many national and international printing plate manufacturers, the firm has developed its reputation as one of the leading...
Sapa’s extrusion company churns out aluminium solution for complex seating product
CareFlex approached Sapa’s extrusion company in the UK to find out whether an aluminium solution could be found for a particularly complex product. The answer was yes. Recognizing that each user has specific and problematical needs, CareFlex manufactures specialist seating for a range of people with different requirements. This includes those recovering after a fall and those with neurological or musculoskeletal conditions. The company's revolutionary SmartSeat™ Pro is a highly adjustable, modular seating system for users with complex postural and pressure management needs. Sapa Profiles UK produces an extrusion from a single die that is an integral part of the SmartSeatPro™. The multi-adjustable back of the chair has three upper backrest components that can be altered in height, depth,...
Antonio Quereda appointed as Aludium’s Innovation and Technology Director
Aludium, a leading manufacturer of sheet metal and aluminium coil products, announced today that Antonio Quereda will take up the newly created position of Innovation and Technology Director from 16 November 2015. Antonio has over 25 years experience in industrial manufacturing covering high demand sectors such as automotive, aerospace and toys. Antonio joins Aludium from FAMOSA, Spain’s leading toy manufacturer, where he held the role of Chief Operating Officer for more than seven years. In his new role, Antonio will lead the innovation activities of Aludium and its Cindal R&D Centre. He will also take responsibility for key development projects and capital expenditure investments. As part of this role, Antonio will also define, develop and lead the implementation of standard practices...
Chinese aluminium producers approach state to buy surplus supply
China's aluminium producers have asked Beijing to buy up surplus metal, sources said, the first coordinated effort since 2009 to revive prices suffering their worst rout since the global financial crisis. The state-controlled metals industry body, China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, proposed on Monday, November 23, that the government scoop up aluminium, an official at the association and two industry sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. The request was made to the state planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). While it is not clear if the authorities will agree to the proposal, the approach underlines the extent to which loss-making smelters in the world's top producer and consumer are suffering from prices hovering at or near multi-year...
Vedanta's cumulative loss on Odisha refinery crosses INR 4,000 cr
Diversified metals and mining major Vedanta Ltd has incurred a cumulative loss of INR 4299 core (till October end) on its one million tonne Lanjigarh alumina refinery since the beginning of commercial operations in August 2007. Though Vedanta recently de-rated capacity of the refinery by 50 per cent, it is still bleeding loss of close to INR three crore every day due to non-availability of domestic bauxite. "Our daily cash loss continues to be in the Rs three crore bracket. De-rating of capacity by 50 per cent is a critical measure taken to safeguard us from widening of the daily loss that is stemming from continued fall in global aluminium prices. Lack of local bauxite and a strong price tag on global bauxite remain the cost drivers", said a Vedanta spokesperson. Presently, Vedanta is...
IBAAS Symposium opens at Suzhou with a focus on the current global aluminium industry status
The 4th symposium of International Bauxite, Alumina and Aluminium Society (IBAAS) that is being organised in cooperation with CHALIECO and Suzhou Non-Ferrous Research Institute (SINR) at Suzhou, China, was inaugurated on 25th November 2015 in a grand manner. Several leading dignitaries of China from Non-Ferrous Metal Industry Association, CHALIECO, CNPT, GAMI, SAMI and scores of companies and institutes were present in the inaugural function. About 180 delegates are participating in this mega event, including 40 participants from outside China. The opening ceremony was kicked off by the welcome speech by Mr. Ma Ning-Vice President CHALIECO. He was of the opinion that even though the industry is going through a difficult time with LME aluminium hitting a six-year low, by the way of...
Rio Tinto's $1 billion-bauxite expansion plan awaits appoval
Rio Tinto is poised to approve its long-stalled $1 billion (£661 million pounds) South of Embley bauxite expansion project as early as this week, said a review report published today. The Anglo-Australian miner expects the return on the project in Weipa in Australia's Queensland state to be comparable to its lucrative Pilbara iron ore operations – that is, greater than 20 percent, it said. The project has been plagued by delayed approvals and environmental opposition. Rio Tinto is expected to announce as early as this week that it will pursue the project, according to the report. South of Embley is critical to extending the life of Rio Tinto's bauxite mining business in the region. What does the expansion mean for shareholders? The project is expected to be in the cheapest 25% of all...
Andhra Pradesh CM pushes for mining of bauxite
In what appears to be a renewed attempt to revive the controversial bauxite-mining in the Agency area of Visakhapatnam district, chief minister Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday said the mineral should be utilised to better the lives of lakhs of underprivileged people and propel growth of the residuary state. Naidu said the state government will hold a public debate on bauxite-mining, and till then the mining proposal will be put on hold. Interestingly, Naidu also said the Centre is keen on clearing hurdles for the bauxite-mining project as it has investment over Rs 1,000 crore from UAE. He said the Centre is constantly reviewing the progress of the project and it had asked the state government to expedite the pending clearances. He said the final forest clearance was issued to Anrak Aluminium...
Aluminium prices rebound on Chinese output cut hopes
Prices of industrial metals including that of aluminium rebounded on Thursday on hopes that Chinese producers would finally start to make cuts to their primary metal production in the face of lower prices. In recent times, metal prices in China have gone down to hit multi-year lows as a wave of speculative money swept the economy. As prices started rising, the smelter owners began releasing their excess capacity built up. During the boom years, China put in a great deal of concerted efforts in developing the domestic metals and mining industry. As a result, the country became both the largest producer and consumer of many of the world’s commodities in a very short period of time. This was further facilitated by a wave of easy credits obtained by local governments and state-owned...
LME aluminium still targets $1,401-$1,418 range
LME aluminium still targets a range of $1,401-$1,418 per tonne, as indicated by its wave pattern and a Fibonacci projection analysis. The range is formed by the 214.6 percent and the 200 percent Fibonacci projection levels of a downward wave (c), the third wave of a three-wave cycle from the Sept. 9 high of $1,655.50. The lower trendline of a falling wedge even suggests a target below the range. The metal has broken a support at $1,445, the 176.4 percent level, the next support will be at $1,418. A rise to $1,452 could signal the break below the support was false, and the 161.8 percent level at $1,462 may be approached.
Alcoa +4.5% after confirming Elliott stake, support of plan to split company
Alcoa continues to rally following confirmation that Paul Singer’s Elliott Management bought a 6.4% stake in the company, which says it has had "constructive discussions" with Elliott. The activist firm also supports Alcoa's planned spinoff next year, announced in September, of downstream assets into a separate company. “It’s obviously a vote of confidence from a firm that is steeped in strategic actions,” Sterne Agee CRT analyst tells Bloomberg. Elliott's stake makes it the second-biggest shareholder in the company after Vanguard Group, which had an 8.21% stake as of September 30.
52% of Chinese aluminium smelters bearish toward aluminium prices, SMM survey
52% of the 27 Chinese aluminium smelters surveyed by SMM are bearish toward this week’s aluminium prices. Another 41% expect prices to stabilize, while the rest 7% see a rally. Those pessimists see LME aluminium falling below USD 1,440/mt and SHFE 1602 aluminium down below RMB 9,800/mt. They see poor market fundamentals in China as the major negative factor. Scale of production cuts in China is too small to reverse supply glut. Stocks in trading markets remain high. Processors are running at low capacity and buying only to need. Spot discounts in China remain high at above RMB 100/mt, acting as constrain on SHFE aluminium . Technically, SHFE aluminium has met strong resistance at moving averages. Negative technical side and a firm dollar on high hopes for rate hike will send LME aluminium...
Midas wins four contracts to supply parts for trains in China and Malaysia
Midas Holdings said, its subsidiary, Jilin Midas Aluminium Industries Co, has secured four contracts totalling 72.5 million yuan for the supply of aluminum alloy extrusion profiles for metro trains and airport rail trains in China and Malaysia. The first supply contract, worth 31.9 million yuan, is for the Lanzhou Metro. The other two supply contracts are for the Nanchang Metro Line 2 and Wuhan Metro Line 2 and are worth 20 million yuan and 11 million yuan, respectively. The last supply contract, worth 9.6 million yuan, is for the KLIA Ekspres and KLIA Transit trains which connect Kuala Lumpur city centre and the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. All four contracts are awarded by Changchun Railway Vehicles Co, and slated for delivery in 2015 and 2016. As such, they are expected to...
New guidelines for using aluminium in green buildings to debut at Greenbuild 2015
The Aluminum Association has released Aluminum in Green Buildings: A Guide to Green Building Development and Certification with Aluminum Products. The new guide features information on aluminum’s unique properties for use in building and construction, as well as data on the metal’s life-cycle characteristics and environmental performance. The guide is available at the Association’s booth #3151 during Greenbuild 2015 at the Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C. November 18 -20. The Guide is intended to assist and support aluminum end-users – architects, designers and engineers – in understanding how aluminum contributes to green building development and achieving certifications like Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design. Key information in the Guide includes: • Aluminum’s...
Alpro door closers and locks installed by IDF Aluminium at Asda store in North London
IDF Aluminium has installed transom closers, hook locks and armoured keeps from Alpro at a new-build Asda store in Wealdstone, North London. The supermarket opened in the summer and is a 9,000-sq-ft site with ‘click and collect’ for the company’s clothing range, a bakery and rotisserie. For the building frontage, IDF Aluminium fabricated powered pedestrian sliding doors using Alpro deadlocks. These units are available in hook and bar versions and are used widely on sliding and swing aluminium door applications in the retail and leisure sectors. The pedestrian doors at Asda are part of an extruded aluminium curtain walling frontage created by IDF who have also supplied sign panelling. Plant room doors include Alpro’s overhead transom closers which are a means of hydraulically controlling...
China aluminium consumption to drop further in 2016, SMM foresees
Aluminium consumption in China is expected to weaken further in 2016, Shanghai Metals Market foresees. “Utilization rates at major domestic aluminium processing enterprises are down on a yearly basis in 2015, such as aluminium plate/sheet, strip, aluminium extrusion , cast aluminium alloy , reducing aluminium consumption,” SMM’s aluminium analyst said at the 2015 Foundry Industry Conference. The decline in the rate is due largely to weak demand from major end-user sectors, including construction, real estate and automobile sectors, the analyst continued at the conference held on November 19-20 in Suzhou. “Such conditions are expected to continue into 2016, and aluminium consumption in China is then expected to fall by 1 percent from 2015,” the analyst predicted.
Qatalum releases 2014 sustainability report highlighting outstanding growth
Qatalum released its 2014 sustainability report. The report demonstrates how Qatalum has contributed significantly to the realization of the Qatar National Vision 2030, and its four pillars of economic, human, social and environmental development. Qatalum's status as a world-leading smelter means that its strong performance is linked to the achievement of both corporate and national goals. The report details how Qatalum has built on a strong sustainability foundation to hit a number of important milestones. In 2014, Qatalum produced 640,153 tonnes of aluminium, making it the thirteenth biggest aluminium producer in the world. Profits reached a record US$199 million, an increase of 60% from 2013. Qatalum became the fourth most efficient aluminium smelter in the world, according to the...
Alcoa reaches agreement with New York state to increase competitiveness of Massena West Smelter
Lightweight metals leader Alcoa today announced that it has entered into a three-and-a-half year agreement with New York State to increase the competitiveness of the Massena West smelter. The company had previously announced plans to curtail the facility amid prevailing market conditions. The agreement will help maintain hundreds of jobs in New York’s North Country, improve the cost position of the smelter and support growth projects for the casthouse. “Senator Schumer and Governor Cuomo have been tremendous allies for Alcoa’s Massena operations for many years and we thank them for their continued support,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Klaus Kleinfeld. “Today’s agreement helps better position the smelter in light of prevailing market conditions, providing this facility a...
