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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Ford's Q3 results show investment in aluminum F-150 was paying off
Ford Motor posted third quarter results which narrowly missed expectations but showed the automaker is doing extremely well in the United States. Ford was the number one selling brand in the U.S. and its aluminium F-150 sales hit a nine-year high. The automaker posted third quarter profits of $0.45 a share, excluding one-time items, that was a penny short of forecasts. The shortfall was due to the company paying a 33 percent rate versus 32 percent. On the top line, auto sales came in at $35.8 billion, slightly higher than forecasts and about nine percent above the same period last year. Ford CFO Bob Shanks said over the next 12 months, emerging markets will continue to be a challenge and he believes South America has not hit bottom yet. In China, the automakers market share was unchanged...
Governor announces Kobe Aluminum Automotive Products expansion
Kobe Aluminum Automotive Products announced a $57 million worth investment in its Bowling Green plant, which will add 112 jobs. The116,000-square-foot plus addition will provide KAAP with capacity for substantial aluminium automotive equipment upgrades. The company anticipates growing its business in the coming years, and the expansion is planned in line with those changes. Construction of the project will begin in December 2015 and is expected to be finished by October 2016. KAAP began production in Bowling Green in 2005 and currently employs 368 Kentuckians. The company invested in five previous expansions totaling $236 million.
Alcoa opens advanced jet engine parts facility in Indiana
Lightweight metals leader Alcoa today officially opened its state-of-the-art jet engine parts facility in La Porte, Indiana. The facility doubles Alcoa’s capacity in La Porte and provides new capabilities that broaden its reach in engines for large commercial aircraft. The new plant will meet increasing demand from makers of best-selling jet engines, growing Alcoa’s value-add business in aerospace. “Innovation is at the heart of the La Porte expansion,” said Alcoa Chairman and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld. “We combined some of the world’s best metallurgists, product engineers and manufacturing experts to broaden our capabilities and deliver the highly advanced components our customers need to build jet engines at high volumes.” The approximately $100 million, 320,000-square-foot expansion,...
Manufacturing vital to UK economy, says Aluminium Federation
The Strategy, produced by the UK Metals Forum, aims to revitalise Britain’s metals industry by boosting innovation, encouraging greater cross-sector collaboration, creating 150,000 new jobs and building a sustainable future for the industry. This will drive increased productivity and added value in the sector, which will translate into more corporate and personal tax take for the UK government. Responding to Small Business, Industry and Enterprise Minister Anna Soubry MP at the launch of the Strategy, Aluminium Federation Board member Henry Dickinson reflected that recent developments in the UK steel sector echoed what has happened in recent years with aluminium. “The clear lessons from the past are that once strategic plants like these close, it is highly unlikely that they will ever be...
China power price cut may end up hurting aluminium prices
A helping hand from the Chinese goverment to the slowing economy in the form of cheaper power tariffs may result in further plummeting of aluminum prices, worsening a glut that is already threatening aluminium producers worldwide. On-grid power tariffs in China may be reduced as soon as next month to benefit industrial users and bolster growth. The cut to the price the state grid pays to power generators for electricity would likely be passed on to consumers, according to the analysts. For smelters hooked up to state supplies, which account for a quarter of capacity, that could cut costs by 375 yuan ($59) a metric ton, they observed. Aluminum is the second-worst base-metal performer over the past year as supplies top demand and investors desert commodities, with benchmark prices in London...
Chinalco delays closure of its Liancheng aluminium smelter
Aluminum Corp of China (Chinalco) has delayed a planned shutdown of metal production at its Liancheng aluminium smelter after authorities agreed to offer electricity at a cheaper rate. Chinalco, China's biggest aluminium and alumina producer, had planned to shutdown its Gansu aluminium smelter two weeks ago due to high cost of production and low metal prices. But industry sources said, the local government and the state electricty authority have urged the aluminium manufacturer to keep producing, given the country's slowing growth scenario, and offered lower power tariffs so that it is easier to cope with the rising COP, which stands somewhere around 13,000 yuan a tonne. Nevertheless, the company would stop metal production, cheaper electricity or no electricity; but that would be...
Altech Chemicals finalises Kaolin mining rights agreement with Dana
Altech Chemicals Limited announced that it has reached agreement with Dana Shipping and Trading S.A. to grant Dana the exclusive right to mine up to 10Mt of kaolin from the company's Meckering kaolin deposit. The Meckering Deposit covers approximately 184km2 in area and contains indicated and inferred kaolin mineral resources estimated at 64Mt @ 83.4% brightness JORC (2004). Under the terms of the kaolin mineral rights agreement, Dana will pay Altech $1 million cash for the right to mine 10Mt of kaolin (First Transaction) upon either the grant of mining lease ML70/1334 or the grant of any alternate mining lease that provides Dana with mining access to kaolin within an area of the exploration lease containing the Meckering Deposit (EL70/3923). If the conditions of the First Transaction are...
Century Aluminum smelter closure seems unpreventable, says South Carolina governor
Governor Nikki Haley, South Carolina, said Wednesday, October 28, that the state has done all it can to keep Century Aluminum from closing its Berkeley County smelter and laying off 600 workers as a contractual impasse between the company and its power provider enters its final weeks. “The main thing we can’t do is choose one business over another or do special favors for anyone,” Haley said during a visit to Goose Creek. Haley and state Commerce Secretary Bobby Hitt “pushed as hard as we could” to strike a deal with Century Aluminum, she said, “but we can’t go beyond what’s fair.” Century Aluminum said last week it will close its Mount Holly plant by the end of this year if state-owned utility Santee Cooper does not agree to a plan in which Century would buy its electricity from an...
Century reports a net loss of $56.1 million for the third quarter of 2015
Century Aluminum Company reported a net loss of $56.1 million ($0.65 per common share) for the third quarter of 2015. Results were negatively impacted by a $5.3 million charge ($0.06 per common share) for lower of cost or market inventory adjustments, a $0.4 million charge ($0.01 per common share) related to the closure at Ravenswood, a $1.4 million charge ($0.02 per common share) related to the labor disruption at Hawesville, a $2.9 million charge ($0.04 per common share) related to the partial curtailment at Hawesville, and a $1.2 million charge ($0.01 per common share) related to severance primarily associated with cost reductions. Results were positively impacted by an $0.8 million purchase accounting gain ($0.01 per common share) related to Mt. Holly. After consideration of these...
The Aluminum Association announces membership growth and additions to its board
The Aluminum Association announced membership growth, additions to its board, and the election of a new Chairman on Thursday, October 29. In addition, the Association announced the winner of the 2015 Marlan A. Boultinghouse Award, the highest award given by the North American industry. The announcements were made during the Aluminum Association’s annual meeting - “Aluminum Country” - in Nashville, TN. “This is an exciting time for the North American aluminum industry with strong demand growth and domestic expansion,” said newly elected Association Chairman Garney Scott, President & CEO of Scepter, Inc. “But serious challenges remain and it will take the combined efforts of the membership, through the Aluminum Association, to seize the opportunity in North America.” Garney Scott, President...
LME aluminium to find fresh support at $1,462
Aluminium prices on London Metal Exchange (LME) may break support at $1,475 per tonne and slide to the next support at $1,462, to complete a downward wave (c). This is the third wave completed by LME aluminium of a three-wave cycle from the September 9 high of $1,655.50; it may eventually stand at around $1,462, the 161.8 percent projection level. The latest support at $1,475, the 150 percent level, could be transitory and will be broken in the short term. An increase over the October 27 high of $1,493.50 could be extended to the 123.6 percent projection level at $1,505.
Tesla unveils aluminium-skinned Model X SUV with falcon-wing doors
Tesla Motors, Inc, the American automotive and energy storage company, unveiled its latest aluminium bodied Model X SUV. The vehicle packs in a lot of innovative features, which include an exclusive aluminium built and Falcon-wing doors, equipped with sensors that prevent contact with other vehicles. According to the industry specialists, when it comes to designing a new SUV, most automakers would have designed in a couple new nifty features and called it a day, but Tesla proved to be an exception. Even though they will have to find new breakthroughs for succeeding generations, Tesla's designers put in a lot of innovations to bring out the Model X crossover. Lamborghinis too have upward opening doors, but they are a novelty and there are painfully few Lambos in this world. Tesla takes the...
In the US, commercial transportation focuses more on aluminium
The commercial transportation sector in the United States is demanding more aluminium. This includes increased use in trucks and trailers, and Sapa’s plant in California is becoming one of the key suppliers of extruded solutions. Sapa President & CEO Egil Hogna visited the City of Industry plant, near Los Angeles, to learn more about the requirements from the transportation sector and to get a closer look at the plant’s operations. The visit was part of Hogna’s 100-day program, in which he is traveling to company locations and meeting employees around the world. In addition to the California site, he spent several hours at Sapa’s extrusion plant in Oregon. He was joined by Patrick Lawlor, executive vice president responsible for extrusion operations in the Americas, and Rob Rubicky, vice...
China Zhongwang targets to top current aluminium flat rolling capacity
The world's second-largest industrial aluminum extrusion producer, China Zhongwang Holdings (1333), expects output at a new Tianjin plant to top current capacity to meet domestic demand. Phase one of the aluminum flat-rolled product project in Tianjin has a designed annual capacity of 1.8 million tonnes and actual capacity of 1.2 million tonnes. It will be fully operational by year's end, said chief financial officer Vincent Cheung Lap-kei, and then there will be a five-year investment payback period. The Liaoning-based firm has already sunk 22 billion yuan (HK$26.8 billion) into the first phase. And a further 10 billion yuan will be invested by Zhongwang by the end of next year, Cheung added. The demand for aluminum flat-rolled products is from industries such as aerospace and in making...
Increased aluminium recycling could reduce China's metal industry energy use
China produces more aluminum than any other country. Secondary production, or producing metal from recycled scrap metal, is the primary opportunity to reduce the country's energy intensity for both of these industries, because secondary production uses significantly less energy than primary production using raw material inputs. In 2012 the Chinese nonferrous metals industry (which includes aluminum and other metals) used 2.1 quadrillion British thermal unit (BTU or Btu) of energy. Secondary production of these metals is much less energy intensive. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, secondary aluminum production requires as little as 6% of the energy associated with primary production, when all manufacturing energy use is considered. Recyclable material includes both post-consumer...
ShredderSort to introduce new solutions for the aluminium recycling industry
Although the number of end of life vehicles (ELVs) needing recycling is growing, due to processing limitations aluminium recycling rates are being hindered. A European-funded project - ShredderSort - aims to contribute to new solutions to the aluminium recycling industry. More than 10 million tons of automotive waste from end of life vehicles (ELV) are generated yearly in the EU and the values are continuously increasing. ELV wastes are managed by the auto-shredder plants which process ELVs through a series of mechanical and physical operations in order to separate the materials into different streams: ferrous, non-ferrous, heavy non-metal and fluff. Ferrous materials, constituting more than 60wt% (percentage by weight), are sent to steel-making plants, while the non-ferrous (NF)...
AluSolutions announces two new feature areas
AluSolutions 2016, the only free exhibition and conference addressing sustainability challenges in aluminium production and processing, has just announced two new feature areas. The AluSolutions exhibition will now include a ‘Lightweight Vehicle Zone’ and ‘Aluminium in Architecture Area’. The dedicated zones will offer companies the opportunity to display aluminium applications and highlight how the metal’s environmental benefits continue into the use-phase. The two-day exhibition, being held on 10-11 May 2016 at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, will host equipment OEMs, plant suppliers, smelters and recyclers, while the conference will invite speakers from around the world to discuss growing sustainability across the industry, recycling targets, case studies, technological...
Emirates Global Aluminium in talks for $5 billion loan to refinance debt
State-owned Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) is in talks with banks to raise a $5 billion loan, four banking sources aware of the matter said on Wednesday, to refinance debt taken on for some of its projects. EGA, created by the merger of two state-owned aluminium companies Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) and Abu Dhabi's Emirates Aluminium (Emal), is jointly owned by Abu Dhabi investment fund Mubadala [MUDEV.UL] and the state company which holds Dubai's most high-profile assets, Investment Corporation of Dubai (ICD). The company is seeking funds to refinance loans taken for the Emal projects, the sources said. The $5.7 billion Emal Phase 1 project was commissioned in 2009 while the $4.5 billion phase two was commissioned in 2014. A significant part of the projects' funding was through bank loans...
