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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Manaksia Aluminium Company Ltd to consider 1st quarter results on Aug 13, 2015
A Meeting of the Board of Directors of Manaksia Aluminium Company Ltd will be held on August 13, 2015, to consider, approve and take on record the Un-audited Financial Statements of the Company for the quarter ended June 30, 2015. In terms of provisions of the Company's Code of Conduct to Regulate, Monitor and Report Trading by Insiders, the "Trading Window" for trading in the equity shares of the Company shall remain closed from August 03, 2015 and will open 48 hours after the announcement by the Company of the Results to the Stock Exchanges on August 13, 2015.
Aleris reports second quarter 2015 results
Aleris Corporation today reported results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2015. Except as otherwise indicated, all amounts reflect the divested recycling and extrusions businesses as discontinued operations. Second Quarter Summary • Adjusted EBITDA of $60 million, up 53 percent compared to second quarter of 2014 • Global automotive volumes up 23 percent compared to prior year • Global aerospace volumes up 13 percent compared to prior year • Improved North America results driven by higher margins and wider scrap spreads • Solid productivity in North America led by Nichols integration and supply chain optimization efforts • Stronger U.S. dollar positively impacted Europe profitability • Asia Pacific achieved break even Adjusted EBITDA • Steep decline in regional premiums led to...
Aluminium prices not curbing Chinese output
Chinese aluminum producers aren't curbing their output despite the metal's slump to a six-year low, suggesting the price of one of the world's most heavily-traded metals still has far to go before finding a floor. Metals producers normally usher in supply cutbacks when prices fall as hard as they have done for aluminium this year. But with a host of new cost-efficient smelters now online in China, few there are considering cutbacks. That is bad news for the broader market as surging Chinese aluminum exports in recent months have been one of the biggest drivers of the metal's price plunge. China accounts for about half of the world's aluminium production. Three-month aluminum futures are hovering near a six-year low of $US1601.50 per ton reached on Monday this week, down by nearly 13 per...
Aluminum Association updates on aluminum net shipments in North America
According to the Aluminum Association reports Aluminum net shipments (including exports) by domestic U.S. and Canadian facilities totaled an estimated 1,941 million pounds during June, up slightly (0.4 percent) over the June 2014 total of 1,933 million pounds. Shipments of aluminum mill products increased 4.1 percent over the previous year to 1,363 million pounds, while shipments of aluminum ingot for castings, exports and destructive uses decreased 7.4 percent year-over-year, totaling 578 million pounds. Preliminary year-to-date producer shipments for 2015 totaled 11,579 million pounds, essentially unchanged from the 2014 total of 11,575 million pounds. June inventory levels totaled an estimated 2,977 million pounds, down 6.0 percent from the previous month and up 6.7 percent...
AluMag organized Asia Automotive Lightweight Procurement Symposium 2015 - a great success
The 2nd International Asia Automotive Lightweight Procurement Symposium, organized by AluMag from the 6th – 8th of July 2015 at the Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel in Shanghai, China, turned out to be a great success. With the number of participants growing and level of internationality surpassing that of the previous year, it set an all new benchmark for events of the same caliber. Over a hundred professionals from numerous OEM, Tier 1, Tier 2 equipment manufacturers and independent consultants attended the event. AlCircle as the official online media partner was privileged to cover the whole event. From Day 1 till the end of the symposium, the team was witness to all the activities and insightful presentations that were made there. The conference was formally started on July 7 with a short...
Mining giant Rio Tinto eyes future for New Zealand aluminum
Global mining giant Rio Tinto's New Zealand subsidiary indicates that it plans to keep the country 's only aluminum smelter operating with a deal to purchase electricity beyond 2017. Meridian Energy, a state-controled power generator, announced Monday that it had signed an electricity agreement with New Zealand Aluminium Smelters Ltd (NZAS) following extended negotiations. NZAS was committed to buying 572 Megawatts of electricity from Meridian to run the smelter at Tiwai Point, in the far south of the South Island, at full capacity, Meridian chief executive Mark Binns said in a statement. Meridian was committed to cover Tiwai Point's electricity usage at current production levels through to 2030, but NZAS retained a right to terminate the agreement with 12 months notice from the start of...
Rising imports seizing market share of Indian aluminium producers
Despite steady growth in demand in the domestic market, India's aluminium producers are spending sleepless nights, the reason being rising imports eating into their market shares. The demand for the white metal has been growing steadily at a CAGR of 6 per cent since 2010-2011, driven by increased consumption in the automobile and construction sectors. In 2014-2015, demand grew 6.2 per cent to nearly 2.4 million tonnes (mt). Yet, market share of the domestic producers has declined from 60 per cent to 45 per cent in the last five years. Imports from China and Middle East are on the rise. A substantial part of these imports is constituted by scrap and waste material. In 2014-15, the share of scrap and waste in 1.563 mt of aluminium imports was 860,000 tonnes. This is adding to the aluminium...
Rexam creates personalised cans for Coca-Cola Italia’s ‘Share a Kiss’ campaign
Rexam, a leading global can maker, has partnered with Coca-Cola HBC Italia to create a range of limited edition cans for the Coca-Cola Italia ‘Share a Kiss’ summer campaign. The standard 330ml cans, created specifically for distribution in vending channels, use Rexam’s innovative first-to-market, patent pending Editions™ technology, which allows for up to 24 designs to be printed simultaneously on a single pallet. The personalised cans display 12 different Italian terms of endearment, including ‘Bella’, ‘Stella’ and ‘Numero 1’, designed to encourage the target audience of teenage girls and boys to ‘Share a Kiss’ this summer. Agnese Filippi, Brand Activation Manager Coca-Cola HBC Italia says, “We have a great relationship with Rexam having worked with them on several projects in the past....
Vinacomin wants environment fee on bauxite projects slashed
Vinacomin made the proposal at a meeting held in Quang Ninh Province last week to discuss new regulations on the environmental protection fee for mining activities though the ministry turned down such a proposal for several times in the past. The current environmental protection fee on bauxite projects varies from VND30,000 to VND50,000 a ton at different localities but Vinacomin wants it to be cut to VND4,000 a ton. However, the ministry said the fee of VND4,000 per ton is equal to that for projects exploiting soil and sand for production of building materials. Earlier, Vinacomin asked the ministry and the government of Lam Dong Province to reduce the environmental protection fee on Tan Rai alumina plant but its proposal was denied. Vinacomin bemoaned the current environmental protection...
Vedanta releases Production reports for the First Quarter FY 2016
Vedanta Resources Plc releases Production reports for the First Quarter FY 2016. Vedanta reports record quarterly aluminium production and continued high utilisation rate at Lanjigarh alumina refinery. Tom Albanese, Chief Executive Officer, Vedanta Resources plc, said: "In Q1 we saw continued volatility in commodity prices…. We continue to focus on improving efficiency, costs, and enhancing production across our well-invested asset base… Our diversified business model supported by strong operating strengths and structurally low cost assets will enable robust long term returns to stakeholders." Highlights for the aluminium segment are given below: The Lanjigarh alumina refinery operated at a high utilisation rate and produced 269,000 tonnes in Q1 FY2016, 15% higher than Q1 of last year....
Rusal to complete Mykolaiv alumina plant expansion in 2018
Rusal, the largest aluminium producer in Russia, intends to complete the construction of facilities to expand the production capacity of Mykolaiv alumina plant from 1.6 million tons to 1.7 million tons in 2018. "We will complete building facilities to expand the production capacity to 1.7 million tons in 2018," the plant said in a press release. The plant said that in 2014, it implemented the first phase of a project on the shipment of alumina in soft wagon inserts, which allowed the company to ship up to 50,000 tons of alumina per month. In 2015, the plant completed the implementation of the second phase of the project to increase alumina shipment in soft wagon inserts to 80,000 tons per month, which allowed for saving about $15 million a year. This year, the plant will modernize railway...
Jinjiang Group plans 1 million-tpy alumina project in Shanxi
Jinjiang Group has inked a framework agreement with the government of Puxian County, Shanxi Province to build vertical aluminum processing project there. Under the agreement, the project will consist of 1 million-tpy alumina, 300,000-tpy aluminum, 200,000-tpy aluminum processing and captive power plants. With this alumina project, Jinjiang Group takes a step towards backward integration in the aluminium value chain which is becoming very crucial for the metal manufacturers under current volatile market scenario.
ICICIdirect retains 'Hold' on Vedanta; target INR 135
ICICIdirect has maintained 'Hold' on Vedanta following announcement of company's first quarter results. The stock broker fixed price target to INR 135. Commenting on the results, ICICIdirect said, ''Vedanta reported a mixed set of Q1FY16 numbers. The EBITDA came in below our estimates while on the back of forex gain, PAT came in higher than our estimates. The key disappointment came in from the aluminium segment on the back of a steep fall in aluminium realisations and premium. While the EBITDA of Vedanta Aluminium (VAL) declined 66% QoQ and 60% YoY to INR 1.78 billion, Balco reported an EBITDA loss of INR 1.69 billion.'' Commenting on the investment rationale, ICICIdirect said, ''For the quarter, Vedanta reported a muted performance on account of the subdued performance from the...
NALCO to announce Q1 results on Aug 12, 2015
A meeting of the Board of Directors of National Aluminium Company Ltd will be held on August 12, 2015, to consider and take on record the Un-audited Financial Results of the Company for the quarter ended on June 30, 2015. Shares of NATIONAL ALUMINIUM CO.LTD. was last trading in BSE at INR35.3 as compared to the previous close of INR 35.55. The total number of shares traded during the day was 166092 in over 1197 trades. The stock hit an intraday high of INR 36.05 and intraday low of 35.25. The net turnover during the day was INR 5931692.
ELVAL Hellenic Aluminium Industry announces commencement of spin-off
ELVAL Hellenic Aluminium Industry S.A. announces to the investment community, that on July 30, 2015, the Boards of Directors of ELVAL S.A. and its wholly owned subsidiary, non-listed company, Symetal Aluminium Foil Industry S.A. decided the commencement of a spin-off procedure concerning the industrial and commercial activities of the aluminium rolling sector of ELVAL S.A. and its absorption by SYMETAL S.A. The spin- off and absorption of the sector will take place according to the provisions of Law. The spin-off of the rolling sector, part of ELVAL's internal restructuring, will facilitate international co-operation agreements and financing, aiming at strengthening its production activities in Greece. Given that the revenue of the sector under spin-off during the F.Y. 2014 represents...
Aluminium hits six-year low as manufacturing weakens in China
Aluminum falls to a six-year low after manufacturing weakened in China, the largest metals user. A private Chinese factory gauge released on August 3 fell to a two-year low in July and an official index last week slipped to the lowest in five months, adding to a near-$4 trillion rout in Chinese stocks. The country uses about 50 percent of the world’s aluminum. “It’s no surprise, but this is just another piece of bad news,” said Nic Brown, head of commodity research at Natixis SA. “What we need to see now in the industrial metals market is what China is going to do in order to support growth over the coming years.” Commodity prices have slumped to the weakest level in 13 years as supply gluts emerged in everything from oil to metals and crops. The Bloomberg Index of Industrial Metals fell...
India's aluminium beverage can market expected to reach INR 15 bn by 2017
India's beverage packaging industry reported a significant growth in 2014. Backed by rising disposable income among urban Indians and resulting need for increased convenience, consumption of beverages reached a new height previous year. Now, the main focus of the industry lies on sustainable packaging. R&D initiatives are being taken by can makers in collaboration with several research institutes to bring in innovation in green packaging. Beverages as a sector, alone accounted for 21% of the total domestic consumer packaging market in 2014. According to an estimate made by Madras Consulting Group (MSG), it was valued at around INR 125 billion. Cumulative demand for consumer packaging from the beverage sector is expected to edge higher than other user sectors at around 12% till 2017. Major...
Rare aluminum-bodied Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing to cross the block in RM Auctions sale
The Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing is rare, desirable car. Yet this 1955 example is even more special. Part of the outrageous Pinnacle Portfolio collection, this car is one of only 29 aluminum-bodied Gullwings built. It will cross the block next month in the RM Auctions sale held in conjunction with the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance and the other festivities of Monterey Car Week. In addition to its lighter bodywork, this Gullwing features the "Sonderteile" version of the 3.0-liter inline-six, with a competition camshaft that boosts output by 15 horsepower, to 215. It was originally white, and came with sports suspension Rudge wheels, and matching luggage. RM expects it to sell for between $5.5 million and $6.5 million. The car was ordered new by industrialist Rene Wassermann, who picked...
