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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Norsk Hydro Second Quarter 2015 Results: upstream down on weaker prices but downstream up
Hydro's underlying earnings before financial items and tax declined to NOK 2,667 million in the second quarter from NOK 3,208 million in the first quarter of 2015, mainly reflecting lower aluminium prices and premiums. Highlight: • Underlying EBIT of NOK 2,667 million • Record downstream results on seasonally stronger sales • Lower realized alumina and all-in aluminium prices • New ICMS tax-framework in place • Long-term power sourcing secured for Rheinwerk • Continued challenging global market balance • 2015 global primary aluminium demand growth ~5% "Results this quarter are affected by weaker prices, but I am pleased to see demand growing and aluminium taking over as the preferred metal in more and more applications, contributing to record results in our downstream operations," says...
Vedanta scales down aluminium business, job cuts on the cards
Despite speculations regarding production cuts in Chinese smelters, global aluminium prices have shown no signs of improvement. This has forced India's Vedanta Group to scale down their aluminium business. They may also consider substantial job cuts to reduce overhead cost, said Abhijit Pati, CEO, Vedanta Limited. Presently, about 1.5 million of India's annual aluminium demand is met through imports from the Middle East and China. Imports rose further to 390,000 tonnes in the last quarter from the same period previous year. Rising imports from China and West Asia, moderate demand in the domestic market, and costlier raw materials and power tariffs have been adding to the concerns of aluminium players in India for a while now. Last week they approached the government to seek increase in...
Audi and Honda to come up with aluminium supercars
Two premium car makers Audi and Honda are all set to launch their next generation supercar models built around an exclusive aluminium-carbon fiber space-frame. Audi R8, the second generation supercar, has the original design of the Ingolstadt with the 5.2-litre V10 engine placed behind the cabin. It has two levels of tuning: 397kW or 449kW, the latter primarily meant to hit 100km/h in 3.2 seconds. The car made its first appearance at the International Champions Cup, Melbourne last weekend. Honda NSX is a revised version of the famous 90's NSX. While the original had an all-aluminium make, the latest model is built around an aluminium-carbon fiber-steel space frame. The hybrid supercar, Honda NSX is powered by a 3.5-litre turbocharged V6 engine along with three additional electric motors....
Aluminium down 0.3% on weak global cues, low spot demand
Tracking a weak trend in the base metals pack at the London Metal Exchange (LME) and low demand at spot market, aluminium prices eased by 0.33 per cent to INR 105.55 per kg in futures trade today as speculators reduced positions. In futures trading at the Multi Commodity Exchange, aluminium for delivery in July traded lower by 35 paise, or 0.33 per cent, to INR 105.55 per kg in a business turnover of 371 lots. The metal for delivery in August also fell by a similar margin to trade at INR 107.15 per kg in 13 lots. According to market analysts, weakness in copper and other base metals at the LME in tune with a broader selloff in raw materials as a stronger dollar reduced demand for the commodities as alternative assets, weighed on aluminium futures here. Besides, slackened demand at...
Daily average aluminum output falls to 68,500 tonnes in June: IAI
Daily average primary aluminum output excluding China fell to 68,500 tonnes in June from a revised 68,900 tonnes in May, data from the International Aluminium Institute (IAI) showed on Monday. Global production for June, excluding China, was 2.056 million tonnes, down from a revised 2.135 million recorded in May.
Aluminium firms seek increase in import duty
Forced to operate their plants at nearly half the capacity due to burgeoning imports from China, aluminium companies on Thursday urged the government to raise import duty on aluminium metal scrap and the metal itself to 10% from 2.5% and 5%, respectively. In a presentation to the mines ministry, aluminium producers said though the country’s installed production capacity currently stands at 4.2 MT, the production was just half of that in the previous fiscal, mainly because of cheaper imports. As a result, their share in domestic consumption fell to 44% last fiscal from 60% in FY11. During the same period, the share of imports went up to 56% from 40%. China and West Asia contribute to a lion’s share of aluminium imports to India, which consumed around 2.8 MT last fiscal. Companies from...
Alcoa claims Chinese semi-finished aluminum exports misrepresented
As always, Thomson Reuters' Andy Home turns out some excellent commentary backed by solid statistics. In a recent article, he reviews comments made by Alcoa Inc's Klaus Kleinfeld about China’s primary aluminum production leaking out of the country under the cover of the burgeoning export trade in semi-finished products. As the article explains, China exported 2.5 million metric tons of unwrought aluminum and aluminum products in the first half of the year. That was 35% or a 650,000-mt increase over the same period last year. Untaxed Semis, Taxed Ingots The temptation for Chinese producers to ship primary metal for export is significant in a domestic market oversupplied with unwrought primary metal, but producers are dissuaded from exporting ingot by a 15% export tax and a negative...
Ball's £4.3bn takeover of can maker Rexam probed by EU
The EU's competition regulator has opened an in-depth probe into the proposed takeover of Rexam, the British maker of beverage cans, by US peer Ball Corporation in an offer worth £4.3bn. In a statement, the European Commission, the EU's executive body, said it had concerns that the proposed transaction announced in February "may reduce competition in the beverage can and aluminium bottle manufacturing industry" in the European single market. "Very many of us buy drinks in cans - they are convenient and used everywhere," EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said. "It is therefore very important that the Commission makes sure that Ball's takeover of Rexam does not restrict effective competition and so risk price increases that could be passed on to consumers." Rexam and Ball are...
ETS reform proposal fails to restore competitiveness of aluminium sector
European Aluminium regrets the absence of an EU-wide solution to shield the most exposed industries from the indirect costs of the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) in today’s proposal from the European Commission. Without a harmonised scheme for full compensation of carbon costs passed on by utilities in all Member States, Europe‘s entire aluminium value chain remains in jeopardy. Director-General, European Aluminium Gerd Götz issues the following statement: "Today’s proposal falls short in terms of restoring our global competitiveness. It ignores unanimous calls from all 28 Member States and the European Parliament for harmonised EU compensation for indirect ETS costs. Our sector is the most exposed to carbon leakage as a result of these costs, which are 6 to 7 times higher than the direct...
Vedanta to announce its production results for Q1 FY2016 on July 31
Vedanta Resources plc will announce its production results for the first quarter ended 30 June 2015, on Friday, 31 July 2015 at 7:00 a.m. UK time (11:30 a.m. India time). Following the release, a conference call will be held on the same day at 9:00 a.m. UK time (1:30 p.m. India time), where senior management will discuss the results. The results will be webcast and can be accessed via investor relations section of the Vedanta website.
LME reaches settlement on U.S. aluminium class-action cases
Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing Ltd (HKEx) No money was paid by either side in arriving at the settlement, the HKEx-owned LME said in a statement. Under the settlement announced by HKEx on Sunday, the plaintiffs agreed to drop the LME from appeals against a U.S. court’s decision last August dismissing them from their cases, the exchange said. This leaves the plaintiffs free to ask the LME for publicly available data, which they were prevented from doing while the LME was a defendant in the lawsuits. LME data includes inventory levels in the warehouses it monitors. "These are the only principal terms of the settlement," the London-based LME said. The lawsuits, brought last year by companies in the United States, accused banks and traders of hoarding metal in LME warehouses, driving up the...
Iran’s aluminum ingot output increases by 5% to reach 93,836 metric tons
Aluminum ingot production in Iran reached 93,836 metric tons during the first three months of the current Iranian fiscal year, starting March 21 till June 22. The figure shows five-percent growth compared to the same period of preceding year, Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) reported. Iranian Aluminum Company (IRALCO), produced 46,230 metric tons of aluminum ingots in the 3-month period, while the volume of aluminum ingot production in the Al-Mahdi Aluminum Corporation (AAC) and Hormozal companies stood at 21,100 and 26,506 metric tons respectively. Iran produced 62,601 metric tons of alumina powder in the period as well. Some 29,404 metric tons of aluminum ingots and 21,454 metric tons of alumina powder have also been produced in the...
Alcoa & Nalco getting benefits from alumina and not aluminium
US aluminium giant Alcoa is globally seen as the bellwether for the silvery white metal industry. Such is its standing that every quarter it unofficially kicks off the US earnings seasons. Not surprising, therefore, Alcoa deciding two years ago to start switching off high-cost smelters to stanch profits fall from the commodity aluminium business has found converts among leading producers in the world, including our National Aluminium Company (Nalco). Although not a moment too soon, China, the world's largest producer and user of the metal, saw merit in Alcoa shaving capacity. Low-capacity high-cost smelters using outdated technology and polluting the environment fell foul of the Xi Jinping administration. Aluminium prices are staying so low that despite production discipline, Alcoa's...
Pro Fin Capital's Terra Natural Resources signs agreement with Indo Ferro Metal for bauxite ores supply
Pro Fin Capital Services Ltd's subsidiary, Tera Natural Resources Private Limited (Tera) has signed agreement with Indo Ferro Metal Private Limited, Gurgaon, Haryana for supply of 2,00,000 tons of bauxite ores. The discussions are also at final stage between Tera and HINDALCO Ltd for supply of bauxite ores to the latter. Shares of PRO FIN CAPITAL SERVICES LTD. was last trading in BSE at INR 237.2 as compared to the previous close of INR 225. The total number of shares traded during the day was 72668 in over 356 trades. The stock hit an intraday high of INR 237.2. The net turnover during the day was INR 17004747.
SMB-WAP starts exporting bauxite from Guinea as sector expands
A Guinean-Chinese consortium, SMB-WAP, has started exporting bauxite from Guinea- the first new market entry in the West African country for 15 year, confirmed government sources. Guinea says it has the world's largest supplies of bauxite, but is ranked fourth in the export rankings. The government says production will increase by 30 percent before 2016 ends. Nava Toure, secretary general of the mines ministry, said Société Minière de Boké-Winning Africa Port (SMB-WAP) had invested about $100 million in its concession in the Boke Region of Western Guinea. From there, the bauxite is trucked to a port on the Rio Nuñez river and then transferred to larger ships bound for international markets, Toure said. Most of the production will feed growing Asian demand for aluminium. Exports are...
US Shredded Scrap prices plummet to $266 a long ton; Aluminum scrap prices stay stable
United States shredded scrap prices plummeted in the week ended July 10, while US aluminum scrap prices on Scrap Register Price Index stayed stable. According to TSI, US Midwest shredded index fell $16 a long ton to $266 a long ton (delivered mill) the week. As was reported in “buy-week” last month, East coast export yards had purchased large volumes of material designated for export. However, with Turkish mills dropping out of the market all together in the last few weeks, these export yards have been left in the lurch with no option but to sell the material back into the domestic market. This, together with a number of bulk cargoes booked into the States, served to push the market into oversupply. US mills knew this, and dropped their offers accordingly, with some prices down up to...
Aluminum has bright future, but repairs could be pricey
Aluminum is a big part of the greener future of cars and trucks, offering lighter weight, more strength, less corrosion and improved fuel economy. However the repair work for the automotive could be quite costly too. “It’s going to be a big shift,” says Bill Davidge, national technology manager of Carstar, a U.S.-based body shop chain with 230 outlets in Canada. Aluminum has three qualities that make it more difficult to repair than steel. - Unlike steel, damaged aluminum has no “memory” or “desire” to return to its original shape. It wants to remain in its new state. So repairs take more time and effort, and different techniques. For one thing, the metal must be heated while being pulled or hammered back into shape. Mixing aluminum with small amounts of other metals can create extremely...
Auckland art gallery by Mitchell and Stout Architects features an aluminium-plated facade
Green aluminium panels cover the facade of this contemporary art gallery in Auckland, New Zealand, where a ceiling shaped like a gramophone horn funnels in light from an opening in the roof. The Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery by local studio Mitchell and Stout Architects is set on a sloping site in the Auckland suburb of Titirangi. The interior spaces are spread across six floors, three above ground and three partially submerged in earth. The building's facade follows the curve of an almond-shaped staircase and an angled entrance hall within, and is clad in panels of green-painted aluminium sheeting that give the appearance of weathered copper. The staircase has scalloped soffits and rises from the entrance hall to the white-walled galleries above, while an education centre,...
