Europe holds 10% of global aluminium extrusion demand, supported by Germany’s Constellium, France’s Hydro Extrusions & Italy’s Metra
Across Europe, aluminium extrusion has become closely woven into some of the region’s biggest industrial and construction markets. From automotive and transport to buildings and industrial applications, extruded profiles are finding demand across a wide range of sectors. This is reflected in Europe’s position in the global market: the region accounted for 12 per cent of global aluminium extrusion capacity, making it the second-largest regional contributor after China. At the same time, Europe represented 10 per cent of global aluminium extrusion usage, out of total global usage of 35.35 million tonnes . With production capacity and usage shares relatively close, Europe’s extrusion capacity and consumption are broadly at par. If we break down Europe’s 10 per cent share of global aluminium...
H1 2026 sees more renewable energy than ever: Here’s a region-by-region guide to renewable energy supply in the recent past
In the first half of 2025, humanity generated more electricity from renewables than from coal for the first time ever. What led to it? It was possible only because of two decades of falling solar panel prices, taller wind turbines, and governments finally treating clean power like an economic opportunity instead of a favour to the planet. But the renewable energy scenario cannot be portrayed as a single global story. To get the full picture, one has to connect dozens of regional stories moving at wildly different speeds. Some countries are already powered almost entirely by sun, wind and water. Others are still warming up. Here is a tour of how renewable energy supply looks across the world’s regions right now, and who is actually leading the charge. The global scorecard: Renewable energy...
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Japan’s aluminium can demand holds at 2.09 billion units in 2025
Japan’s aluminium can industry is treading water. According to the Japan Aluminium Can Recycling Association (JACRA), total demand for aluminium cans (including both domestic and imported volumes) will remain at about 2.091 billion units in 2025, unchanged from the previous year. Domestic demand is estimated at 2.07 billion units, essentially flat. This makes 2025 the tenth consecutive year that aluminium can consumption has hovered around the two-billion mark. Image for representational purposes only (source: https://www.tskg-hd.com/) Also read: Canned out: America’s food can market declines 16.7% in four years On the surface, the data might appear to signal maturity, even stagnation. But dig deeper, and the story is more complex. Aluminium cans dominate Japan’s beverage packaging...
Aluminium Alloyed, non-alloyed & scrap: India’s downstream aluminium H1 2025 trade
India's aluminium sector is currently navigating a rapidly changing landscape in the first half of 2025, with significant shifts in both exports and imports of alloyed, non-alloyed and scrap aluminium. Exports of non-alloyed aluminium, alloyed aluminium and waste and scrap have all taken a noticeable dip compared to last year. On the flip side, imports are showing a mixed bag, with alloyed aluminium and scrap seeing a sharp increase. India's export of alloyed & non-alloyed aluminium and scraps In H1 2025, India's exports of non-alloyed aluminium dropped to 495.7 million tonnes, valued at USD 1.36 billion, from the same timeframe the previous year, which stood at 818.7 million tonnes, valued at USD 2 billion, representing a decline of 39 per cent. In the same timeline, 2025, India's export...
Canned out: America’s food can market declines 16.7% in four years
America’s appetite for canned goods is shrinking, putting the industry under pressure. Between 2020 and 2024 US domestic shipments of food cans fell 16.7 per cent, from 28.45 billion cans to 23.7 billion, as per CMI. Image for representational purpose Behind the decline is a rearrangement of what Americans buy in tins — a retreat from staple human-food categories and a quiet surge for coffee and pet food — and a story about changing tastes, packaging innovation and the mechanics of making the very objects whose fortunes are being reshaped. Winners and losers on the production line Not every can suffered equally. Coffee cans were the clear standout, rising 63 per cent over the four-year span to 0.075 billion cans in 2024 from 0.046 billion in 2020. Pet food also eked out gains, up 3.9 per...
WEEKLY: Chinese alumina prices decline at slower pace
Chinese spot alumina prices weakened further last week, though the pace of decline slowed compared with the previous week. During the week of September 12-18, the national average price of spot alumina with purity above 98.6 per cent slipped by 1.5 per cent on week to RMB 3,065 per tonne (USD 431 per tonne), according to Mysteel's price assessment. The fall was milder than the previous week's 2.4 per cent drop, Mysteel Global noted. Image: Shandong Renwa Abrasive Tech. Co.,Ltd Despite weaker prices, alumina supplies in the domestic market climbed further, reinforcing the wait-and-see attitude of buyers. Most primary aluminium smelters held back from purchasing spot goods, except for a few that restocked raw material inventories at relatively stable prices via tender. On the supply side,...
Aluminium leadership reset – Top 10 fresh voices reshaping the industry in H1 2025
Change is the one rhythm life never stops playing. It sweeps through seasons, reshapes routines, and just as seamlessly, redefines the faces steering organisations forward. In business, a leadership shift is never just a new title on a desk, but a turning point that can spark reinvention, resilience, and fresh vision. True leadership isn’t only about making choices; it’s about guiding people through uncertainty, creating stability in difficult times, and seeing opportunities where others might only see problems. In a world of rapid market swings, shifting cultures, and unexpected challenges, the leaders who stand out are those who welcome change, treating it not as a threat but as fuel for growth. This story explores the new voices stepping up, leaders who now carry the responsibility of...
Inside aluminium’s safety record: Five years of wins and setbacks
Within the global aluminium industry, workplace safety is a top priority, mainly due to the combination of heavy machinery, high-temperature processes and complex chemical handling, which raises accident risks. But it's not just about the immediate impact on people; safety issues can also disrupt production, damage equipment and erode trust among stakeholders. It is essential to have strong safety measures in place, not just to meet regulations, but as a key part of sustainable growth. Here is a deep dive into the workplace accidents over the past five years, with real-time case studies and measures to overcome them. The analysis for the workplace accidents from 2019 to 2024 is done based on two accident severities: the first being the lost time accident rate per MHW, indicating the time...
Alumina refining fuel consumption hit 1 million TJ in 2024 — Fuel mix transition weighs in
The International Aluminium Institute (IAI) has reported that the global alumina refining industry has had an annual consumption of 1,188,250 Terajoules (TJ) of fuel in 2024. Between 2023 and 2024, global alumina output climbed from 133.54 million tonnes to 138.59 million tonnes, a 3.8 per cent increase, yet total fuel consumption remained almost flat, inching up by just 0.4 per cent. The million terrajoules of consumption is a stark reminder of the heavy reliance of metallurgical alumina production on various energy sources. Image credit: https://international-aluminium.org/statistics/ Also read: Here's what Johannes Zutt of World Bank divulged: BRICS push renewables to forefront, but India faces harder questions Of the total alumina produced, 122.52 million tonnes in 2023 came from...
India’s critical minerals drive: Legal reforms, domestic extraction, and aluminium’s emerging role
As the global clean energy transition, electric vehicle boom, and digital economy accelerate, India has realised the hard truth that its deep reliance on imported critical minerals is unsustainable. Thus, in an attempt to increase the domestic production of critical minerals, India is considering lifting a long-standing restriction that mandates the miners to extract only the mineral they have the licence for. Several reports indicate the reform will allow the leaseholders of thousands of mines, which were allocated before 2015 without formal auctions, to commercially mine newly-discovered strategic minerals like lithium, cobalt, and rare earths. Important to note, all of these minerals are vital for clean energy, automobiles, electronics, and defence. Two officials on the condition of...
Asia struggles to catch up as Europe leads aluminium’s decarbonisation race
The global aluminium industry is at a crossroad, caught between rapidly rising demand from the clean energy transition and the urgent need to decarbonise. As nations scale up solar farms, wind turbines, and electric vehicles, appetite for the lightweight metal is soaring — but producers are under pressure of decarbonising one of the most energy-intensive industries in the world. A study released in September 2025 by Eurasia Group and Alcoa paints a mixed picture. On one hand, aluminium use is set to rise by 40 per cent by 2030 and by 80 per cent by 2050 compared with 2020 levels, cementing its place in the clean energy economy. On the other, the industry is still far off the pace needed for net zero. Aluminium is responsible for about 3 per cent of global industrial emissions, and over...
India slashes GST on renewables to 5%, boosting solar growth and aluminium demand
The Indian government has moved to slash the goods and services tax (GST) on renewable energy equipment, bringing the rate down from 12 per cent to 5 per cent from 22 September 2025. This decision is meant to speed up the country’s energy transition, ease the strain on consumers and developers, and create new jobs in the coming years. The solar sector shows the impact most clearly. Building one megawatt of utility-scale solar currently costs between INR 35 million (USD 398,493) and INR 40 million. The lower GST means each megawatt will be about INR 2–2.5 million cheaper. For a 500 MW solar park, that adds up to more than INR 1 billion in savings — enough to make tariffs sharply more competitive. These cost savings are not limited to developers. By reducing project expenditure, the reform...
Pankaj Jain of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas: LNG, biofuels & hydrogen to aid the long-term energy transition
At the Financial Times organised Energy Transition Summit in India, Pankaj Jain, Secretary of the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas, mapped out India’s evolving energy roadmap. His intervention cut through partisan mottos and international pressure with a pragmatic reality check of hydrocarbons remaining central to India’s energy security, but biofuels and hydrogen already altering the mix faster than expected. For energy-intensive sectors such as aluminium, which live or die by affordable and reliable energy, Jain’s remarks are far beyond policy signals and are a blueprint of the fuels that will shape India’s competitiveness for decades. Image source: https://www.hindustanpetroleum.com/ Also read: Here's what Johannes Zutt of World Bank divulged: BRICS push renewables to forefront, but...
From Beijing to Washington: Is Mexico’s trade shift a strategic move or survival tactic?
Mexico’s aluminium industry once leaned on China as a way to soften the blow of US trade barriers is now moving on the other side. When Washington imposed tariffs on Chinese goods in 2018, large volumes of aluminium were rerouted through Mexico, some of it processed locally before being shipped on to the US. The opening came a year earlier, in 2017, when the US removed tariffs on Mexican aluminium. With duty-free access under USMCA, Mexico became an attractive route for Chinese producers to slip past American trade restrictions. Imports surged, raising concerns that the sector was becoming too dependent on Asian supply. From the export data, we can see the change: in 2024, Mexico’s exports to China were about USD 9.08 billion, dominated by copper ores and concentrates (USD 5.17 billion),...
Double trouble: aluminium scrap outflow adds to tariff woes for the European packaging industry
Heard enough that Europe’s rising outflow of aluminium scrap is hitting a double blow by depleting vital feedstock for its secondary aluminium industry on one hand and on the other by eroding the material which is central to sustainability and net-zero goals. So far, the concerns were voiced mainly by recyclers but now the packaging manufacturers have joined the pack warning of a looming crunch of raw material on home soil. The strain is being felt harder when the European Union is moving forward with its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) tool, which restricts aluminium imports yet leaves the unchecked flow of scrap exports unresolved. Let alone the supply crunch of raw material, industries fear they may also fall short on carbon-reduction targets. For the packaging industry, the...
A rendition of what Johannes Zutt of World Bank divulged: BRICS push renewables to forefront, but India faces harder questions
At the Financial Times Energy Transition Summit in India, Johannes Zutt, Vice President for South Asia at the World Bank, offered a candid assessment during a keynote interview session of how emerging economies are recalibrating their growth strategies around clean power — and why the aluminium sector should be paying close attention. Image souce: https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/ Also read: Scotland’s circular economy adds £7B to GVA but methodology constraints cloud comparisons Zutt drew a parallel with Brazil, noting that the country’s success in solar was no accident. “Successive governments saw the potential of exploiting high solar irradiation in the northeast and put in place a comprehensive programme to realise that potential,” he said. The Brazilian model combined competitive...
Numbers show resilience: Europe’s aluminium industry navigates the energy crisis with renewables
Against the backdrop of war-driven energy shocks and refinery closures, Europe and Russia’s aluminium industry has managed to keep production on a steady course. Primary aluminium output rose from 3.3 million tonnes in H1 2023 to 3.4 million tonnes in H1 2024, representing a 2.3 per cent increase and climbed further to 3.47 million tonnes, a 1.8 per cent gain compared with H1 2024. The first quarter of 2025, particularly January to March, outperformed earlier years, though February slipped slightly compared with 2024. Alumina production, by contrast, has been more variable. Production jumped from 2.5 million tonnes in 2023 to 2.9 million tonnes in 2024, a year-on-year increase of nearly 14.9 per cent. This sharp momentum faltered in 2025. H1 production slipped marginally to 2.8 million...
Steel vs aluminium: Evaluating who’s more affected by US tariffs in 2025
The discussion considering the durability and lightweight of the most traded metals, that is, aluminium and steel, has been ongoing for years and is never-ending, but how is the current trade policy shaping the trade of these metals in 2025? With a 50 per cent steep tariff imposed by Trump, will these metals have broader trajectories to unfold trade dynamics in the coming years. To date, both aluminium and steel have their own unique trading dynamics, influenced by the volume and ways they are used, their pricing systems, and the global supply chains. Steel trade thrives on its strength and durability, making it a go-to choice for infrastructure projects, while aluminium is becoming increasingly popular due to its lightweight properties, especially in the automotive and aerospace...
AL Circle x Norsk Hydro: Scrap, technology, and renewable energy drive our decarbonisation operations
In an exclusive conversation, Bjørn Kjetil Mauritzen, Senior Vice President and Head of Sustainability at Hydro, underscored the company’s unwavering commitment to reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. He outlined clear interim goals of cutting emissions by 10 per cent by 2025 and 30 per cent by 2030, based on 2018 levels. According to Mauritzen, Hydro is driving this transition through three main strategies - expanding post-consumer scrap recycling, advancing breakthrough technologies like carbon capture and zero-emission smelting, and accelerating the use of renewable energy while boosting efficiency. Dive into the full interview to explore his insights in detail. AL Circle: Hydro has long positioned itself as a sustainability leader in the aluminium industry. Could you share your...
Scotland’s circular economy adds £7B to GVA but methodology constraints cloud comparisons
Scotland’s circular economy has been quantified in hard numbers for the first time, with a new economic study placing its contribution at GBP 7.11 billion in gross value added (GVA) in 2021. The valuation represents 4.7 per cent of Scotland’s total GVA, or 3.9 per cent of GDP when including offshore oil and gas extraction. Employment linked to circular activity stood at 81,447, accounting for 4.4 per cent of total Scottish jobs. The figures, published by Zero Waste Scotland and produced by Eunomia Research & Consulting with University College London, establish a baseline for measuring circularity’s role in Scotland’s economy. They also highlight the scale of opportunity: circular activity already outpaces EU averages, but significant data limitations mean the true footprint may be larger...
