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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China's top aluminium producer Chalco swings to profit in Q1
Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (Chalco) swung to a profit in the first quarter of 2015 after domestic prices of the metal in the world's top consumer rose. Chalco reported a net profit of 63.1 million yuan ($10.2 million) for the January-March period after a net loss of 2.16 billion yuan in the same period a year earlier, it said in a filing on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Tuesday. The top Chinese producer of primary aluminium and raw material alumina had booked a record loss of 16.2 billion yuan in 2014 due to huge writedowns and weak metal prices as the Chinese economy slowed. Chalco mainly sells its products in China, the world's top producer and consumer of aluminium. Chinese aluminium prices rose 1.4 percent in the first quarter, supported by reduced spot sales by some producers. ($1...
Trimet Aluminium celebrates 30th anniversary
Trimet Aluminium SE is 30 years old. Founded in 1985 by Heinz-Peter Schlüter as a metal trading company, in three decades the company has become a material specialist for the aluminium processing industry. With the takeover of the aluminium smelter in Essen and the recycling plant in Gelsenkirchen, the company entered the aluminium production arena in the 1990s. Today, Trimet operates four aluminium smelters, two recycling plants and several foundries at eight locations in Germany and France. The company produces around 700,000 tonnes of aluminium products annually. In addition to trade in metal, Trimet produces primary aluminium, manufactures cast parts for automobile manufacturing and other industries, and reprocesses the lightweight metal. Today, just as then, a consistent customer...
Rusal battles with LME on aluminium price
Rusal, the world’s largest aluminium producer, has reignited its war of words with the London Metal Exchange, saying the LME has allowed financial speculators to distort prices. Vladislav Soloviev, chief executive of the heavily indebted Russian group, said the price of aluminium traded on the LME has been depressed by as much as 30 per cent by the actions of “money-market players”. “The LME price does not reflect the real supply and demand balance,” said Mr Soloviev, as he called on the exchange to increase transparency and provide further detail on market activity. Rusal, controlled by billionaire businessman Oleg Deripaska, produces 7 per cent of the world’s aluminium, a lightweight metal that is used in everything from soft drink cans to car bodies. The Moscow-based company...
Elval S.A. and UACJ Corporation signs MOU for a joint venture company for automotive sector
Elval S.A. and UACJ Corporation have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a joint venture company (“Newco”) for the purchase, production and sale of automotive heat exchanger materials in Europe. Newco will be established in Germany in accordance with the laws of Germany and take the form of a limited liability company (GmbH). UACJ shall subscribe for 51% of the shares and Elval shall subscribe for 49% of the shares in the Newco at the time of its incorporation. The parties shall agree a separate Technology License Agreement under which UACJ shall provide the technical assistance necessary for Elval to manufacture products of automotive heat exchanger materials to be purchased by Newco for sale to the customers in Europe. UACJ and Elval consider automotive heat exchanger...
Rexam trading in line with expectations with aluminium costs falling
Beverage can maker Rexam PLC on Tuesday said it is trading in line with expectations, with can volumes higher in the first quarter, boosted by a good performance in Europe but offset by softer conditions in the Middle East and North American markets and a slowdown in South America, though the group expects to benefit this year from falling aluminium premiums. FTSE 250-listed Rexam, which is being acquired by US rival Ball Corp for GBP4.3 billion, said overall global beverage can volumes in the first quarter to the end of March rose 5%. Volumes in Europe were strong in the quarter, driven by energy drink can volumes, with growth also seen in Russia, the UK, Germany, Italy, India and Egypt. But the group was hit by softer market conditions in the Middle East. Standard can volumes were...
Aluminium systems add light to Moor Market at United Kingdom
The British city of Sheffield has completed the first phase in the redevelopment of one of its primary retail sites, The Moor, with a building that uses more than 1,200 square meters of Technal-brand aluminium façade systems. The redeveloped Moor Market is the first new, purpose-built market to be constructed in the United Kingdom in 30 years. The £18 million project for Sheffield City Council is replacing the city center’s Castle Market, which had fallen into disrepair. The contemporary look of the new building, designed by Leslie Jones Architecture and the main contractor, Bowmer and Kirkland, takes its inspiration from classic European markets with the use of “timber weave” cladding alternating with projecting courses of red brickwork – echoing the Victorian red-brick architecture of...
Century rejected a proposal for new labor deal at Hawesville, Kentucky, smelter
Century Aluminum rejected a proposal from unionized workers for a new labor deal at its Hawesville, Kentucky, smelter over the weekend, the United Steelworkers Local 9423 said in a post on its website. Century's rejection of the proposal places the two parties at a stalemate nearly one month after the initial deadline for a new five-year contract. Last week, the union's membership rejected a tentative collective bargaining agreement reached between the company and the union's negotiating committee. "The Union offered across the table a proposal we considered fair to the membership and to the Company," the union said in the website post, advising workers to continue working "until we know something more." "We will be evaluating our options," the post added. A Century spokesman did not...
China acts to curb aluminum capacity expansions
China’s Ministry of Industry & Information Technology (MIIT) issued Capacity Substitution Program in Industries Suffering Overcapacity, including aluminum, demonstrating the central government’s determination to rein in blind capacity. Capacity Substitution is conducted in two forms: full substitution and partial substitution. Under full capacity substitution, companies must retire outdated or surplus capacity that is equal to new capacity to be built prior to the launch of new projects. Under partial capacity substitution, companies must retire outdated or surplus capacity that is in excess of new capacity to be built prior to the launch of new projects. Full capacity substitution shall apply to industries suffering overcapacity in environmentally sensitive areas, such as Beijing,...
Rusal plays down concerns of Chinese aluminium flooding market
Concerns about Chinese aluminium flooding the global market are not justified, according to the deputy chief executive of United Company Rusal , the world's top aluminium producer. Worries about oversupply in the aluminium market have put pressure on prices of the metal use in packaging and vehicles and are forcing many producers to curb output. Such concerns, exacerbated by rising capacity in China, have pushed Rusal's rival Alcoa to flip its market balance forecast for this year from a deficit to a surplus. But Rusal Deputy CEO Oleg Mukhamedshin said a surge in Chinese exports of some aluminium products in December was just a temporary phenomenon. He said he did not believe that Beijing would go ahead with its plan to remove on export tax on aluminium, which would boost its exports....
Aurum Exploration Limited in Fiji says it has paid royalties
A mining company in Fiji being accused of not paying royalties to landowners says it has handed over about 670,000 US dollars to the government. Landowners in Fiji's northern division say they have not received any royalties from a bauxite mine run by Chinese company Aurum Exploration Limited since they consented to it in 2011. A SODELPA MP Mosese Bulitavu says the company has only paid about 300,000 US dollars so far in royalties to the Lands Department, which still has not been given to landowners. He says the company still owes about another 740,000 US dollars. But an Aurum Exploration Limited spokesperson says it has paid the government about 670,000 US dollars and cannot pay landowners directly.
WINDOOR EXPO 2015 achieves new international standard
The 21st edition of WINDOOR EXPO held in Guangzhou from 18 to 20 March 2015 was a new height in the building envelope industry in China. With 46,781 trade professionals from 93 countries and regions, the expo has reached a great success after expanding its scope. With more emphasis on innovations, new technologies and sustainable solutions, WINDOOR EXPO gained new and renewed international attention to the Chinese construction industry. The 2015 expo focused on the developments in the Chinese Building Envelope industry, and foster innovations, sustainability and technologies within the Chinese exhibitors. Industry leaders, important Chinese associations and relevant government bodies welcomed the insight in the Chinese industry, and created new international cooperation. Foreign building...
Altech appoints Melewar intergrated engineering as construction partner for HPA project
Highlights - Memorandum of Understanding with Melewar Integrated Engineering Sdn Bhd - Part of the diversified Melewar Industrial Group Berhad (MIG-Melewar) - Construction services for buildings and steel works, civil works, roads and site infrastructure Altech Chemicals Limited is pleased to announce that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") with Malaysian engineering and construction group Melewar Integrated Engineering Sdn Bhd (Melewar), appointing it as construction contractor for Altech's proposed high purity alumina (HPA) processing plant in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Melewar is a leading multi-disciplinary engineering firm and offers one stop solutions to industrial planning, project engineering, development, construction and management. Melewar is part of the...
Nagpur institute JNARDDC invents method to make special alumina
The city-based Jawaharlal Nehru Aluminium Research Design and Development Centre (JNARDDC) has developed an indigenous process of preparing 'special alumina', which is usually imported. Special alumina, which is the precursor for manufacturing aluminium from bauxite ore, has multiple uses as fire retardants, semiconductor devices, abrasives in paints and pigments, glass, electrical porcelains, in tooth pastes etc. The centre has developed a technique of minimizing the sodium (an impurity) levels in alumina to less than 0.1% from about 0.25% by modifying the conventional process. This has increased its value by seven to ten times. The centre is waiting for a patent of the process, so it has not shared full details of the process. However, JNARDDC director Anupam Agnihotri told TOI that...
Second Self Beer Company moves into cans with high-recycled content Novelis evercan™
Novelis, the world leader in aluminum rolling and recycling, and Atlanta brewery Second Self Beer Company today announced the launch of Second Self beer in aluminum cans, made from Novelis evercan™ – the world's first and only certified high-recycled content aluminum can sheet. The news was announced today in Savannah, Georgia, during the International Society of Beverage Technologists' annual meeting, BevTech 2015, just in time for summer vacation and festival season. "At Second Self we spend a lot of time perfecting the flavor profile of every beer we make, from how it first hits the pallet to what foods it pairs well with," said Jason Santamaria, Beer Architect, Second Self Beer Company. "Now that the warm weather is here, we want consumers to be able to enjoy these same flavors...
Hydro reports record Q1 2015 result on higher sales & positive currency movement
Hydro's underlying earnings before financial items and tax increased to NOK 3,208 million in the first quarter, up from NOK 2,886 million in the fourth quarter of 2014. The results reflect higher sales across the value chain and a stronger US dollar. • Record-high quarterly underlying EBIT of NOK 3 208 million • Higher sales throughout the value chain • Positive currency developments • Acquisition of advanced sorting technology in Germany • Reduced market tightness due to Chinese semis exports "I am pleased that we for the second quarter in a row can present record quarterly results since Hydro became a pure aluminium company in 2007. We will continue to deliver on the improvement programs, while looking for additional measures to expand the efforts already in scope," says President and...
China primary aluminum imports fell 74.25% YoY in March
China imported 10,600 mt of primary aluminum in March, down 74.25% YoY, but up 60.61% MoM. Imports in Q1 totaled 22,500 mt, down 85.35% YoY, customs data showed. LME aluminum fell to USD 1,800/mt due to tumbling crude oil, growing aluminum semis exports by China, expansions in Indian aluminum market, aggressive aluminum exports by Russia, and changes in LME warehousing rules. SHFE aluminum, by contrast, held relatively well. This pushed up the SHFE/LME aluminum price ratio, favoring aluminum imports. In addition, overseas aluminum premiums fell sharply, another incentive for imports.
Xinjiang to add 1.5 Mln-tonne in new aluminum capacity in 2015
Xinjiang plans to increase new aluminum capacities by 1.5 million tonnes in 2015, according to its latest release. The release, regarding suggestions on measures to cope with economic downward risks, also plans to add 60,000-70,000 tonnes in new copper capacities. In 2015’s efforts to eliminate inefficient capacities, 500,000 tonnes of iron-smelting and 300,000 tonnes of steel-making capacities will be involved.
“Our niche focus on premium quality, value-added products places us in a strong position to cater to the projected sustained increase in global demand,” Abdulla J M Kalban (Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of EGA)
AlCircle had the pleasure of meeting the team of Emirates Global Aluminium (“EGA”) , one of the top aluminium producers in the world during the Aluminium Middle East 2015 Exhibition in Dubai. Abdulla J M Kalban (Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of EGA) shared with AlCircle a few significant inputs on the business and the Middle East Aluminium Industry. He had been associated with DUBAL since 1985 leading the transformation of the business from a regional primary aluminium smelter into the world’s 5th largest primary producer. He is also the Chairman of the Gulf Aluminium Council and Chairman of the International Aluminium Institute. Excerpts from the interview: AlCircle : Please brief us on the history and objective behind the formation of Emirates Global Aluminium (“EGA”)...
