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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Rexam celebrates completion of La Selva plant conversion to aluminium
Rexam, a leading global beverage can maker, proudly announces that its La Selva plant near Tarrogona, Spain, has completed the conversion of its three final production lines from steel to aluminium. Starting in 2011 with the conversion of the first line, this major engineering project was completed on time and within budget. The successful conversion of La Selva represents a significant investment and demonstrates Rexam’s commitment to meeting the requirements of its Spanish customers to secure the company’s long-term future in Spain. A key market for Rexam, Spain produces over seven billion cans a year, making it the second largest beverage market in Europe. Speaking about the project completion, Iain Percival, Sector Director for Rexam Europe, says: “After nine months of hard work and...
Green Vision Bahrain introduces Reverse Vending Machines to encourage recycling
Green Vision Bahrain has come up with a Reverse Vending Machine (RVM) system, where anyone who deposits a plastic bottle or aluminium can will be rewarded with a code that can be used to collect points online allowing the recycler to redeem the points to get airline tickets, electronics or toys. The innovative technology was set up after Green Vision Bahrain signed an agreement with Beirut-based waste management firm Averda who have designed and implemented similar reverse vending machines in more than nine countries. Implementation of the scheme is due to be rolled out by mid-February, says the senior public relations of Green Vision, Ahlam Khalifa. The RVMs would be set up in stages, first hitting the private schools and universities, then major malls around the country and later, as...
Monett-based extrusion company secures land deal for new projects
Monett-based Architectural Systems Inc. has completed an expansion at its Aurora facility and received a land deal from the city of Aurora to assist future growth. Now in its 17th year, ASI completes fabrication, extrusion finishing and makes brake metal with formed sheet aluminum at its Monett plant. ASI receives its raw materials from its customers and does not extrude aluminum, but focuses on processing the materials. The company purchased a former garment factory in Granby from banker Glen Garrett about eight years ago, where it makes small parts, takes on specialty fabrications and finishes products. ASI has operated a factory in Aurora's industrial park for the past two-and-a-half years, where the company makes curtain wall systems, external skin for commercial buildings. The city...
China alumina imports surge 83.69% in Dec. 2014 on pre-holiday stocking
China imported 638,600 tonnes of alumina in December 2014, spiking 83.69% from a year ago, customs data showed. Stock building for the Chinese New Year holiday in February is the major driver behind the notable growth in imports, SMM noted. Purchases from Australia spiked 81.96% year-on-year in December, as attractive import prices offered incentive. Slumping crude oil allowed the average CIF price of Australian alumina to fall to $378 per tonne in December.
China’s bauxite imports from Australia peak at 1.87 million tons in Dec. 2014
China’s bauxite imports from Australia peaked at 1.87 million tonnes in December 2014, underscoring the country’s role as top supplier after Indonesia banned exports. Rising alumina production in China and growing alumina consumption from aluminum smelters boosted demand for bauxite, SMM understands. Inbound shipments of the raw material for aluminum from Australia ballooned 86.78% from a year ago and 74.60% from a month ago in December, customs data showed. The closure of Rio Tinto’s GOVE Alumina Refinery in Australia, whose output was 2.3 million tonnes in 2013, could allow an additional 8 million tonnes of bauxite to be exported, Liu Xiaolei, aluminum analyst with SMM said.
Downstream aluminium sector in spotlight at Gulf Industry Fair 2015
The strength of the aluminium downstream sector and 'value-added' products will be showcased at the upcoming Gulf Industry Fair 2015, taking place from Tuesday to Thursday at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre. Led by Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), one of the world's leading aluminium smelters, and endorsed by the Gulf Aluminium Council (GAC), the Aluminium Zone at Gulf Industry Fair 2015 promises to reflect the sector's positive global demand outlook, which continues to drive opportunity for downstream suppliers such as Bahraini companies Garmco, Balexco, Midal Cables, Ameeri Industries and Turk Mechanical, who will all demonstrate their specialist capabilities at the show. "GAC considers Gulf Industry Fair to be a key part of our ongoing strategy to highlight the GCC...
Midas Holdings secures 1.73b yuan aluminium alloy metro-train contract
MIDAS Holdings' joint venture company, Nanjing SR Puzhen Rail Transport Co (NPRT), together with a consortium partner, has secured a 1.73 billion yuan (S$374 million) metro train contract. The contract is awarded by Shanghai Rail Transit Line 13 Development Co, for the Shanghai Metro Line 13 Phases 2 and 3, with delivery scheduled between 2016 and 2017. Midas Holdings CEO and executive director, Patrick Chew, said: "We are pleased that NPRT continues to be a beneficiary of China's growing railway industry. The continuing development and expansion of China's passenger rail network brings about demand for metro train cars." Mainboard-listed Midas Holdings, a manufacturer of aluminium alloy extrusion products for the passenger rail transportation sector in China, has a 32.5 per cent stake in...
Top China aluminium maker Chalco expects loss in 2014 on sluggish market, provisions
Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (Chalco), the country's biggest producer of primary aluminium, expects to swing to a loss in 2014 due to sluggish market prices and provisions, it said on Friday. Chalco, which is also China's biggest producer of alumina, the raw material needed to produce aluminium, expects to post a net loss of 16.3 billion yuan ($2.61 billion) for 2014, compared with a profit of 948 million yuan a year earlier, it said in a filing on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The last time it posted a loss was in 2012. Chalco, which sells its products mainly in China, the world's largest aluminium market, attributed the loss mainly to substantial provisions made for some long-term assets and lower aluminium prices. The company's board approved substantial provisions for impairment of...
Hydro has decided to sell Herøya Industrial Park in Porsgrunn, Norway
The decision is a result of the major changes Hydro has gone through over the last 10-15 years, going from a conglomerate operating in several business sectors to a pure aluminium company with its own significant electric power production. Fertilizer production, which played such an important role in Hydro's history, went over to Yara when it was spun off from Hydro in 2004. The petrochemical business was sold to Ineos in 2008, while magnesium production was wound down in 2001 in the face of severe competition from China. "For many years Hydro has made a major effort to develop the industrial park and encourage the creation of new businesses in Grenland. As a result, there are now around 80 companies here at Herøya with a total of 2500 employees," says executive vice president Eivind...
Tajikistan to increase production of aluminium this year
Tajikistan’s Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Sharif Rakhimzoda declared that the country plans to increase its aluminium output to 190 thousand tons from the 121 thousand tons produced the previous year. The ministry had declared an estimated production of 150 thousand tons of aluminium last year but the target could not be fulfilled as the aluminium prices started falling globally in 2014, with an average price of $1,870 per ton. The minister said, Tajikistan Aluminium Company (TALCO) has joined hands with the Norwegian aluminium producer Hydro and together they will be able to improve TALCO’s production and sale of the metal. TALCO is the largest state-owned aluminium producer in Tajikistan with the overall capacity of producing 500,000 tons of aluminium per year. The...
Alcoa opens expanded wheels manufacturing plant in Hungary
Lightweight, high-performance metals leader Alcoa today officially opened its expanded wheels manufacturing plant in Hungary. The larger facility doubles Alcoa’s capacity to produce its Dura-Bright® EVO surface-treated wheels compared to 2014 production levels. The expansion will enable Alcoa to meet growing European demand for its lightweight, durable, low-maintenance aluminum truck wheels. “This expansion positions Alcoa to capture increasing demand for our innovative aluminum truck wheels in Europe, including our easiest-to-clean wheels that look new longer, reduce maintenance costs, and increase payload and fuel efficiency,” said Tim Myers, President, Alcoa Wheel and Transportation Products. “Our investments in forged aluminum truck wheels support Alcoa’s broader strategy to build out...
Weston Aluminium calls for lifting of CSG restrictions to avoid mass job losses
A Hunter Valley aluminium waste recycling plant is warning of mass job losses in the manufacturing sector if the New South Wales Government does not ease restrictions on coal seam gas (CSG) activity. Weston Aluminium says the viability of its remelting plant has already been eroded by rising gas and electricity price hikes. It says worse is yet to come, with prices tipped to double within three years, due to gas shortages. The company's managing director Garbis Simonian says the government needs to act. "You know the solution is for the government to start allowing coal seam gas development in selected areas," he said. "New South Wales is a large state and there are a lot of areas that aren't critical for agriculture, like industrial areas, power station buffer zones. "There are a lot of...
Aluminium players expected to bid aggressively for coal blocks
Facing shortage of fuel and raw material, domestic primary aluminium players are likely to bid for captive coal blocks aggressively in the upcoming auctions, credit rating agency ICRA said today. Their "operational challenges" stem from the deallocation of coal blocks allotted to them earlier and inadequate coal has forced these firms to operate at lower level, it said. Hindalco and Sesa Sterlite are the major aluminium firms in the private sector and Nalco in the public sector. "...Aluminium capacity is currently at a surplus compared to consumption. However, the utilisation rates of the recently commissioned smelters would continue to be constrained by raw material and fuel availability issues, narrowing gap between demand and supply," said ICRA. "Recent de-allocation of captive coal...
Kaiser Aluminum Corporation announces a new five-year labor agreement
Kaiser Aluminum Corporation today announced that union members at the Company's Newark, OH and Spokane, WA ("Trentwood") facilities have ratified a new five-year labor agreement. The agreement which affects approximately 900 union members is effective on October 1, 2015 and extends through September 30, 2020. The new labor agreement also extends the term of the Director Designation Agreement that allows the union to nominate candidates to the Company's board of directors. In addition, the annual variable contribution for the Union VEBA continues through September 30, 2017. "We are pleased to reach this agreement to extend through 2020 our productive, long-term relationship between Kaiser Aluminum and the United Steelworkers," said Jack A. Hockema, President, Chief Executive Officer and...
Metro Mining shows promise for 2015
Metro Mining, the new company that has emerged after MetroCoal Ltd acquired Cape Alumina, is all fired up for development in 2015 with the appointment of a new CEO, a new Director and the doubling of the direct shipping ore inferred resource at its Bauxite Hills project. The combination of the two companies has resulted in the advent of a company that has major bauxite resources, one of Australia’s largest thermal coal resources and the ability to cater to diversified bulk commodities. The new appointed CEO is expected to fast-track the progress of the company, especially in regard to the Bauxite Hill Project in Western Cape York within the shortest amount of time with the lowest capital costs. Simon Finnis has the capability to carry out the task having considerable experience in...
Dubai to sell off German alumina products maker
Dubai International Capital (DIC) is launching the sale of German alumina products maker Almatis as the fund seeks to reduce its liabilities in the wake of a debt restructuring, three people familiar with the deal said. DIC has mandated Barclays to explore the options of the possible divestment, the people said on Thursday. Almatis is around 80 percent owned by DIC with a stake also held by Blackstone unit GSO Capital Partners. The company had earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of around 100 million in 2014, DIC Chief Executive David Smoot said last year, without giving an expected valuation for the firm. Listed aluminum companies trade at an average of 6.8 times their expected EBITDA. Groups which like Almatis specialize in premium alumina products such...
CPI Group aluminum output hit 2.67 million tons in 2014
China Power Investment Corporation (CPI) produced 2.67 million tonnes of aluminum in 2014, its General Manager Chen Qizhou said in a recent report. The company – among China’s top 10 aluminum producers – also produced 73.79 million tonnes of coal last year, the report showed. The article is edited by SMM and is provided for information purpose only. SMM assumes no liability and does not warrant the accuracy, reliability or completeness of information contained or quoted in the article, either express or implied. SMM further disclaims any liability for losses in connection with the information contained or quoted in the article.
SMS Siemag to supply cold mill to Aleris for the production of prime quality aluminum coil for the automotive industry
Aleris, a world-leading aluminum coil manufacturer, has placed an order with SMS Siemag for the supply of a single-stand six-high aluminum cold rolling mill as key equipment for a major expansion of the facilities at its U.S. site in Lewisport, Kentucky. The new mill will be designed to produce up to 2,350-millimeter-wide prime quality coil, enabling Aleris to cater to the expected growing demand by the North American automotive industry for car body sheet made of aluminum. All major components of the cutting-edge CVC® plus six-high cold mill will be manufactured in the modern workshops of the SMS group. In extensive integration tests prior to shipment, the X-Pact® electrical and automation system will be prepared for time-saving commissioning. The full-line supply will also include a...
