Global EV sales to hit 35.4 million by 2030, with aluminium usage forecast to rise 38% in North America & 79% in China
From just 2 million vehicles in 2018 to a projected 35.4 million in 2030, the rise of electric vehicles (EVs) is reshaping the global automotive industry - and changing how much aluminium goes into every car. As automakers expand EV production, aluminium is finding new applications in battery enclosures, electric-drive housings, vehicle bodies and structural components, making the metal an increasingly important part of the industry's transition. Global sales of battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are projected to reach 23.3 million units in 2026, up 11 per cent from 21 million in 2025. Sales are forecast to rise to 26.1 million in 2027, 29.2 million in 2028 and 32.2 million in 2029, before reaching 35.4 million in 2030. The market has grown...
AL Circle analysis: How do Germany’s 32.8% automotive aluminium share, 40% Diet Coke can price rise & 3.54Mt North American extrusion demand matter?
Aluminium’s downstream and end-user world is having one of those fortnights where a beer can, a luxury sports car, a German construction site and an Indian furnace all end up in the same conversation. The metal may begin its life far upstream, but its real fuss is playing out in cans, cars, extrusions, buildings and factories, where tariffs, trade policy, energy costs and demand cycles decide who wins. This fortnight highlights that aluminium demand is moving towards electric vehicles, lightweight transport and long-life infrastructure, even as packaging and construction feel the pinch of cost and weak activity. Meanwhile, producers from Vietnam to New Zealand are arguing over the oldest question in the business of how much protection, taxation or openness does a downstream industry need...
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Alcoa to roll out lightest heavy-duty truck wheel in Europe, offering increased fuel efficiency, Payload
Alcoa, the inventor and global leader of forged aluminum wheels, said that it will roll out its lightest heavy-duty truck wheel in Europe to help fleets increase payload and fuel efficiency. Announced at the 65th International Motor Show (IAA) Commercial Vehicles tradeshow in Hannover, Germany, Alcoa is now selecting fleet partners for the European launch of its lightest forged aluminum wheel ever, the Ultra ONE™ with MagnaForce™ alloy. The wheel will be available in Europe during the second half of 2015. Fleets worldwide are turning to lighter weight aluminum wheels versus steel wheels to help increase payload, improve fuel efficiency and meet emissions regulations. “Alcoa’s Ultra ONE wheel offers heavy-duty performance without the heavy weight of steel wheels, and it looks great, too,”...
Aleris to add aluminum automotive body sheet capabilities in North America
Aleris announced today that it will invest $350 million to upgrade capabilities at its aluminum rolling mill in Lewisport, Kentucky. The investment positions Aleris to meet anticipated significant growth in North American automotive demand as the industry pursues broader aluminum use for the production of lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles. Aleris is currently a leading supplier to the European premium auto industry, which has led the transition to aluminum driven by tighter emissions standards. The Aleris Corporation "We have partnered with customers in the premium automotive segment from our Duffel, Belgium facility for years to develop and produce some of the most technically advanced lightweight aluminum solutions available today," Steve Demetriou, Aleris Chairman and CEO said. "We...
RUSAL and ELSO Group to set up joint manufacture of aluminium radiators
UC RUSAL, one of the world’s largest aluminium producers, and ELSO Group, a large Russian heating appliances manufacturer, with a leading position in this field, have announced plans to set up a joint business for manufacturing aluminium radiators at the Nadvoitsy aluminium smelter, one of RUSAL’s production sites. The joint venture called ‘Russian radiator’ will be launched in the third quarter of 2015 with its early-stage annual capacity of approximately 2 million radiator sections. It is planned that by 2019 the production site will reach its full design capacity of 4 million radiator sections a year, for which RUSAL will supply 4,000 mt of aluminium annually from its aluminium smelter located in Nadvoitsy. The radiators will be sold locally in Russia and other CIS countries. The joint...
Vintage B-17 bomber 'Aluminum Overcast' returns to Trenton-Mercer Airport for flights, tours
With powerful rumble of its four engines, the 69-year-old B-17 bomber “Aluminum Overcast” lifted off from Trenton-Mercer Airport Monday afternoon, casting a shadow from its 103-foot wingspan. “We find that a lot of people have a connection to the plane,” said pilot Neil Morrison, who has been flying the Aluminum Overcast for about a decade, before taking the plane over Ewing, Princeton and Bucks County, Pennsylvania on one if its flight tours. Although the numbers of living World War II veterans who may have had firsthand experience fighting in the B-17 or those who may have fought with the bomber planes overhead have shrunk in recent years, the plane still has appeal to many. “We see plenty of grandkids who had a great uncle or a father that flew the B-17,” he said. The flying piece of...
Aluminum climbed for the first time in six days
Aluminum climbed for the first time in six days as stockpiles declined to the lowest in 33 months and United Co. Rusal Plc, the biggest producer, forecast that demand will exceed supply next year. The metal in London rose as much as 0.3 percent. Global supply may lag behind demand by as much as 1.3 million tons next year, compared with 1.5 million tons by the end of this year, Vladislav Soloviev, first deputy chief executive officer, said yesterday. Stockpiles tracked by the London Metal Exchange have fallen 15 percent this year to the lowest since December 2011. “Forecasts of a shortage this year and next year provided support to aluminum that appeared to be a bit oversold,” said Kazuhiko Saito, an analyst at Fujitomi Co., a commodities broker in Tokyo. Aluminum for delivery in three...
Dubai Aluminium Plans $600m Smelter Upgrade
Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) plans to spend $600 million over the next three years to upgrade its smelter, an executive of its parent company, Emirates Global Aluminium, said on Tuesday. The Dubai entity currently produces 1.1 million tonnes of aluminium per year, with the planned upgrade set to enhance output by 100,000 tonnes when completed, according to Yousuf Bastaki, senior vice president of major projects at Emirates Global Aluminium. “About $600 million dollars is the plan for upgrading the plant in three years time,” Bastaki told Reuters on the sidelines of an industry event in Abu Dhabi. Dubal merged with Emirates Aluminium last year to create Emirates Global Aluminium, the world’s fifth-largest aluminium company with an enterprise value of about $15 billion, but remains a separate...
Rusal expects 1.3 mln T global aluminium deficit in 2015
Russia's United Company Rusal forecasts a global aluminium deficit of 1.3 million tonnes in 2015, which will keep the spot price premium for the metal high, an executive at the world's biggest producer of the metal said on Tuesday. Despite this, more than half of the production capacity which is currently mothballed globally after years of falling prices will not be restarted, Rusal First Deputy Chief Executive Vladislav Soloviev said. Many aluminium producers have cut loss-making capacity or shut down completely as they struggled with rising costs, falling prices and a flood of new Chinese capacity in the past few years. The aluminium smelting process is continuous and smelters cannot easily be stopped and restarted. If production is interrupted the metal in the pots solidifies, often...
Naidu’s tough fight to make Andhra Pradesh a key center for aluminium
Andhra Pradesh can become a key center for alumina and aluminium production if the state’s natural resources can be adequately utilized, ranking second only to Odisha. India has bauxite resources of nearly 3.48 billion tonnes of which 18 percent belongs to Andhra Pradesh. However, constant objection from various sections of society, political parties and Maoists is hindering the start of any new mines in the area. Chandrababu Naidu is faced with a difficult situation where he has to break the mining logjam post his return to power after 10 years. There are talks about amendments in the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act that will create more favorable conditions for allocation of new bauxite deposits to deserving candidates in all bauxite-bearing states. Naidu however is...
Emirates Global Aluminium to open a $3 billion worth alumina refinery in Abu Dhabi
The chief executive of state-owned Emirates Global Aluminium announced that they are planning to build an alumina refinery in Abu Dhabi and investing $3 billion for it. Kalban told reporters that the feasibility studies reveal that by the end of 2017, the refinery will become operational. He stated that the prime intension behind building the refinery is to secure their own important materials adding that the refinery would be able to produce 4 million tonnes annually once it reaches full capacity. The $15-billion worth Emirates Global Aluminium emerged after a merger last year between Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Aluminium (Emal) and Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) making it the fifth largest aluminium company in the world.
Vedanta to expand alumina production despite many obstacles
The Chairman of Vedanta Resources, Anil Agarwal recently announced that he is going to raise the production in his Lanjigarh alumina refinery, from its current capacity of one million tonne to two million tonne in a year and has plans to push that to six million tonne gradually. He also plans to revive the idle capacity in his 0.5 million tonne smelter at Jharsuguda in western Odisha. There is another smelter that is lying idle for the past three years with 1.25 million tonne capacity and a SEZ status due to unresolved issues with the government regarding the power source for the project. He has plans to get them back into production as well. The announcement came after his meeting in Bhubaneshwar with Naveen Patnaik, the Odisha Chief Minister held recently. Although the expansion...
Bauxite Resources lifts grade, confidence level at Felicitas Project
Bauxite Resources has notched a significant increase in resource estimate quality for the Felicitas bauxite deposit in the Darling Range, Western Australia. The upgrade of the current resource estimate has resulted from the drilling of an additional 992 vacuum drill holes across the deposit, and reinterpretation of the resource wireframes. There was also a small increase in the total tonnage of the resource that now totals 227.9 million tonnes (unbeneficiated), at 39.7% Al2O3 (total), 31.3% Al2O3 (available at low temperature) and 2.0% SiO2 (reactive). The previous resource estimate, announced in October 2013, stood at 218.7 million tonnes of which 157.2 million tonnes was classified as indicated or measured. A total of 88% of total resource or 199.8 million tonnes resides in the...
Alba unveils agenda for ARABAL 2014
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), a leading aluminium producer in the world, has unveiled the agenda for the 18th International Arab Aluminium (Arabal) Conference, which will be held under the patronage of HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain from November 25 to 27, 2014 under the theme - “GCC: An Aluminium Power House” at the Gulf Hotel, Kingdom of Bahrain. Arabal 2014 will be inaugurated by HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa the Prime Minster of the Kingdom of Bahrain, thus opening the exhibition and conference for invitees and delegates. Arabal Chairman, Mohammed Naqi will present the opening address, which will be followed by an introductory speech by the Chairman of Alba’s Board of Directors, Shaikh Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al...
Constellium introduces its new PAVIM lightweight extrusion technology and streamlined CNC-machining capabilities at InnoTrans 2014
Constellium N.V. announced today at InnoTrans 2014 its new streamlined CNC-machining capability for producing customized parts ready for assembly. The Company will feature an interactive cross-section model composed of its PAVIM structural extrusions based on the Warsaw Metro’s body shell, and will present its broad portfolio of light-weight materials and sustainable engineering solutions. Constellium is continuously focused on optimized alloys, die design, process and extrusion technologies to further reduce weight for the next generation of supplies to the global railway markets. A step-change in extrusion linear weight has been achieved with the newly developed and innovative extrusion product family PAVIM, allowing production of large structural extrusions with thin inner-webs,...
50,000-tpy Aluminum fabricating project to settle in China’s Guangxi
Guangxi Wanhai Investment Co. signed an agreement with the local government to build a 50,000-tpy aluminum fabricating project in Guangxi province, local media reported September 18. The project, to be built in Baise Xinshan Aluminum Industry Demonstration Park, will cost 500 million yuan ($ 389) in total investment. The park has hosted 38 companies, covering aluminum smelting, fabricating and recycling, etc.
Glass & Aluminum Saudi Arabia: The GULF's largest innovation marketplace
Glass & Aluminum Saudi Arabia – the GULF’s largest innovation marketplace. Glass & Aluminum Saudi Arabia is a 4 day event being held from 6th April to the 9th April 2015 at the Riyadh International Convention & Exhibition Center (RICEC) in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Following the next decade of multi-billion dollar investments in the GCC’s construction sector with the centralization of the top projects in Saudi Arabia, Glass & Aluminum Saudi Arabia 2015 plays a big role to open this promising market in front of the international leaders to meet the needs and expectations of the industry. It provides excellent opportunity for exhibitors to establish new links and increase their market share in the region. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with its massive infrastructure and social housing...
Xinjiang beats Henan to become China’s Top aluminum production province
Xinjiang replaced Henan to become China’s No. 1 aluminum production province by producing 2.28 million tonnes of aluminum January-July 2014, up 89.5% from a year ago, local media reported on September 19. Aluminum capacity is being transferred from eastern part of the country to the western part, especially to Xinjiang, at a faster pace to capitalize on abundant and cheaper energy there. This is the major reason behind the impressive growth in Xinjiang’s aluminum production. It is predicted at a forum recently held in Xinjiang’s Urumqi that Xinjiang will likely become China’s “aluminum capital”. Henan produced 1.98 million tonnes of aluminum during the same period, up 2.9% year-on-year, making it China’s second largest aluminum production province.
Alba participates in the 29th International Aluminium Conference
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C (Alba), a leading aluminium producer of the world, is a key participant and sponsor of the 29th International Aluminium Conference, being held from 22 to 24 September, 2014 at The Ritz Carlton Abu Dhabi, UAE. Alba’s participation and sponsorship of the 29th International Aluminium Conference - organised by Metal Bulletin - reaffirms the company’s support towards strengthening its links with aluminium leaders around the world and gaining a wider understanding of the aluminium industry. Alba’s Chief Operations Officer Isa Al Ansari is representing the company during the “Executive Industry Panel on global industry challenges” while Chief Marketing Officer, Jean Lucas Baptiste is a panellist on “The Markets Panel: Market watchers and players share their views on where...
XinRen Aluminum unit buys stake in Xinjiang coal mine for 88.6m yuan
ALUMINIUM producer XinRen Aluminum Holdings on Monday said its 51 per cent owned subsidiary, Xinjiang Plant, has acquired 55 per cent of Xinjiang Tianfu for 88.6 million yuan (S$18.3 million). Xinjiang Tianfu, which owns an "ultra-large, modern coal mine in the coal-rich Xinjiang Province", will become a new source of long-term, low-cost, high quality coal supply for XinRen's own independent power plant (IPP), and allow it to further lower production cost, the group said. Located about 70 kilometres away from the Xinjiang Plant mega aluminium smelting facility, the coal mine has proven reserves of 250 million tonnes of low sulphur, ultra-low ash and high caloric value coal with an average heat value of 6,000 kcal or more. Its current mining capacity is 1.2 million tonnes per annum.
