German downstream aluminium exports fall 13% in H1 2026 but US enters top 5 with 228.1% import surge
Germany’s downstream aluminium export map underwent a noticeable shift in H1 2026. Shipments to the world fell, with most of Germany’s traditional European customers taking less aluminium downstream product. Yet, amid that broad retreat, one market moved in the opposite direction: the United States. German downstream aluminium exports to the world fell to 897,773.19 tonnes in H1 2026 from 1 million tonnes in H1 2025, a decline of 13 per cent year on year. The contrast was particularly sharp in the US market. American imports of German downstream aluminium reached 68,061.61 tonnes in H1 2026, up 228.1 per cent from just 20,743.62 tonnes in H1 2025. The increase of more than 47,000 tonnes was enough to push the US into Germany’s top 5 destinations for the first time. The export map is...
Caustic soda plant setup in India: How aluminium growth is reshaping demand, costs and opportunities
Caustic soda may not be the most visible ingredient in aluminium production, but without it, the journey from bauxite to alumina would look very different. The chemical, also known as sodium hydroxide, is a crucial reagent in the Bayer process, where it helps dissolve alumina-bearing material in bauxite and separate it from impurities. The dissolved material is then processed to recover alumina, which ultimately feeds aluminium production. That makes caustic soda more than just another industrial chemical. Its availability, price and efficient use can influence the economics of alumina refining and, by extension, the wider aluminium value chain. As India expands its alumina and aluminium capacity, the requirement for this chemical is also becoming increasingly important. For companies...
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UC RUSAL finalizes refinancing of its debts
UC RUSAL, a leading global aluminium producer, is pleased to announce that the Company has obtained 100% credit approvals from all its lenders for the proposed amendments to the USD4.75 billion and USD400 million PXF facilities. In order to technically complete the refinancing, the Company intends to proceed with the execution of the amendment agreement, pursuant to which the two PXF will be combined into a single facility agreement, as soon as practicable. Oleg Mukhamedshin, Deputy CEO, Director of Strategy, Business Development and Financial Markets at UC RUSAL commented: “We are pleased to announce finalization of the refinancing. Agreements reached with our lenders will allow to strongly improve the Company’s debt profile and maintain a sustainable cash position in anticipation of...
Indigenous mining company gets go-ahead for bauxite exploration in northeastern Arnhem Land
An indigenous-owned mining company has been given the go-ahead to begin bauxite exploration in northeastern Arnhem Land. The Gulkula Mining Company, a subsidiary of the Gumatj Aboriginal Corporation, received the nod from the Northern Land Council on Saturday to begin exploring at the Dhupuma Plateau, about 30km southeast of Nhulunbuy in the Northern Territory. Rio Tinto also announced at the Garma indigenous festival on Saturday that it would invest $2.4 million in a new mining training centre. "We're not going to be Rio Tinto, we're certainly not going to be Alcan," Gumatj Corporation chief executive Klaus Helms said. "Our core business will be training indigenous people from the beginning to the end of mining so future operations will be understood by Yolngu people, not just lawyers or...
Cape Alumina receives proposal for control transaction
Cape Alumina's shares are in pre-open this morning, following the ASX granting the company a trading halt. CBX requested the halt after it received a proposal in relation to a control transaction from the company’s major shareholder, MetroCoal. MetroCoal currently owns 57%, with China Xinfa Group 12%. CBX is focussed on developing its Cape York bauxite projects. The company is currently undertaking the work required to define a DSO resource at the Bauxite Hills project, which will reduce the need to beneficiate the bauxite and significantly reducing capital and operating costs. The halt will remain in place until the opening of trade on Wednesday 6th August 2014, or earlier if an announcement is made to the market.
Rexam posts 2% decline in half-year profit
Rexam Plc, the world's No. 2 drinks can maker by revenue, posted a 2 percent decline in underlying pretax profit for the first half of the year, hit by high aluminium premiums in Europe and a strong pound. Underlying pretax profit fell to 166 million pounds ($280 million) for the six months ended June 30 from 169 million pounds a year earlier. Revenue fell 5 percent to 1.88 billion pounds. Analysts on average were expecting pretax profit of 156.6 million pounds on revenue of 1.85 billion pounds, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. ($1 = 0.5925 British Pounds)
Bluegrass poised to produce most aluminum in U.S.
With more than 20,000 Kentuckians working in it, the state aluminum business is booming, according to the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development. Earlier this year, Europe-based Constellium N.V. and UACJ Corporation, of Japan, announced plans to open a joint $150 million aluminum facility in Bowling Green. The announcement marks one of the largest investments in Southcentral Kentucky in the past decade. “We are really thrilled to mark the official start of the Bowling Green plant’s construction,” said Constellium’s CEO Pierre Vareille. “This project is highly strategic, and it is the first milestone of an ambitious strategy to become a major player in the U.S. aluminum body sheet market.” This is part of a growing trend in the Commonwealth. In the past year, a half dozen companies have...
Encore Wire expands aluminum manufacturing plant at McKinney, Texas
Encore Wire Corporation announced today that the Company is building a 250,000 square-foot expansion to the existing aluminum manufacturing plant on its McKinney, Texas campus. The Company projects expenditures for this project, including related upgrades to Encore’s McKinney complex, will be approximately $41 million to $46 million. These expenditures will be made in 2014 and 2015. The plant expansion is part of the Company’s capital expenditure plan for 2014 and 2015 that will also include the purchase of manufacturing equipment to produce aluminum wire and cable. The Company estimates its total capital expenditures for 2014, including other projects, to be between $40 million and $45 million. Commenting on the announcement, Daniel L. Jones, President and Chief Executive Officer of...
Ludhiana, India to have fully automatic aluminum cycle parts plant
Industrial city of Ludhiana is all set to manufacture aluminum alloy cycle parts for the first time in a fully automatic plant that would start operations within a month. Customers from European countries have given their ascent for buying these aluminum parts that are used in high-end bikes. Charanjit Singh Vishivkarma, president of United Cycle and Parts Manufacturer Association (UCPMA), on Friday said they would set up the plant within a month. The plant has been partially imported from Taiwan and some of its parts have been procured from within the country. “We have received the plant and it would take at least a month for setting it up for manufacturing,” said Vishivkarma. The unique plant would have robotic arms to manufacture cycle parts completely on assembly lines. It would be...
Recycling plant development expanding globally, according to new research
At one time, recycling was largely to be found in developed nations. But the latest June 2014 research from Waste Industry Sales Monitor indicates that the environmental and cash benefits of materials recovery is taking root across the world. AcuComm has identified 20 new or upgraded recycling plant developments in the June edition of Waste Industry Sales Monitor. The average value of the developments where cost was identified is US-$ 36 million (€26.6m), giving the global recycling sector in June a notional value of US-$ 720 million (€533m) for the month for the projects listed. In addition to established markets with high recycling levels in America and Europe, there is significant activity in new markets such as Bahrain, the Czech Republic and South Africa. While many concentrate on...
Aluminium futures rise on global cues, spot demand
Aluminium prices edged up by 0.21 per cent to INR 121.70 per kg in futures trade today as participants enlarged positions amid a firming overseas trend. Further, strong demand in the spot markets also influenced metal prices. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, aluminium for delivery in August inched up by 25 paise, or 0.21 per cent, to INR 121.70 per kg in a business turnover of 106 lots. Likewise, the metal for delivery in September traded higher by 20 paise, or 0.16 per cent, to INR 122.10 per kg in 2 lots. Marketmen said apart from increased domestic demand, a firming global trend in select base metals as stronger than expected manufacturing data in China, the largest metals consumer, signalling improving demand, helped aluminium futures to trade higher.
Black4 and Danieli Corporation join the Aluminum Association
The Aluminum Association announced today the addition of two new member companies, Black4 and Danieli Corporation. This brings total Association membership to 96, consisting of 48 producer members and 48 associate members. With business interests in Europe, Asia and North America, Black4 offers a wide variety of carbon and graphite products to the aluminum industry globally. These products have applications in continuous and die-casting, melting and heat treatment processes, among other uses. Black4 is the worldwide commercial representative for Slovakian firm TopGrafit. Based in Cranberry Township, PA, Danieli is the North American subsidiary of Danieli & C, SpA of Buttrio, Italy. A full service supplier of plant equipment to the metals industry, Danieli supplies systems for raw...
Press Metal set to gain as LME aluminium prices peak
Press Metal Bhd’s (Press Metal) growth is set to gain stronger traction as London Metal Exchange (LME) aluminium prices consolidate and premiums hit record high. The aluminium company has also been viewed as ‘all geared’ to enjoy the fruit of years of aggressive investments in its world-class low cost aluminium smelters in Samalaju and Mukah. RHB Research Institute Sdn Bhd’s (RHB Research) analyst Ng Sem Guan in a report explained that global aluminium producers have done well to curtail output. “Coupled with the absence of new smelting capacity outside China (beyond the few being ramped-up now) and moderate demand growth, the market is generally expecting its first supply deficit in a decade from 2014. “This favourable development has lifted the sector’s fundamentals and seen the LME’s...
Aluminium to swing to deficit in 2015 after output cuts
The aluminium market outside China is set to record its first deficit in nine years in 2015 following production cuts and an Indonesian ore export ban, a turning point that could be the start of a prolonged shortfall as demand recovers. After years of chronic oversupply, the market is beginning to tighten as producers cut production to battle rising costs, Indonesia bans bauxite ore exports and demand for aluminium rises, particularly from U.S. auto makers. Analysts say the market could remain in deficit beyond 2015 but that historically high global aluminium inventories are likely to prevent much of a rise in prices. The consensus forecast in a July Reuters poll was for a 444,000 tonne deficit in 2015, which would be the first market deficit since 2006, according to Thomson Reuters GFMS....
Metallica Minerals bags $7.5M Chinese funding for bauxite and mineral sands
Metallica Minerals is expected to trade materially higher today after executing a Joint Venture agreement with a private Chinese investor for $7.5 million to develop its Urquhart Point bauxite and mineral sand deposits in Queensland. Funding will also be allocated towards exploration for other Heavy Mineral Sands and Bauxite deposits on its tenements on the western side of Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula. Capital from the JV will fully finance construction of Metallica’s proposed Urquhart Point Mineral Sands mine, based on the $6.5 million CAPEX and working capital requirements outlined in the Project Feasibility Study released in June. The mine will be the first HMS-operation for Metallica to achieve production. Agreement terms A $500,000 deposit payable under the agreement and is to be...
Canadian student captures 2014 Sapa Sustainable Design Award
Dawson College student Nicholas Parent has won the 2014 Sapa Sustainable Design Award for an extruded aluminium wall bracket system that helps bring new life to old skateboards. More than 80 entries from 13 universities around the world were received for the 2014 Aluminum Extrusion Design Competition held by the Extrusion Technology Foundation (ET Foundation). Nine students were recognized for their designs showcasing the versatility of aluminium extrusions. Extrusion Technology FoundationScholarship awards of USD 12,500 in total were presented to the winning students. Each student winner also received an invitation to attend a Sapa Profile Academy event, an advanced course designed to demonstrate opportunities with extruded aluminium. Versatile design The Sapa Sustainable Design Award,...
GM moves next version of big pickups ahead by nine months - sources
General Motors Co. (GM) has pushed forward the launch of its next-generation full-size pickups by about nine months to fall 2018, hoping to narrow rival Ford Motor Co.'s still-sizable lead in meeting future US fuel-economy standards, supplier sources said on Monday (July 28). Redesigned versions of GM's full-size sport-utility vehicles are expected to follow about a year later, the two sources said. GM officials declined to comment on future product plans. Like Ford with its all-new 2015 F-150, GM is dramatically lightening the next versions of its Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, which are being developed under a program known to suppliers as T1XX, or T1 for short. The first versions of the current redesigned pickups debuted last year, and GM is introducing sport utility...
LME aluminium to range from $1,989 to $2,043
LME aluminium is expected to consolidate in the range of $1,989-$2,043 for a few trading sessions before either resuming or reversing its uptrend. The range has been formed by the 100 percent and the 123.6 percent Fibonacci projection levels of an upward wave C that developed from the June 12 low of $1,836. This wave may consist of five small waves, with the drop from the July 22 high of $2,054.75 temporarily labelled 4. Given that the preceding wave 2 has adopted a sharp mode, the wave 4 may be sideways. A break below $1,989 could lead to a further loss to $1,934, the 76.4 percent projection level. The views expressed are his own. No information in this analysis should be considered as being business, financial or legal advice. Each reader should consult his or her own professional or...
Alcoa closes production at Point Henry Smelter from today
Production at Alcoa’s Point Henry smelter ended this morning, when a large group of employees gathered to watch the last potline being switched off. Molten aluminium was then syphoned from the pots for the last time. The smelter will permanently close tomorrow, after 51 years of operation, and the rolling mill by the end of the year. “This is the end of an era and a very sad day for our 500 employees, their families and the Geelong community,” said Smelter Manager Warren Sharp. “Yet at the same time I couldn’t be more proud – proud of the contribution that our employees have made to our company and to this community. I’m especially proud of the way everyone responded to the announcement to close, and have gone about safely shutting down smelting operations over the last five months. Two...
Century Aluminum to add 45 jobs at Sebree smelter
Century Aluminum Co. on Thursday announced a $3 million expansion at its 530-employee Sebree smelter that will create 45 more jobs and help cement its presence in this region. Century said the expansion is intended to “significantly increase” the percentage of the smelter’s primary aluminum that is produced as premium billet and rolling slabs to meet growing demand in the automotive body, aerospace and construction industries. Century calls the move its “Premium Products Initiative.” “This announcement bolsters the future of this plant and hopefully reinforces that Century Aluminum is proud to be in the region and committed to stay and grow,” Jason Young, the general manager of Century Aluminum Sebree, said in a statement. “This expansion will create dozens of new, quality jobs, and is...
