AL Circle analysis: Germany’s aluminium trade surplus, Novelis’ US expansion, Asia’s EV demand & India’s underutilised downstream capacity
Aluminium’s next growth phase is increasingly being shaped by downstream processing, supply-chain resilience and demand from specialised applications. Germany continues to generate a substantial trade surplus in flat-rolled products despite a shrinking primary aluminium base, while North America is investing in recycling and rolling. Across Asia, new manufacturing capabilities and growing demand from electric vehicles, railways and batteries are creating further opportunities. However, declining exports, underutilised capacity and uneven profitability show that investment alone does not guarantee success. For industry leaders, the challenge is to identify where demand is shifting, develop products that meet customer requirements and ensure that new investments translate into sustainable...
AL Circle Analysis: From Guinea to Gulf, how bauxite, tariffs and logistics redraw aluminium map
Aluminium markets in late 2026 are being shaped by more than the headline LME aluminium price. Bauxite security, alumina availability, geopolitical disruptions, tariff negotiations, logistics diversification and regional premiums are increasingly determining where metal moves and what buyers pay. From RUSAL reassessing Caribbean assets and Vedanta securing Odisha bauxite to Brazil extending mine life and EGA rebuilding its Guinea supply chain, producers are strengthening control over critical raw materials. At the same time, the US remains heavily dependent on imported bauxite and alumina, while Europe and Asia are experiencing sharply different premium dynamics. These developments point to a market where physical availability is becoming a regional factor even as aluminium itself remains...
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“GMG hopes to go into commercial production of 'Graphene Aluminium Ion batteries' in the near term”, Craig Nicol, Founder, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Graphene Manufacturing Group (GMG)
Craig Nicol with a successful career of over 20 years in delivering large scale innovation including leading multi-billion-dollar gas and LNG value chains in Australia and the Asia Pacific and managing sales and marketing teams across the Asia Pacific working for Shell International. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Manufacturing Systems (Honours) and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Marketing from the Queensland University of Technology. We at AlCircle got a wonderful opportunity for an interview in regards to graphene aluminium-ion batteries ("G+AI Battery") with Mr Craig Nicol , Founder, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Graphene Manufacturing Group (GMG) in regards to graphene aluminium-ion batteries ("G+AI Battery"). AlCircle : With the G+AI batteries already...
“RUSAL had enough courage to step into the ‘unchartered waters’ and try things which other peer companies hadn’t tried”, Irina Bakhtina, Chief Sustainability Officer, Rusal
A graduate in journalism from the Far Eastern State University (Vladivostok), Irina Bakhtina has also completed the INSEAD Business School executive program in Strategic Management and the externship of the Higher School of Management in Economics from St. Petersburg State University. Earlier, Irina Bakhtina served as Deputy Prime Minister of the Komi Republic, where she was responsible for the socio-economic development and the formation of investment and innovation policy in the region, including the Arctic zone of Russia. To know her view about sustainable development and how Rusal is implementing sustainable development strategy across all divisions of the company and on the Group’s wider climate strategy aimed at achieving carbon neutrality by 2050, read the interview below:...
“The current power crisis inside China is about policy deployment gone wrong,” Paul Adkins, Founder and Managing Director, AZ China
Paul Adkins, Founder and Managing Director of specialist consulting firm AZ China Ltd, has had over 30 years of experience in the aluminium industry, including 13 years at Alcoa, 4 years at Tomago Aluminium and 3 years at Alcan Australia. AZ China is a specialist consulting company, with a focus on the global and Chinese aluminium industry. We at AlCircle are really glad to get an interview from Mr Paul Adkins , which is entirely based upon the upcoming AZ China Virtual Conference happening on 16 -18 November 2021and hereby goes the details: AlCircle: What does the theme of AZ China Virtual Conference “Beyond The Horizon” signify? Mr Paul Adkins: May I start by thanking Alcircle for being a media partner for our conference. We greatly appreciate your support. Conferences are a time to...
“The bauxite mining and export have not impacted in Guinea due to this coup, however, it is too early to predict future developments”, Dr Ashok Nandi, Convenor of International Bauxite, Alumina and Aluminium Society (IBAAS).
On 5th September 2021, the world’s second-largest producer of bauxite, Guinea’s military seized power and suspended the constitution, destabilizing the West African nation. AlCircle team reached to Dr Ashok Nandi in regards to the political instability in Guinea and received a prompt reply on it. AlCircle: Did the global aluminium sector had any prior indication of Guinea’s political instability? Dr Ashok Nandi: As such there was no indication of any likely military coup in Guinea. However, after the third term of the present President during October 2020 by amending the constitution of a maximum of 2 terms had created some kind of unrest in the country. Despite exporting more than 80 million tonnes of bauxite per annum, the majority of the Guinean population remained poor and there was...
TAHA’s salt-free technologies have been patented in order to process aluminium dross to recover that same aluminium metal, and the residuals are then further processed into other industrially applicable products, Mr Frank Pollmann, Founder, TAHA International
Frank Pollmann is a German entrepreneur whose business roots in the Gulf region are more than 30 years deep. He founded TAHA International Corporation and has led its transformation from a small trading company in Bahrain to a leading-edge provider of proprietary dross management services to cast house operators worldwide. We at AlCircle are really glad to get a chance to interview Mr Frank Pollmann and hereby goes the details: AlCircle: What exactly TAHA International serves the aluminium industry? Mr Frank Pollmann: TAHA is an international company with corporate headquarters in the Netherlands, and operations based in the Middle East, that offers innovative and environmentally friendly solutions for dross processing for aluminium foundries and remelters. Its benchmark processing system...
“The global rise in Aluminium prices is only a spike driven by strong market sentiments, not by market fundamentals", Dr Tapan Kumar Chand, Resident Director - Vedanta & Former Chairman cum Managing Director of National Aluminium Company (NALCO)
AlCircle team received a great opportunity to interview Dr Tapan Kumar Chand , Resident Director - Vedanta & Former Chairman cum Managing Director of National Aluminium Company (NALCO) following the virtual event of “Indian Aluminium Summit”. AlCircle: What is the major reason behind the surge in the price of Aluminium globally? Dr T.K. Chand: The surge in prices of Aluminium is a part of the general surge of metal prices in the Global Market. In the case of Aluminium, production cut in North-Western Provinces of China due to power rationing, imposition of expert tax by Russia & bullish sentiment towards commodities are primarily responsible for pushing the prices up. These supply constraints have got aggravated due to factors like one third production curtailment at Alumar Alumina...
Automation and Robotics have become important aspects when talked about the global Industrial sector. Especially, automotive, infrastructure and packaging industries are using aluminium as one of the key materials for manufacturing of relevant components, Rahul Prajapat, Founder and CTO, TVARIT.
Driving the world towards sustainable and zero waste manufacturing is something that holds as a vision for a young and passionate technocrat like Rahul Prajapat, Founder and CTO, TVARIT. He is responsible for the Technology and Go to Market activities of the TVARIT GmbH. Prajapat having strong expertise and huge insights in the segment of Smart factory, Industry 4.0, and Metal manufacturing, under his leadership, TVARIT has substantially grown the business and major rollouts of TVARIT’s platform TiA are currently ongoing. AlCircle: How is Industry 4.0 changing the dynamics of the global aluminium and metal industry from TVARIT’s point of view? Mr Rahul Prajapat: The global aluminium and metal industry is facing severe challenges such as high scrap rate, low production due to unplanned...
“The benefits of automation are multi-faceted in this industry. Our fully automatic systems allow for the entire process to be carried out with minimal human contact”, Christian Ferman, Senior Electrical Engineer and Project Manager, Granco Clark.
Christian Ferman is a Senior Electrical Engineer and Project Manager with 11 years’ experience in the design of control systems, embedded systems and safety systems for Granco Clark. A graduate from Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan with a degree in Electrical Engineering, Christian is also a certified Safety Engineer with a CMSE accreditation. AlCircle: How Industry 4.0 has changed the dynamics of the aluminium extrusion industry? Christian Ferman: Industry 4.0 is revolutionizing the industry for personnel at every level of the process. Maintenance staff can now take advantage of predictive analytics that uses sensor and process data. This allows Granco Clark equipment to notify them of potential process or equipment failures before they happen. Production engineers...
“For an extrusion company, on-time decisions facilitated by Industry 4.0 would run the manufacturing processes very smoothly increasing the efficiency”, Pramuk Dediwela, Managing Director of Alumex PLC.
Mr. Pramuk Dediwela started his career in January 1989 and has over 32 years of experience in the fields of Marketing and Sales, Material and Logistics, Finance, Manufacturing and Administration as well as Human Resources management under Alumex Group. He joined Alumex PLC and its subsidiaries in December 2010 as an Executive Director. Later on, in November 2017, he became the Chief Operating Officer and then became the Managing Director in July 2018. Mr. Dediwela is a Marketer cum Financial Economist and holds a Master in Financial Economics (University of Colombo), Master of Business Administration (University of Southern Queensland), Post-Graduate Diploma in Business and Financial Administration (CA Sri Lanka/Cranfield - UK), Postgraduate Diploma in Marketing (Chartered Institute of...
For a sustainable world, a linear economy is no more desirable but needs to evolve into a circular green one, as per Circular Aluminium Action Plan and Green Deal 2050, Fabrizio Ciampoli, CEO, Ciampoli Consulting
AlCircle: Can you give us your view of the actual status of the Aluminium market in the EU? Mr Fabrizio Ciampoli: After 2020 with a lockdown due to Covid19 we are finally seeing a global recovery: this is definitely a positive trend but, as a downside, prices of raw materials are at their highest, including AL. Together with LME and high premium EU is living an increase of packaging and transport costs which are seriously worrying European and Italian producers, in particular, being our country specialized in transformation and constructions. This situation is also a consequence of China recovery (Pil up to 18.5% Q1-2021) and the USA economy in fast growth thanks to hedge funds. In Europe, there is a lack of primary AL and particularly automakers are struggling to find enough aluminium....
A brief interview with Enrico Zampedri, CEO of Metra, the Italian company world leader in aluminium extrusion
The Italian company Metra , the world leader in aluminium extrusion, today belongs to the American fund KPS Capital Partners specializing in investments in the industrial sector, including in aluminium, and is also known for its acquisition of the rolling mills of the Norwegian company Hydro. After sixty years Metra thus enters an international dynamic, as happened to its greatest partner: Permasteelisa. Metra is a prominent consumer of aluminium in Italy together with the Cromodora group (which produces wheels for automotive), Metra has written the history of downstream applications of light metal in Europe. The company has been a constellation for decades, a premier technology hub, with four factories in Europe and an industrial branch in Canada. Its expansion is the result of the...
“Environment and sustainability are an important part of our philosophy at Lofoten Arctic Water and we are constantly working to get better and help in the fight against pollution”, Mats Nevelius, Senior VP Sales and Marketing at Lofoten Arctic Water AS - Oslo, Norway
Mats Nevelius has a 20 (plus) years’ of working experience as Sales and Marketing professional in multiple companies across the Nordics and European region. Lofoten Arctic Water is the result of a love for the Lofoten Islands arctic outdoors, clean pure air, water and majestic mountains. Lofoten Arctic Water is a unique product of this landscape; it collects in a natural valley and is constantly renewed by nature, with no need for filtering or distillation. AlCircle: Could you please brief us about your journey towards offering your customers water in aluminium bottles? Mr Mats Nevelius: We started the search for the best solution for a smaller sized bottle that must be resealable, light weighted and possible to recycle over and over again. Situated at the ocean we know how important the...
“At Alcoa, we innovate. We are recognized leader in sustainable practices across all three of our segments, and we’re defining what it means to be a sustainable aluminium company”, Rosa M. García Piñeiro, Vice-President - Alcoa Sustainability, President - Alcoa Foundation
Rosa M. Piñeiro García is Global Sustainability Vice-president for Alcoa and President of the Alcoa Foundation. Previously, she served as President of Alcoa Spain. During her 21 years in the company, she also served as Director of Regional Affairs and Sustainability for Europe and as Director Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) for the European Region and the Primary Products business in Europe. Rosa joined Alcoa in 1999 to work as an Environmental Engineer for the San Ciprian Smelter and Refinery in Spain. In 2001, she moved to the Corporate EHS Audit Department, working with the North American and European Audit Teams first in Pittsburgh and then in Madrid. In 2003, she moved back to San Ciprian to take over the Environmental Department as Environmental Manager for the Smelter and the...
“Low carbon aluminium is produced with clean and renewable energy. Aluminium production being energy-intensive, a lot of electricity is needed and the energy source is the critical factor”, Denis Mazerolle, President, Nature Alu
Denis Mazerolle graduated from Laval University (Canada) in Metallurgy Engineering and had a 32 years career at Alcan and later at Rio Tinto. He had the opportunity to work in the technical, management, and commercial domains. In 2016 he founded NATURE ALU with other partners, a new company producing high-purity aluminium in Saguenay (Canada). AlCircle: Being the leading high-purity aluminium producer with a low carbon footprint, how do you think the uses of these products can contribute to reducing global emissions? Mr Denis Mazerolle : High-purity aluminium represents only a tiny portion of aluminium global production (less than 0,3%). Although it is not crucial in terms of volume, the type of products produced with high–purity aluminium is often required in energy storage and the...
“Economic disruptions caused by the pandemic have been felt by all. Continued production of low carbon aluminium can alleviate disruptions in downstream markets through security of supply, especially as the material can be applied to key industry sectors including transportation, construction, packaging, renewable energy technology and more”, James Herbert, Global Sales Director, ALTEK
James Herbert, the Global Sales Director of ALTEK, is a Chartered Professional Engineer who has been involved in the aluminium industry for over 20 years. He has worked for companies on the equipment supply side as well as in a production environment and has expertise in various fields of the aluminium industry including scrap decoating, metal circulation and dross handling and recycling. James has authored and co-authored numerous technical papers on the above subjects and holds several patents associated with technologies for handling and managing aluminium dross. AlCircle: Could you please explain ALTEK’s journey in regard to technology for the low carbon aluminium production? Mr James Herbert: Since we were acquired by Harsco Environmental (a global market-leading provider of...
“Our low carbon aluminium is called ALLOW; a cleaner and ‘greener’ aluminium brand crafted with renewable hydropower. ALLOW comes with an average carbon footprint of 2.4 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per tonne of aluminium produced (Scope 1&2, at smelter)”, Roman Andryushin, Director - Sales and Marketing, RUSAL
Roman Andryushin was appointed as Director for Sales and Marketing in May 2018. He is responsible for all sales at RUSAL globally. Prior to this, between 2014 and 2018, Roman Andryushin was the Head of Russia and CIS Sales Directorate at RUSAL. He was responsible for the marketing and sales of a wide range of the Company’s products in Russia and CIS. Roman Andryushin graduated with Honours from the Novocherkassk State Technical University, Economics and Management Department. Later he obtained an EMBA degree from Lorange Institute of Business Switzerland and an MBA from the University of Wales, Great Britain. He also holds a Ph.D. in economics. AlCircle: RUSAL is a global leader in low carbon aluminium production. Can you share your journey? Mr Roman Andryushin: Sustainability has always...
“START’s purpose is to provide our customers with transparent and traceable information regarding the sustainable nature of our aluminium products”, Tolga Egrilmezer, Vice President Sales & Marketing, Rio Tinto Aluminium
Tolga Egrilmezer, Vice President Sales & Marketing at Rio Tinto and a member of the Rio Tinto Aluminium Executive Committee, where he is leading the global mine to market organisation in bauxite, alumina and aluminium & value-added products sales, marketing, trading and technical & product development teams. AlCircle: Could you please share the glances of Rio Tinto’s journey towards the production of low carbon aluminium? Mr Tolga Egrilmezer: At Rio Tinto Aluminium, we are proud to be a global leader in the responsible production and stewardship of aluminium; we produce some of the highest quality, lowest carbon footprint aluminium in the world. In the past 5 years, we have: Launched the industry's first certified low carbon aluminium, RenewAL (2016) became the first company to receive...
“Low Carbon Aluminium has a pivotal role to play in the post Covid world,” Guillaume de Goÿs, Chief Operations Officer of ALVANCE, the Aluminium division of the GFG Alliance
Guillaume de Goÿs, ECAM Lyon (1995) and MBA, IAE Lyon (2015), started his career as a Project Manager for Michelin (1996-2002). During 2002-2006, he joined the aluminium industry in Pechiney/Alcan in Cameroon, followed by Saint-Jean de Maurienne, Rio Tinto, during 2006-2010. He served the Vénissieux factory for Carbone Savoie as a Director during 2010-2014, Aluminium Dunkerque as a Managing Director during 2015-2018, and then Alvance Aluminium Dunkerque during 2018-June 2020. In June 2020, he was appointed as a Chief Operations Officer of ALVANCE, the Aluminium division of the GFG Alliance. He is also the President of Aluminium France, the French association of aluminium producers. To know his view about Green Aluminium and how ALVANCE is working towards the development of an end-to-end...
