Century Aluminum’s proposed USD 4 billion primary aluminum smelter in Inola, Oklahoma, is “moving forward on all fronts” as the company prepares for construction, despite local opposition and legal challenges, CEO Jesse Gary said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. Developed jointly by Century Aluminum and Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), the project is designed to produce 750,000 tonnes of primary aluminum annually, potentially doubling U.S. primary aluminum production. The facility is expected to create thousands of direct and indirect jobs and add USD 1.5 billion to Oklahoma’s gross domestic product, according to company estimates. The partners had targeted construction to begin by the end of 2026. However, local restrictions and permitting challenges have affected the...
LME aluminium stocks declined by more than half during the first nine months of 2026, falling by 267,875 tonnes from 509,250 tonnes on January 2 to 241,375 tonnes on September 30 (52.6 per cent). The decline continued throughout the period, with average warehouse inventories falling each month. Compared with the same period in 2025, monthly average stocks were lower across all nine months, with the gap widening in the third quarter. Q1 LME aluminium stocks fall 18.2 per cent LME aluminium inventories continued to decline during Q1 2026. Month-end stocks fell from 495,725 tonnes in January to 465,550 tonnes in February, before dropping further to 416,775 tonnes in March. Monthly average inventories stood at 498,670 tonnes in January, 481,801 tonnes in February and 440,710 tonnes in March....
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The Navratna PSU National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) has placed order to import two lakh tonnes of coal to tide over the short supply of coal due to heavy rain and floods in Orissa. The imported coal would start arriving after a week, sources said. Nalco is sourcing coal from Mahanadi Coalfields (MCL), for its 1200 MW thermal captive power plant at Angul in Orissa which supplies power to the company's aluminium smelter located nearby. "We were losing around one crore rupees everyday due to short supply of coal from the linkage provided to us by MCL," Nalco CMD B.L. Bagra said here. "We have been receiving on an average 7400 tonnes of coal per day through this linkage for the past two weeks, as against our daily requirement of 12,000 tonnes, primarily due to heavy rainfall. As a...
Central Asia's largest producer of primary aluminium, Tajikistan Aluminium Company (TALCO), cut output of the metal to 189,838 tonnes in the January-August period, down 20 percent year on year, a company source said on Monday. Output in August was 18,771 tonnes, down 8.9 percent from July and off 33.1 percent from a year earlier, said the company official, who declined to be identified. Smaller output was due to repair work and modernisation at the plant. A TALCO source has said the company plans to produce 310,000 tonnes of primary aluminium this year, well below an original target of 377,600 tonnes, due to the ongoing modernisation of equipment. TALCO produced 348,850 tonnes last year, which was 2.9 percent lower than in 2009.
A power shortage in southwest China has caused production disruption at smelters in the region. About 15% of the 810kt/y operating capacity in Guangxi may be suspended in September. Baise Yinhai Aluminium has already suspended 40% of its smelter’s 200kt/y capacity. Disruption has also occurred at Laibin Yinhai Aluminium and has idled 13% of its 250kt/y smelter. Both are subsidiaries of Guangxi Investment Corp. Guangxi Zhuang state government has asked regional aluminium smelters to conduct power rationing because of a serious power shortage caused by drought and rising coal prices. More smelters are expected to cut production in the coming weeks.
Investor worries caused by debt crisis in Greece and Italy overnight were relieved by surging share prices of France’s biggest banks BNP Paribas and Societe Generale, with the euro rebounding to help European and US stock prices close higher. The US dollar index fell 0.27% to 77.059 as a result. Though New York crude price hit an intraday high of USD 90/bbl, LME aluminum only saw a slight rebound to USD 2,390/mt despite of its energy attributes. Transactions during the day decreased significantly by 3,675 lots from previous trading day due to low investor confidence. After hitting an intraday low of USD 2,363/mt on short selling, the metal finally closed at USD 2,370/mt, down USD 5/mt or 0.21%. Total positions increased 5,799 lots to 767,139 lots. SMM expects LME aluminum to test USD...
Russia's RUSAL (0486.HK), the world's largest aluminum producer, expects China to become a net importer of the industrial metal in "some quarters" of 2012, a senior RUSAL official said at the Reuters Russia Investment Summit. "Thus far, China has not become a net importer of aluminum, but only (achieved this) by reducing stocks on the Shanghai exchange," Maxim Sokov, RUSAL's director for strategy told the Summit, held at Reuters' office in Moscow, adding that analysts at CRU found that inventories were down sharply from the start of July. "This is already a serious signal that we could see Chinese aluminum imports at the end of this year or the start of next year." Aluminum is a key metal for industries ranging from auto production to construction, and it is one of many materials in...
United Co. Rusal, the largest aluminum producer, expects the price of the metal to rise to as much as $2,600 a metric ton in the next few months, supported by transport-based demand,deputy chief executive officer Vladislav Soloviev said in interview with La Tribune. Aluminum’s decline to $2,300 a metric ton in August was the bottom price, the French daily reported the executive as saying. Rusal predicts aluminum demand will increase 10 percent in 2011, Soloviev said, according to La Tribune.
A study released by the Aluminum Association today documents across-the-board sustainability improvements in the North American aluminum industry over the past 20 years. Among the findings of the report, "Aluminum: The Element of Sustainability," are that, since 1991: Primary energy demand associated with primary aluminum production has been reduced 17 percent; Cumulative greenhouse gas emissions associated with primary aluminum production have been reduced 72 percent; "This study puts hard data behind the key metrics that define sustainability for the aluminum industry," said Steve Larkin, President of the Aluminum Association. "It details dramatic reductions in energy use and greenhouse gas emissions that the industry has achieved through process and technological improvements." The...
Worsening debt crisis and bailout discrepancy in Europe, combined with market doubts over approval of US President Obama’s job act in the Congress again caused risk aversion sentiment to burn in the market, with the euro plunging and the US dollar index stabilizing at 77. European and U.S. stock markets also slipped in response. After falling below the USD 2,400/mt mark last Friday, LME aluminum prices slipped on September 12th to USD 2,333/mt, a three-week low. After Italy sought help from China, the metal rebounded with New York crude oil at the tail of trading before finally closing at USD 2,375/mt, up USD 8/mt or 0.34%. Total positions increased 864 lots to 761,340 lots. SMM expects LME aluminum to test USD 2,400/mt today supported by climbing New York crude prices and fluctuate...
SHFE 1111 aluminum contract prices fell at first but rebounded later in the week, with mainstream prices moving between RMB 17,200-17,450/mt and facing strong pressure from the 30-day moving average. Power shortages in southwest China are becoming more severe in September, and aluminum producers in Guizhou and Guangxi provinces began to cut production due to power restrictions, and they will not resume normal operations until the high-water period in 2012 when power shortages ease. Although production cuts in the two provinces exert little impact on spot aluminum supply in the short term, they are still be favorable for aluminum markets and support SHFE aluminum prices to fall slower than other base metal prices. However, daily trading volumes were below 40,000 lots, with sluggish market...
Most active SHFE 1111 aluminum contract opened lower at RMB 17,430/mt on the first trading day following China’s Mid-Autumn Festival. Due to a bearish economic environment, domestic investors successively exited the market. Transactions during the day were less than 30,000 lots and positions of the contract saw a huge decrease of 1,702 lots. After narrowly fluctuating near RMB 17,400/mt, the contract finally closed at RMB 17,390/mt, down RMB 75/mt or 0.43%. Though SHFE aluminum closed lower due to pressure from global financial market, the metal avoided a large-scale selling backed by positive fundamentals. It also reported less loss compared with other base metals. Since market sentiment will be cautious while waiting for coming conventional peak season, SMM expects most active SHFE...
Shares in India's state-run National Aluminium Co Ltd (NALCO) fell over 11 per cent in early trades after a senior company official said on Saturday that the company had to cut it's daily aluminium output by about 6 per cent due to insufficient power supply. At 9.41 a.m., shares were at 62.55 rupees, down 4.65 per cent in a weak Mumbai market, which was 1.8 per cent lower.
Reliance Steel and Aluminum (NYSE:RS) closed Friday's downbeat trading session at $38.50. In the past year, the stock has hit a 52-week low of $36.61 and 52-week high of $60.60. Reliance Steel and Aluminum (RS) stock has been showing support around $37.43 and resistance in the $40.13 range. Technical indicators for the stock are Bearish and S&P gives Reliance Steel and Aluminum (RS) a very positive 5 STARS (out of 5) strong buy rating. For a hedged play on Reliance Steel and Aluminum (RS), look at the Mar '12 $38.00 covered call for a net debit in the $33.20 area. That is also the break-even stock price for this trade. This covered call has a duration of 187 days, provides 13.77% downside protection and an assigned return rate of 14.46% for an annualized return rate of 28.22% (for...
Base metals prices recovered strongly in kerb trading on the London Metal Exchange on Monday, as volatile stock markets reversed losses and the euro regained ground against the dollar. “This morning the euro was weak as stock markets fell, but once that was forgotten it bounced back up and all was forgiven,” a category II trader told.
Aluminum orders in North America fell 4.5 percent in August from the previous month due to heightened uncertainty about the health of the U.S. economy, according to Davenport & Co. LLC research using Aluminum Association data. The choppy, subpar trend in orders continues. The recent pullback in orders may reflect heightened uncertainty about the outlook.
Western Asia and Southeast Asia are expected to become the primary drivers for global aluminum demand through 2020, replacing East Asia as China's growth slows due to excessive capacity. Aluminum demand is expected to increase by at least 5% each year. Project investments are beginning to skew toward Western Asia in the alumina refining and smelting sectors as the region is moving to the forefront for aluminum smelting and mill builds. Western Asia has ample fossil fuel supplies for heavy industries like smelting and refining. The steady increase in aluminum demand will in turn drive the demand for chemicals related to aluminum production, such as aluminum hydroxide and aluminum fluoride.
True to its mutual cooperation with the government sector Sohar Aluminium’s Power Plant entered into a 2010-2012 agreement with the Oman Power and Water Procurement Company (OPWP) to assist with the increasing demand during peak summer months and enable both parties to transfer power between each other’s Systems. With the Oman National Power Grid summer demand increasing above the installed Grid generating capacity until new capacity is added to the System in 2012, Sohar Aluminium agreed to assist the Grid by exporting power during the high demand summer months and importing power during the low demand winter months to balance the export.
Aluminum prices should average $2,650 a metric ton in 2012, up 5% from expectations for this year, an analyst at research consultancy GFMS said Friday. GFMS, which was acquired by Thomson Reuters Corp. (TRI) last month, projects an average price of $2,525/ton for 2011, its Managing Director Neil Buxton said. Currently, aluminum is trading at around $2,400/ton, having hit a 2011 high of $2,803/ton in May and a year-to-date low of $2,323/ton in August. "Aluminum could be set for a possible outperformance against the bulk of the rest of the [base metals] sector," Buxton told a Metal Bulletin conference here. "The market has a relatively flat price profile on an average annual basis, however."
The United States and Europe likely will face another economic downturn that could have an adverse affect on aluminum, analysts agreed at Metal Bulletin’s 26th International Aluminium Conference in Paris, although rising global demand and warehousing deals could temper some of that potential downside. "We are faced with a double-dip recession in the U.S. and Europe," Robin Bhar, metals strategist at Credit Agricole CIB, told the conference Friday. "On the face of that, negative prices would appear to be (the result)." But that downward pressure on aluminum prices might not be as severe as some fear, largely due to the financing deals that are keeping metal tied up in London Metal Exchange-approved warehouses, Bhar said.
