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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Most active SHFE 1111 aluminum contract opened slightly lower at RMB 17,405/mt on September 5th, due to renewed worries towards US economic recession among investors. After hitting an intraday high of RMB 17,480/mt at the beginning, the contract fell to RMB 17,315/mt, a two-week low, after Shanghai Composite Index fell below 2,500 points, and finally closed RMB 70/mt or 0.40% lower at RMB 17,345/mt near the 20-day moving average. Short positions of the contract increased 3,266 lots, thereby adding to selling pressure for the contract. SMM expects most active SHFE aluminum contract to test support at RMB 17,300/mt in the short term.
Mainstream trading prices of spot aluminum in south China fell to RMB 17,900-17,940/mt on September 5th with SHFE aluminum futures’ falling significantly from an intraday high, sufficient supply and weak consumption. Overall market transactions were sluggish during the day.
Trading prices of spot aluminum in Shanghai were between RMB 17,780-17,820/mt, with premiums of positive RMB 70-100/mt over SHFE current-month aluminum prices. Low-iron aluminum was traded between RMB 17,840-17,880/mt. Trading prices of spot aluminum in Wuxi were between RMB 17,760-17,820/mt. Though goods holders were unwilling to sell at lower prices and most kept quotes firm at RMB 17,800/mt, lower priced supplies were still seen on rare purchases. Nevertheless, overall market transactions were sluggish.
SHFE 1111 aluminum contract prices rose near the 5-day moving average last week, with low-end prices testing RMB 17,450/mt. Daily trading volumes were below 40,000 lots due to tight cash flows at month’s end, while intraday short-term speculative transactions caused positions to fall steadily. Power supply shortages became severe in south China, and spot aluminum inventories grew slowly, with positive market fundamentals helping support SHFE aluminum prices to resist declines. However, tightening cash flows at month’s end depressed buying interest, and high inflation in China resulted in sluggish domestic stock markets, both dampening upward momentum in SHFE aluminum prices. In general, SHFE aluminum prices fluctuated in a narrow band recently amid struggles between long and short...
WORKERS at one of Northumberland’s biggest employers could be set to go on strike. A group of 122 employees at Rio Tinto Alcan’s aluminium smelter at Lynemouth are to be balloted on industrial action over the company’s proposals to make changes to shift patterns. The Journal has been told the company is proposing alterations for workers in the smelter’s pot rooms, casting and carbon sections. Negotiations have taken place with the GMB union, which represents workers across all areas. There has been no dispute with the workers from the casting and carbon teams. However, months of talks have failed to resolve disagreements between the company and those in the pot rooms, with the employer also not agreeing to the workers’ counter proposals.
The non-farm payrolls data released by the US Department of Labor on September 2nd was much out of market expectation, with zero-increase being reported. As US unemployment rate stayed high at 9.1%, market worries towards US economic recession again caused panic in financial markets, with US stocks and commodities prices plunging and US dollar as well as gold surging. The US dollar index closed 0.26% higher at 74.702 during the day. After fluctuating at the 5-day moving average, LME aluminum prices hit an intraday-low of USD 2,420/mt on September 2nd following release of panic-generating US employment data. However, the metal reported better losses compared with other base metals due to active buying at lower prices by the longs, with total positions drastically increasing by about 15,000...
Most active SHFE 1111 aluminum contract opened slightly lower at RMB 17,465/mt on September 2nd. After erasing weekly gains to RMB 17,370/mt due to profit-taking by the longs and short-selling, the contract partially pared losses at the tail of trading on profit-taking among the shorts, and finally closed at RMB 17,435/mt, down RMB 50/mt or 0.29%. Total positions of the contract rose by 1,006 lots to 118,022 lots. Though power shortages in south China provided extra support for SHFE aluminum among all SHFE metals, a generally bearish market sentiment and only around 20,000 lots of transactions still dragged the metal down from weekly high. SMM expects most active SHFE aluminum contract to struggle at RMB 17,450/mt in the short term while waiting for the US non-farm payroll data to...
Argentina's sole primary aluminium producer, Aluar has reported a net profit increase of 62% for the year ended June 30 on higher aluminium prices.
Vedanta Aluminum Ltd (VAL), already struggling to get environment and forest clearances for its Orissa projects, is now faced with a new challenge. The state government’s water resources department has alleged the company’s Jharsuguda unit has not paid Rs 10.94 crore of its bills, since 2008. Vedanta has denied the charge, saying there is lack of clarity in the way the Orissa government is charging industry in the state. The state government has given a list of water bill defaulting units to the high court in which VAL also figures. The company confirms the state government has raised the issue. Its Lanjigarh unit, which operates a one-million tonne per annum aluminium plant, is also facing water trouble.
Chalco, or Aluminum Corp of China Ltd, the nation's largest aluminum producer, announced that it will issue RMB 5 billion in medium-term bills with a maturity of five years on the inter-bank market on Sep. 8, 2011, sources reported. The company said in a statement that the coupon rate will be determined in the process of book building. Both value date and payment due date will be Sep. 9, and the to-be-issued notes will become tradable on Sep. 12.
State-run giant National Aluminium Company (Nalco) has virtually shelved its plans to set up a 3,00,000 tonne smelter and a power plant in Iran due to financial crunch and the reluctance of lenders in providing money due to the country’s “geo-political situation.” The project was announced in 2007 in which Nalco had planned to ferry bauxite to the proposed project ostensibly from the Indian mines and convert them into aluminium. Accordingly, it had inked an agreement with Iran’s Kerman Development Organisation, but an agreement to form a joint venture hasn’t been floated yet. The original envisaged cost of the project was around Rs 8,000 crore, which now understandably stands at over Rs 10,000 crore. When a Parliamentary Standing Committee recently asked the union mines ministry to...
With the 5 million tonne Greenfield Lanjigarh aluminum refinery plant expansion on hold, the Anil Agarwal led Vedanta Aluminum has decided to focus on completing its aluminum smelter plant at Jharsuguda in Orissa to achieve its targeted capacity of 1.75 million tonnes. Mr Mukesh Kumar president & CEO of VAL said that "The work is on, on a war footing, at the proposed project site at our Jharsuguda plant and we will achieve 1.75 million tonnes capacity by the end of the next financial year." VAL plans to up its smelting capacity at Jharsuguda plant to 1.75 million tonne from the present 0.5 million tonne by 2013. He said that the company has set up a Greenfield aluminum refinery plant with a capacity of 1 million tonne at Lanjigarh and plans to ramp up it to 5 million tonne. We are...
The London Metal Exchange Friday said it has delisted U.S.-based Alcoa Inc.'s (AA) Wenatchee aluminum alloy. It said it has no stocks of metal under the brand on LME warrant, and as such it will be delisted with immediate effect.
Shanghai Futures Exchange monitored aluminum inventories fell to a three-and-a-half year low. Aluminum inventories declined for a 25th week, falling 7,009 tons to 117,799 tons, the lowest level since February 2008, according to a survey of 20 warehouses in Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces.
In trading on Friday, shares of Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. (NYSE:RS) crossed below their last reported book value — defined as common shareholder equity per share — of $40.37, changing hands as low as $39.17 per share. Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. shares are currently trading off about 3.3% on the day.
Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) closed Thursday's up-and-down trading session at $11.49. In the past year, the stock has hit a 52-week low of $8.72 and 52-week high of $20.76. Century Aluminum (CENX) stock has been showing support around $10.92 and resistance in the $12.56 range. Technical indicators for the stock are Bearish. For a hedged play on Century Aluminum (CENX), look at the Mar '12 $9.00 covered call for a net debit in the $8.04 area. That is also the break-even stock price for this trade. This covered call has a duration of 197 days, provides 30.03% downside protection and an assigned return rate of 11.94% for an annualized return rate of 22.12% (for comparison purposes only). Century Aluminum (CENX) has a current trailing average dividend yield of 0%.
"Last two days the metal price is recovering. We feel that next two to three months it will range between $2,300-2,500 per tonne. Yesterday it was $2,400," Bagra told Reuters. The basic price of standard aluminium ingots after the latest revision has been increased to 139,700 rupees per tonne. Nalco had last raised aluminium prices by 5,000 rupees at the start of August. ($1=45.90 rupees)
India's state-run National Aluminium Company (NALCO) has issued a global tender to buy 225,000 tonnes of non-coking coal, a senior company official said on Friday. The last date for submission of bids is Sept. 12, said the official, who is close to the tendering process but could not be named due to company policy. NALCO imports about 1 million tonnes of coal every year to meet the requirement of its captive power plant located at Angul, in eastern Indian Orissa state, which powers its aluminium smelter.
