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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May aluminium shipments from US metals centres totalled 127,400 tonnes or 31.4% more aluminium than in May 2010. For the year to date, shipments of aluminium totalled 629,300 tonnes or 27.8% more volume of the metal than last year. Month end aluminium inventories of 362,900 tonnes were 29.4% greater than at the end of May 2010 and at current shipping rates equal to a 2.8 month supply. Canadian aluminium shipments during May totalled 12,500 tonnes or 10.9% more than service centre volume during the same month last year. Shipments for the year of 61,100 tonnes were up 9.1% from a year ago. Inventories at the end of May of 30,600 tonnes of aluminium were 6.9% below year ago stockpiles and at current shipping rates, equal to 2.5 month supply. The Metals Activity Report (MAR), based on data...
Reuters reported that UC Rusal expects no significant fall in London Metal Exchange warehouse aluminium stocks currently well above 4 million tonnes by the end of 2011. Mr Steve Hodgson CEO of the Russian aluminium producer's marketing unit said that “It is interesting that we saw stocks peak at a little over 4.7 million tonnes but they've come back down again and we've got quite a large number of cancelled warrants in the market today." He said that warrants are material that is earmarked for delivery. Perhaps that signals a little that stocks may come down but I think we're still looking at over 4 million by the end of the year. Aluminium inventories in LME registered warehouses were at 4.631 million tonnes. They have been above the 4.0 million tonnes level for around two years. Mr...
Alcoa’s (NYSE:AA) total alumina shipments rose from 14.6 million tons in 2006 to 16.5 million tons in 2010 with a blip in 2009 due to unfavorable economic conditions that led to a decline in the overall industrial output and demand for aluminum. Alcoa, which competes with mining giants like Rusal, Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO), BHP Billiton (NYSE:BHP) and Chalco (NYSE:ACH), is upbeat about the global outlook for aluminum and expects the strong demand to continue in the next decade. Last quarter, Alcoa reported almost $6 billion in sales, up 20% year-over-year. (See Alcoa on Track for a Bumper Year) Given the unique characteristics of aluminum and its growing demand, we expect Alcoa’s alumina shipments will rise to 21 million tons by the end of our forecast period. Trefis members, however, predict...
Apollo Global Management LLC has put Alcan International Network (AIN) up for sale following its acquisition of Alcan’s engineered products business. "It’s going to be sold again," a source familiar with the matter said. The private equity firm is believed to have received about five expressions of interest for AIN. The potential suitors are from the financial community rather than from the metals sector. AIN is part of the engineered products division, in which Apollo acquired a majority stake in January and which it has since renamed Constellium. A sale would be logical as the business does not fit into Constellium’s strategy, market sources said. Under the new ownership, AIN does not have an exclusive supply or sales agreement with Constellium, for example. "That’s something that I...
The potential of Dubai Aluminium Company Limited ("DUBAL") and Emirates Aluminium Company Limited ("EMAL") - the key players in the UAE's primary aluminium industry - to supply metal to end-users in Europe has been successfully promoted, thanks to the joint participation of the two companies at the Commodity Research Unit's 16th World Aluminium Conference ("CRU 2011"). Several platforms were leveraged for this purpose, namely a combined stand in the exhibition component alongside the conference - used to promote both companies and DUBAL's proprietary world-leading DX Reduction Technology that has been implemented on industrial scale at EMAL Phase I; plus joint sponsorship of the CRU 2011 Registration Desk; and luncheon on 14 June. The resulting strong presence ensured excellent exposure...
China, being the largest consumer and major producer of aluminium, remains the growth engine for global aluminium industry. China’s aluminium demand outstripped the domestic supply in the last few years. The growth of aluminium depends on a number of factors, like rapid industrialization, economic growth and growth in end user segment of aluminium, says “China Aluminium Market Analysis”. This report discusses the impact of the Chinese aluminium industry on the global aluminium industry and analyzes the current and future of the industry. It thoroughly investigates the current market trends, evolving markets and growth prospects. This research comprehensively studies the market to evaluate its future direction. However, the forecast given in this report is not based on a complex economic...
-Alcoa (NYSE:AA) announced today that effective July 1, the Company’s Asia-Pacific regional headquarters will report to Alcoa’s Business Excellence and Corporate Strategy organization, part of an initiative to support the expanding footprint of Alcoa’s three business groups in the fast-growing and strategically important Chinese market. As part of this initiative, Jinya Chen, Asia-Pacific Regional President, was elected a Vice President of Alcoa by the Company’s Board of Directors. While continuing to lead the region, Chen will report to Kay Meggers, Vice President, Corporate Initiatives, and will have overall accountability for Alcoa’s China strategy. The Company also announced that Jiming Zhu will join Alcoa as President, China Rolled Products, with responsibility for managing all of...
In an interview with ET Now, Mr BL Bagra CMD of NALCO talks about the aluminium demand and company's prospects. Excerpts: Q - How do you see the demand for aluminium in India for FY12 do you see it rising? A - The growth of demand in India is mainly triggered by the power transmission industry and the investment in the power transmission is at the very fast pace. And therefore we maintain that the demand of growth of aluminium metal in India will still outpace the general growth rate in the economy. It will touch almost 13% to 15% of the growth rate. The other sectors which are emerging very fast are the transport and the packaging sector in India. In the transport, particularly the new generation cars due to fuel economy as well as the growing awareness about the fuel efficiency of using...
Commodity reported that Chinese aluminum prices may be capped by record production and weaker demand over the coming two months as new capacity comes online which could lead to a boost semi-finished product exports. According to a survey of 20 warehouses in Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces, aluminum stockpiles dropped for a thirteenth week, shrinking 10,541 tonnes to 308,635 tonnes the lowest since January 2010. Data showed that lead stockpiles gained 3,527 tonnes to 42,032 tonnes. In yesterday's trading session aluminum has touched the low of 116.6 after opening at 116.75 and finally settled at 116.75. For today's session market is looking to take support at 116.6, a break below could see a test of 116.4 and where as resistance is now likely to be seen at 116.9, a move...
Aluminum lost ground in May after initial strength but will draw support near term from tight physical supplies and the fact that prices are close to the break-even costs ofChinese aluminum smelters. "We're not bullish on aluminium, but the physical market is quite tight and the downside will be supported by the marginal costs of Chinese producers," said Macquarie Bank's Jim Lennon. China is the world's top aluminium producer, accounting for around 40 percent of global output. The London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month aluminum price CMAL3 was last indicated at $2,613 a tone.
Chinese aluminum production hit an all-time high last month and could limit further price gains if feared power-related supply interruptions end up not materializing after all, Commerzbank says. Chinese data showed an 8.7% year-on-year rise in aluminium production to a record of 1.54 million metric tons. “Smelters have clearly raised production sharply in anticipation of bottlenecks in power supply during the summer months,” Commerzbank says. “Should the power shortage not be as serious as feared, aluminum production is unlikely to fall significantly but is more likely to stay at its current very high level, according to the Chinese data provider SMM. The high supply surplus on the global aluminum market would therefore remain and the significant oversupply should prevent further...
Dow Jones reported that Emirates Aluminum is close to approving plans to expand its large scale aluminum smelter in Abu Dhabi at a cost of up to USD 4.5 billion as it prepares for strong global demand growth in the next 4 years. Mr Saeed Al Mazrooei CEO and president of Emal said that the company is waiting for internal approval to go ahead with Phase II at the smelter which would see capacity double to 1.5 million tonnes of aluminum annually. Mr Al Mazrooei said that we are expecting some board approvals on some commercial commitments within probably 2 weeks time. We expect to start with phase two in probably three weeks time. We are now finalizing all the commercial obligations and contracts. Emal, a JV between Abu Dhabi government investment firm Mubadala Development Company and Dubai...
Japan Metal Bulletin reported that premium for primary aluminum shipment to Japan in July to September is likely to increase by USD 7 and USD 9 to USD 120 per tonne and USD 122 per tonne when the premiums were set high against European and US re rollers while supply and demand balance of primary aluminum ingot is internationally tight. Some of Japanese re rollers will procure scheduled volume of ingot along car output recovery while some will reduce the purchasing volume since their operations would lower by Japanese power companies' electricity supply regulations.
Reuters cited Mr Jorgen Rostrup CEO of Norsk Hydro as saying that financing deals were helping to drive aluminium prices but they still had performed poorly compared with other base metals. Mr Jorgen Rostrup said that there seems to be a willingness to invest in these inventories to keep them off the market with returns that can be locked in therefore you has the prices that you have. He said that it is still a tight aluminium balance in the physical market. That is part of what sets the price but obviously the price is also set by financial things. Metal industry sources estimate these deals have tied up a hefty 70% or 3.3 million tonnes of record high aluminum stocks 4.7 million tonnes in London Metal Exchange registered warehouses. Difficulty in accessing LME aluminium is also part of...
In honor of US Flag Day, the Aluminum Association is paying tribute with a video of the flag and its unsung partner the flagpole. The video includes images of the American flag flying over various US historical locations as well as the extrusion process used to create flagpoles. Aluminum Association member Sapa Group Extrusions, in partnership with Sapa Group Pole Products, generously provided the footage of the pole creation and extrusion processes. Among the most notable applications of aluminum flagpoles are the 50 flags representing each state that fly around the base of the Washington Monument in Washington, DC At one time, flags were flown on specific days of national celebration using temporary wooden flagpoles. For the George Washington Birthday celebration of 1958, it was...
In an interview with ET Now, BL Bagra, CMD, NALCO, talks about the aluminium demand and company's prospects. Excerpts: ET Now: How do you see the demand for aluminium in India for FY12 do you see it rising? BL Bagra: The growth of demand in India is mainly triggered by the power transmission industry and the investment in the power transmission is at the very fast pace. And therefore we maintain that the demand of growth of aluminium metal in India will still outpace the general growth rate in the economy. It will touch almost 13% to 15% of the growth rate. The other sectors which are emerging very fast are the transport and the packaging sector in India. In the transport, particularly the new generation cars due to fuel economy as well as the growing awareness about the fuel efficiency...
UBS analyst Brian MacArthur has aggressively cut his price target on Alcoa Inc. (AA-N15.410.312.05%) ahead of the aluminum giant’s second-quarter results on July 11, citing - among other factors - higher raw material, maintenance and energy costs in upstream operations. He’s forecasting earnings per share of 32 cents for the three-month period, above the 28 cents earned in the first quarter, but below consensus of 36 cents. Mr. MacArthur also revised his earnings-per-share forecast for 2011 to $1.13 from $1.22, to reflect realized pricing, foreign exchange rates to date and rising costs. These rising costs in the industry also prompted him to temper his earnings expectations in 2012 and 2013. Downside: Mr. MacArthur’s price target is now $16.75 (U.S.), down from $19.50. He maintained a...
Norwegian aluminum producer Norsk Hydro yesterday said its joint-venture aluminum plant Qatalum won’t reach its full production capacity until the end of the third quarter after suffering further delays. Qatalum, a joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and Norsk Hydro, was hit by a power outage in August last year and since then production has been reduced. It is currently producing at 70% of capacity, and the ramp-up to full production has been postponed due to a delay in commissioning of two steam turbines in the power plant that supplies energy to the smelter. Norsk Hydro had previously said Qatalum would produce at full capacity from June. Qatalum is Hydro’s most important smelter, representing about 15% of its aluminum production, and the company’s shares fell after news of the...
