Global primary aluminium production experienced a sequential recovery in the third quarter of 2026, supported by the gradual restoration of disrupted smelting capacity in the GCC countries, stronger operational performance in Europe and Oceania, and incremental production gains across Asia and China. But beneath this quarterly improvement lies a contrasting reality - global output remained below the corresponding levels of both 2025 and 2024. According to data from the International Aluminium Institute (IAI), global primary aluminium production reached 18.377 million tonnes in Q3 2026, an increase of 2.1 per cent from 18.003 million tonnes in the preceding quarter. However, compared with Q3 2025, when production totalled 18.683 million tonnes, output declined by 1.64 per cent. Production...
Europe's aluminium industry is facing mounting pressure from rising carbon costs, shifting trade policies and limited willingness among buyers to pay premiums for low-carbon metal. Yet, despite a series of crises since the Covid pandemic, producers remain committed to maintaining their presence in Europe and investing in decarbonisation, said Paul Voss, Director General of European Aluminium. In an exclusive interview with Fastmarkets at Aluminium Düsseldorf, Voss described the European aluminium industry's condition as bruised but resilient. He highlighted concerns over the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), the potential inclusion of indirect (Scope 2) emissions under the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and the treatment of aluminium scrap in carbon accounting. Reflecting on...
Grow with
AL Circle
Aluminium Corp of China Ltd, known as Chalco, announced that the company’s net profit declined year-on-year on lower sales due to the coronavirus outbreak. The company’s net income came in at 30.7 million yuan in the first quarter of 2020, a drop of 93.1 per cent from 444.9 million yuan in the first quarter of 2019. “Affected by the outbreak of COVID-19, the market price of the company’s leading products decreased significantly,” Chalco said in the filing. According to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, revenue in the first quarter decreased 8 per cent year-on-year. Revenues stood at 39.67 billion yuan in the mentioned period as demand declined due to the coronavirus and panicked investors sold off commodities across the board, Reuters reported. Shanghai aluminium prices decreased...
The Serbian aluminium rolling mill Impol Seval has made public that its net profit has dropped to Serbian Dinar 504.9 million ($4.7 million/4.3 million euro) in 2019 from Serbian Dinar 895.8 million dinars in the preceding year. The company's revenue went up 10.4% to Serbian Dinar13.8 billion, whereas its operating costs increased to Serbian Dinar13.3 billion from Serbian Dinar 11.8 million, Impol Seval said in a bourse filing. The Slovenian company Impol invested 7 million euro ($7.8 million) in Serbian blue-chip aluminium rolling mill Impol Seval and has invested about Euro 4 million in the aluminium plant in the first nine months of 2019. In October 2002, the Serbian government sold a 70% stake in Impol Seval to Slovenia's Impol for a total of $6.5 million. Back then, the Slovenian...
There is no end to research, inspection, and introspection around the currently much talked about virus SARS-CoV-2, or popularly known as COVID19. The more its impacts are being reported across the world, the more it is triggering investigation among medical sciences. Research says what worries the most is the virus’s high rate of contagion, as it can survive outside the human body, in the air, and on surfaces such as metal, glass, and plastics, if they are not properly disinfected. It has been evident that human-to-human transmissions have an incubation time of 2 to 10 days, spreading through air droplets. But when these droplets reach surfaces, such as walls, clothing, furniture, or other objects, the virus behaves differently depending on the type of surface it lands on. On plastic and...
India's aluminium producers have urged the government to reduce tariffs and support them, forecasting that the domestic consumption will fall as Chinese imports swirls amid COVID-19 outbreak. India’s aluminium consumption is surmounted to reduce by 1.5-2 million tonnes in FY21 as the epidemic has substantially diminished the demand from consuming industries. <iframe width="500" height="300" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6YnVwRDEdgs" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> As per the Indian Aluminium Industry: “Earlier, the Indian aluminium industry was mulling for capacity expansion to meet the growing aluminium demand. But with Covid-19 outbreak, the market sentiment is quite low and there is a need...
The US dollar declined on Monday, April 27. LME base metals ended mixed Monday. LME aluminium fell 0.5% and SHEF aluminium rose 1.1%. Benchmark aluminium price on London Metal Exchange dropped 0.03 per cent to US$ 1472.5 per tonne on Monday, April 27, from US$ 1473 per tonne on Friday. As of Monday, April 27, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 1472.50 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 1472.50 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 1509.50 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 1509.50 per tonne; Dec 21 bid price stands at US$ 1629.50 per tonne, and Dec 21 offer price stands at US$ 1629.50 per tonne. The LME aluminium opening stock stood at 1336775 tonnes. Live Warrants totalled 1186950 tonnes, and Cancelled Warrants were 149825 tonnes. LME aluminium...
Vedanta has increased the aluminium ingot price by nearly 1% for the third time in a row. With effect from April 25, the prices of some ingots are in the range of INR 131,500-144,500 per tonne. This marks an increase of INR1500 per tonne from INR 130,000-143,000 per tonne on April 21. With the latest hike, Vedanta is now selling billet at INR 139,500 per tonne, a hike of INR 1500 per tonne or 1.09% from INR 138,000 per tonne on April 21. The Indian aluminium producers generally link prices of its products to the three-month futures of aluminium on London Metal Exchange. The three-month futures of aluminium are down more than 18% so far in 2020 due to slower global demand following the coronavirus outbreak. Vedanta’s aluminium business typically accounts for one-third of the company’s...
Social inventories of primary aluminium ingots have continued to trend lower over the weekend ended Monday, April 27, on robust demand and subdued supply, according to Shanghai Metals Market. SMM data shows the primary aluminium ingots stocks have decreased by 76,000 tonnes across eight major consumption areas in China, including SHFE warrants, from last Thursday, to stand at 1.283 million tonnes. The chart below shows the current status of the primary aluminium inventories across China in more details: As the above chart shows that among all the major Chinese provinces, Gongyi has seen the highest decline in primary aluminium inventories over the weekend by about 24,000 tonnes to stand at 94,000 tonnes, followed by Nanhai 21,000 tonnes to come in at 265,000 tonnes. In Wuxi, the stocks...
National Aluminium Co Ltd has cut the prices of its aluminium ingots for the fourth time in a row. With effect from Thursday, April 23, the prices of ingots came in at INR 142,150-145,650 per tonne, down nearly 1% from 143,150 per tonne-146,650 per tonne on April 17. With the latest cut, the price of aluminium billets now stands at INR 145,600 - 148,250 per tonne, down from INR 146,600 - INR 149,250 per tonne. The Indian aluminium producers generally link prices of its products to the three-month futures of aluminium on London Metal Exchange. The contract is down more than 18% so far in 2020 due to slower global demand following the coronavirus outbreak. Aluminium products and alumina account for nearly two-thirds of NALCO's gross topline, while the sales of chemicals contribute to the...
The US dollar edged lower against the euro on Friday, April 24, ending a four-day winning streak, but broader concerns about the euro's outlook kept dollar bears at bay. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies, lost 0.28 per cent to 100.22, after hitting its highest level since April 7 at 100.87. As of Friday, April 24, both LME aluminium cash (bid) price and LME official settlement price dipped marginally to US$ 1473 per tonne from US$ 1473.50 per tonne on Thursday, April 23. 3-months bid price and 3-months offer price also plunged slightly from US$ 1509.50 per tonne to US$ 1508 per tonne. Dec 21 bid price and Dec 21 offer price hovered at US$ 1629 per tonne compared to US$ 1632 per tonne on the previous day. The LME aluminium opening stock rose...
According to the latest report from the US Geological Survey, US domestic primary aluminium production was 88,000 tonnes in February 2020. The average daily production stood at 3,030 tonnes, slightly less than that in February 2019. The output was slightly more than that in January. Total aluminium recovered from scrap was 278,000 tonnes in February. That was 3% more than the amount in January and slightly more than the amount in February 2019. Of this, 157,000 tonnes of aluminium was recovered from new scrap and 122,000 t was recovered from old scrap. In February, the average U.S. spot market price of primary aluminium ingot was $0.905 per pound, 4% less than that in January. Inventories of primary aluminium in LME-approved warehouses in the United States decreased to 3,725 tonnes at the...
The COVID19 impacts have brought in a lot of changes in planning, strategizing, and executions for the aluminium companies. Such was our observation over more than a week, from April 11 to April 24. While decline in European car sales by about 52 per cent in March, attributing to the lockdowns imposed for the containment of COVID19, as reported on April 17, did not escape our attention, nor we missed to report how Rio Tinto, with support from Motorola Solutions, is technologically gearing up to pursue delivery towards its consumers while safeguarding people and communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. So, let us here take a quick recap to some of such major market affairs and developments happened over the week, caused by COVID19. To start with, Fitch Ratings, the leading provider of...
After soaring by RMB 230 per tonne, the A00 aluminium ingot price has recorded a downfall of RMB 30 per tonne to stand at RMB 12,460 per tonne, as of Friday, April 24, found Shanghai Metals Market. The average prices are expected to range between RMB 12,440 per tonne and RMB 12,480 per tonne, with spot contract to be traded at a premium price of RMB 30-70 per tonne. Among the major Chinese provinces, Foshan has continued to see a surge of RMB 110 per tonne to RMB 12,690 per tonne. In Tianjin and Chongqing, the A00 aluminium ingot price has increased as well by RMB 50 per tonne and RMB 20 per tonne to respectively come in at RMB 12,510 per tonne and RMB 12,690 per tonne. In other provinces, the primary aluminium ingot price has decreased; such as in Wuxi and Gongyi, the price has declined...
The US dollar climbed slightly on Thursday. LME aluminium shed 0.66% and SHFE aluminium climbed 0.9%. Three-month LME aluminium trimmed some declines during the European trading hours. It bounced back from a session low of US$1,503 per tonne, closing 0.66% lower on the day at US$1,510 per tonne. Shanghai Metals Market expects the contract to trade at US$1480-1520 per tonne today. As of Thursday, April 23, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 1473.50 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 1473.50 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 1509.50per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 1509.50 per tonne; Dec 21 bid price stands at US$ 1632 per tonne, and Dec 21 offer price stands at US$ 1632 per tonne. The LME aluminium opening stock stood at 1307725 tonnes. Live...
On 22 nd April’20, the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) made a unanimous preliminary determination that unfairly-traded imports of common alloy aluminium sheet from Bahrain, Brazil, Croatia, Egypt, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Italy, Republic of Korea, Oman, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, and Turkey are causing injury to U.S. producers. The preliminary injury determination means that the antidumping and countervailing duty cases against imports from those countries, which the Commerce Department commenced on 30 th March’20, will proceed. The Commerce Department’s preliminary countervailing duty determinations are currently due to be completed on 3 rd June’20, and the preliminary antidumping duty determinations are due to be completed on 17 th...
National Aluminium Co Ltd has cut the prices of its aluminium ingots. With the latest cut, the prices of ingots came in at INR 143,150 per tonne to INR 146,650 per tonne, with effect from Friday, April 17. The price of aluminium billets is currently hovering at INR 146,600 - INR 149,250 per tonne. The Indian aluminium producers generally link prices of its products to the three-month futures of aluminium on London Metal Exchange. The contract is down more than 19% so far in 2020 due to slower global demand following the coronavirus outbreak. Aluminium products and alumina account for nearly two-thirds of NALCO's gross topline, while the sales of chemicals contribute to the rest. NALCO manufactures wire rods, billets, coils, and chequered sheets. NALCO utilized its full capacity at...
In the first two months of 2020, world primary aluminium surplus grew to 684,000 tonnes from 492,000 tonnes in the whole of 2019, showed the World Bureau of Metals Statistics report on Wednesday, April 22. This came as production jumped by 8.3 per cent in January and February, in contrast to the demand growth of 4.1 per cent year-on-year. By the end of February, aluminium stocks totalled at 1.99 million tonnes, down 159,000 tonnes from the level seen at the end of December 2019. Stocks at LME-approved warehouses also fell during the same period, mostly in Asian warehouses. In China, primary aluminium demand was apparently higher by 6.2 per cent during January to February compared to the same period last year, while output expanded by about 6.06 million tonnes, which is about 55 per cent...
As updated by Shanghai Metals Market, social inventories of primary aluminium across eight consumption areas in China, including SHFE warrants, continue to fall for the third consecutive week as demand remained strong amid weak arrivals. Inventories came in at 1.359 million tonnes in the week ended April 23. That was down 136,000 tonnes from the previous week. The chart below shows the current status of the primary aluminium inventories across China in more details: Primary aluminium stocks in Wuxi, Shanghai, and Nanhai decreased by 43,000 tonnes, 5,000 tonnes and 55,000 tonnes from April 16 to stand at 577,000 tonnes, 167,000 tonnes and 286,000 tonnes on Thursday. Stocks Hangzhou stood at 135,000 tonnes, a drop of 7,000 tonnes. Stocks of primary aluminium in Gongyi, Tianjin, Chongqing...
ALVANCE British Aluminium has confirmed plans to lay-off 30 to 40 of its workers at the Lochaber smelter in Fort William in response to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. The company stated that it is closely tracking the impact of the pandemic and has been adjusting operations to address the challenges caused by the coronavirus situation, with the safety of its 140 employees as its top priority. All precautionary measures have been taken at the smelter and hydropower station to make certain that the welfare of those working on-site – including additional hygiene measures and guidelines to maximise social distancing. Alvanche said from a business perspective: “The smelter has been adjusting production to meet the demand for aluminium, which has been impacted by what it described as a...
