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...
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The US dollar declined on Friday, April 13. The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of other currencies, dipped 0.05% to 99.495. The London Metal Exchange was closed on Friday for the Good Friday holiday. As of Thursday, April 9, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 1428.50per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 1428.50 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 1467 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 1467 per tonne; Dec 21 bid price stands at US$ 1603.50 per tonne, and Dec 21 offer price stands at US$ 1603.50 per tonne. The LME aluminium opening stock stood at 1239700 tonnes. Live Warrants totalled 1106850 tonnes, and Cancelled Warrants were 132850 tonnes. LME aluminium 3-months Asian Reference Price is hovering at US$ 1477.84per tonne....
Shanghai Metals Market found a further decline in social inventories of primary aluminium ingots over the weekend ended Monday, April 13, bolstered by improved demand and reduced arrivals of stocks to warehouses. According to the SMM data, the inventories decreased 59,000 tonnes from last Thursday, April 9, across eight major consumption areas in China, including SHFE warrants, to stand at 1.548 million tonnes. From Tuesday, April 7, the primary aluminium stocks have reduced by 128,000 tonnes. The chart below indicates the current status of primary aluminium inventories across China in more details: The primary aluminium inventories in Nanhai have decreased by 23,000 tonnes over the weekend to come in at 366,000 tonnes, while that in Wuxi and Gongyi by 18,000 tonnes and 17,000 tonnes to...
Rio Tinto’s Tiwai Point aluminium smelter near Bluff in Southland of New Zealand is one of the largest manufacturing facilities kept active amid COVID-19 epidemic lockdown. The major reason for keeping it active as it takes weeks for proper shutdown and again re-starting takes months. Tiwai point is considered as the biggest employer of Southland, though the plant’s long-term future remains uncertain. The smelter contributes around $400 million per year to the region’s economy, with 1000 staff and contractor working at the site and another 1300 jobs directly linked to the smelter. Graham Budd, Great South chief executive, said: "There wouldn't be anyone in Invercargill or Southland who doesn't know somebody directly or indirectly who would be affected. So that's a real wellbeing issue for...
Right from the aluminium raw material to the end-use sector, the effect of COVID19 pandemic is evident in every vertical of the industry. Unavailability of adequate labourers and transport disruption due to the worldwide lockdown is taking a constant toll on the aluminium industry, resulting in production cut at many smelters and semi-finished products plants. Therefore, the demand for the metal is drowning, and so the global benchmark prices of both aluminium and aluminium input costs. Let us here take a quick glance at how the COVID19 outbreak has created an impact on the aluminium industry in the last 10 days of the month. The Argentine giant Aluar Aluminio Argentino SAIC is reducing its output by an additional 25% at its Puerto Madryn plant in the south, in response to the indication...
The US dollar index slipped to a one week-low of 99.5. LME aluminium closed 1% higher overnight. The SHFE kept its night trading session suspended. Three-month LME aluminium rallied in the North American trading session, recovering from earlier losses to finish the day 1.02% higher at US$1,484 per tonne. The contract increased 0.27% on the week. LME aluminium fell for 13 weeks in the past 15 weeks, according to Shanghai Metals Market. As of Thursday, April 9, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 1428.50per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 1428.50 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 1467 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 1467 per tonne; Dec 21 bid price stands at US$ 1603.50 per tonne, and Dec 21 offer price stands at US$ 1603.50 per tonne. The LME...
Metalex staffs are presently working overtime at its sites in Poole, Horsham, Birmingham, Chepstow and Milton Keynes to process the orders for aluminium plate and bar billets to be used in the rapid production of medical equipment. Paul Nicola, MD, said: "To date, we have supplied over 80 tonnes of the plate and bar to OEM's such as Penlon, Luxfer, Mclaren, Renishaw and a huge number of subcontractors who are working on this project, and have orders for a further 90 tonnes with more coming in every day.” "As the UK's largest independent distributor of aluminium plate and bar products we were ideally placed to assist in this work and have retained all of our staff whilst our competitors have been furloughing large numbers of theirs." The Metalex staffs have been following social distancing...
Social inventories of primary aluminium ingots have fallen this week, as demand improved and aluminium smelters held back on sales and reduced deliveries to social warehouses owing to weaker aluminium prices, learned Shanghai Metals Market. The SMM data shows the primary aluminium inventories decreased 69,000 tonnes over the week ended Thursday, April 9, across eight major consumption areas in China, including SHFE warrants. This marks the first week-on-week decline since the Lunar New Year Holiday, bringing the inventories at 1.607 million tonnes. On last Thursday, April 2, the primary aluminium inventories were at 1.676 million tonnes, up 9,000 tonnes compared to a build of 20,000 tonnes in the previous week. The chart below indicates the current status of primary aluminium inventories...
Arconic is executing mitigation measures with immediate effect that are estimated to reduce operating costs by approx. $150 million on a yearly rate basis. These deduction measures, as well as capital reductions of $50 million, will enhance the Company’s financial profile by approx. $200 million. The various measures that the company is implementing will be continued until the market again regains its move. The CEO’s salary and the Board of Director’s annual cash retainer will be reduced by 30%, the senior-level management will incur a 20% salary cut and the drop-down employees will attract a10% pay cut. The salaried staff will be cropped with a 10% reduction and Tennessee and New York facilities will be kept idle until the demand grows from the customer’s side. Tim Myers, CEO, Arconic...
Owing to weaker aluminium prices due to the COVID19 pandemic, Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd has reportedly revised its forecasts for financial years 2020-22. For FY20, the company has cut its net profit forecasts by 29 per cent to RM 415.5, and for FY21 and FY22, 12 per cent and 13 per cent to RM 816.3 and RM 948.9, respectively. According to the report, the company has also reduced its revenue outlook to RM 7,370.2 for FY20, RM 10,866.2 for FY21, and RM 11,137.1 for FY22. FV has also been reduced by 29 per cent to RM3.03 (from RM4.24 previously) based on 15 times revised FY21F earnings per share (EPS) (from RM4.24 based on 18 times FY21F EPS previously). <iframe width="500" height="300" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AwGLceThp5w" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay;...
The Australian Aluminium Council and Australian Workers Union is anxious that any reduction of the crucial workers that strikes on the aluminium industry’s complex supply chain, in regards to shutdown measures, perils the permanent close-down of alumina refineries and aluminium smelters across the nation and losing thousands of jobs. The integrated aluminium industry is unique and indispensable in Australia. This is by grasping the whole chain from bauxite mining to alumina refinery to aluminium smelters and also the holding the contractors for essential supplies and services. The temporary shut-down in any unit of this supply chain turns out uncertainty in alumina refineries and thus hits out at the aluminium smelters. This can move towards the permanent closure of these operations. The...
The US dollar index edged higher on Wednesday in choppy trading, attracting safe-haven bids, as investor concerns remained over the economic fallout of the pandemic. Three-month LME aluminium fell to a new more than four-year trough of US$ 1,455 per tonne in the North American trading session, before it recouped some losses to close the day 0.61 per cent weaker at US$ 1,469 per tonne. As of Wednesday, April 8, both LME aluminium cash (bid) price and LME official settlement price fell sharply from US$ 1455.50 per tonne to US$ 1421.50 per tonne, followed by a significant increase on the previous day. 3-months bid price and 3-months offer price also recorded a sharp fall from US$ 1491.50 per tonne to US$ 1459.50 per tonne. Dec 21 bid price and Dec 21 offer price came in at US$ 1591.50 per...
M.T. Abraham Group, Aluminij Industries d.o.o. and Aluminij d.d. Mostar have signed a lease agreement for the Mostar based company in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Chinese-Israeli consortium announced: “The Abraham Group and its partners will start executing the strategic plan as stated in the agreement between the parties, all to make certain that Mostar based Aluminium smelter start operating in due time.” Amir G. Kabiri, President of M.T. Abraham Group and Director of Aluminij Industries d.o.o. said: “From the beginning of the negotiation process, I did not doubt that we would reach a mutual agreement. Starting tomorrow, we must concentrate on implementing our strategic plan to restart the manufacturing process.” Director of M.T. Abraham Group, Isaac M. Tami, added that he would do...
The downfall in the aluminium industry could be traced back to the global financial crisis last year that forced many automobile companies and the construction projects to reduce or shut operations, resulting in demand crunch for the lightweight metal, according to Bloomberg observation. The outbreak of COVID19 has just further triggered the ailing of aluminium demand, leading to production curtails at many downstream and end-use aluminium plants. Bloomberg Intelligence suggests that since the demand was slowing down, a surplus in stocks was well expected this year, even before the current pandemic. The price has been declining as well, which is now below $1500 per tonne, making most of the world’s production unprofitable. According to Bloomberg, the industry is currently working through...
Hydro’s operations in Norway, Germany, UK, France, Spain, and the USA have been certified against Aluminium Stewardship Initiative’s (ASI) Performance Standard. The company’s primary aluminium plant Husnes and the remelters and casthouses Rackwitz (Germany), Deeside (UK), Lucé (France), Azuqueca (Spain), Henderson (USA) and Commerce (USA) have been certified against ASI Performance Standard. “We are happy to further extend our ability to deliver certified aluminium produced with high standards, responsibly and sustainably,” said Head of Hydro’s Primary Metal business area Eivind Kallevik. Hydro extends its certified operations to 59 production sites and has certified facilities all along the value chain from mining operations in Paragominas, Brazil to building systems plants such as...
ATO has escalated its transfer pricing probe into Rio Tinto's aluminium division, further complicating talks between the miner and the federal government in regards to a rescue package for Rio's three loss-making Australian smelters. In February’20 a probe was advancing into Rio's aluminium division, and Rio confirmed on Wednesday, 8 th April’20, that the probe had escalated to a formal amended assessment in March’20. The ATO accepts Rio’s Australian subsidiaries have charged an in-appropriate price for the aluminium they sold out to Rio’s arguable Singapore marketing hub between 2000 and 2016. The ATO has ordered Rio to pay $86.1 million of unpaid taxes over the aluminium matter in a separate to Rio’s long-running $447 million dispute with the ATO over the transfer pricing of Australian...
India has solicited consultations with the US, under the WTO's safeguard agreement, against American authorities' decision to hike import duties on derivatives of aluminium products. In January’20, the US exuded a presidential decree stating that aluminium derivatives would be subject to tariff increase. According to a communication of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), India considers this measure of the US to be a safeguard measure within a provision of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1994 and the Agreement on Safeguards. "India considers tariff increase through Presidential Proclamation on 24 January 2020 as an extension of earlier safeguard measures (announced in March 2018). <iframe width="500" height="300" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SCmb-oDpwFs" frameborder="0"...
The US dollar index dropped below the 100 level mark on Tuesday as risk appetite improved on hopes that lockdowns may be slowing the spread of the coronavirus in some countries and as action by central banks eased dollar strain. Three-month LME aluminium climbed to an intraday high of US$ 1,500 per tonne in late European trading hours, before it pared most of the gains to end the day 0.2 per cent higher at US$ 1,478 per tonne. As of Tuesday, April 7, both LME aluminium cash (bid) price and LME official settlement price increased sharply from US$ 1424.50 per tonne to US$ 1455.50 per tonne. 3-months bid price and 3-months offer price also recorded a significant rise from US$ 1460.50 per tonne to US$ 1491.50 per tonne, while Dec 21 bid price and Dec 21 offer price came in at US$ 1623.50 per...
Rio Tinto considers suspending the production at its Straumsvík smelter in Iceland for two years. The company is one of the world’s largest metal and mining corporations are considering various options to reduce its losses during the economic downturn due to the coronavirus pandemic. Rio Tinto’s executives have also complained that high power costs have contributed to the company’s losses and are preparing a lawsuit against Iceland’s National Power Company. As per the report, the metal corporation is preparing a lawsuit against Iceland’s National Power Company, which is intended to release Rio Tinto from a large part of the electricity purchase obligation to which it is subject. The lawsuit also addresses alleged “product fraud” on the part of the National Power Company, which Rio Tinto...
