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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Aluminium du Maroc, created in partnership with Péchiney and the latter was absorbed first by Alcan and then by Rio Tinto. The company is supervised by a high level of engineers and it relies on the latest generation of technical equipment. The exceptional and the unprecedented circumstances linked to the health situation due to the n COVID-19 concluded to postpone the date of the convocation of the Board of Directors to approve the accounts of the company Aluminium du Maroc, Wednesday, 22 nd April’20. The publication of the elements of the annual financial report will follow the holding of this council. Aluminium du Maroc is the first Moroccan company specializing in the design and manufacture of aluminium alloy profiles for building and industry, as most of the production is intended...
Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), the world’s largest aluminium smelter ex-China, announced the appointment of six new members to the company's board of directors on 05 April 2020. The company said the newly appointed six Directors by the shareholder Bahrain Mumtalakat Holding Company (Mumtalakat) to the Board of Directors. The Chairman of Alba's Board of Directors, Shaikh Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa, commented: “On behalf of myself and the newly appointed Board of Directors of Alba, I take this opportunity to express our thanks and gratitude towards His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, for the trust placed in me and my fellow Directors to further develop the Company for the next stage of...
According to Shanghai Metals Market, the social inventories of primary aluminium ingots have declined over the holiday-extended weekend, as demand has displayed a slight improvement. The data shows the stocks across eight major consumption areas in China, including SHFE warrants, have decreased by 41,000 tonnes from 1.676 million tonnes on Thursday, April 2, to stand at 1.635 million tonnes, as of Tuesday, April 7. Compared to a week earlier when the inventories were at 1.664 million tonnes, the stocks today have plunged by 29,000 tonnes. The chart below indicates the current status of primary aluminium inventories across China in more details: From Thursday, April 2, the inventories in Nanhai and Gongyi have plunged by 28,000 tonnes and 17,000 tonnes, respectively, to stand at 403,000...
The US dollar held firm at more than one-week highs against a basket of currencies on Monday, April 6. LME aluminium closed lower overnight. The SHFE kept its night trading session suspended. Three-month LME aluminium fell to its lowest since January 2016 at US$1,459.5 per tonne in late European trading session. It closed the day lower at US$1,475 per tonne. Shanghai Metals Market expects the contract to move at US$1,450-1,500 per tonne today, As of Monday, April 6, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 1424.50 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 1424.50 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 1460.50 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 1460.50 per tonne; Dec 21 bid price stands at US$ 1594 per tonne, and Dec 21 offer price stands at US$ 1594 per tonne....
Alcoa Corporation, a global leader in bauxite, alumina, and aluminium products, on 6th April ’20, announced a change in the format of its Annual Meeting of Stockholders from in-person to virtual-only. This arrangement has been supported concerning the public health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and to support the health and well-being of the stockholders, employees, and their families. The company will hold its annual meeting in a virtual meeting format only, via webcast. As previously announced, the annual meeting will be held on Wednesday, 6 th May’20 at 10:00 a.m. EDT. As described in the Company’s proxy materials previously distributed for the Annual Meeting, stockholders at the close of business on March 11, 2020, the record date, are entitled to attend and participate in the...
Following World Health Organisation guidelines, New Zealand Aluminium Smelter Limited is making 103 litres of own hand sanitiser from its onsite laboratory. Smelter asset optimisation superintendent Roget Hackett said they collected the ingredients like ethanol, hydrogen peroxide, and glycerol under WHO guidelines and mixed in their lab. Although the smelter is not considered an essential service, yet it is exempted from the four-week lockdown, considering the extensive costs involved in shutting down and restarting all the pots. However, the smelter has adopted several precautions for continuing operations during the pandemic, such as dividing workers into two teams – blue and red and letting them work separately as much as possible with separate entry and exit points into the factory....
Indian aluminium producers are keeping their eyes at the possibility of accumulating of metal as COVID-19 outbreak has compressed the domestic consumption besides leading to a demand shrinking among importing countries. The present situation is like hocus-pocus for the aluminium companies that were already struggling due to weak commodity prices. The major global auto companies have reduced their production and the construction industry has also remained standstill, while the demand from the user industries has dropped immensely. The production of aluminium is expected to outpace demand which will exert pressure on aluminium prices unless substantial production cuts are announced by smelters in China and the rest of the world. In the Indian market, the flagging demand, whereas the slow...
Benchmark aluminium price on London Metal Exchange slightly increased by 0.24 per cent to US$ 1452 per tonne on Friday, April 3, from US$ 1448.5 per tonne on April 2. As of Friday, April 3, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 1452 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 1452 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 1486 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 1486 per tonne; Dec 21 bid price stands at US$ 1624 per tonne, and Dec 21 offer price stands at US$ 1624 per tonne. The LME aluminium opening stock stood at 1207925 tonnes. Live Warrants totalled 1062750 tonnes, and Cancelled Warrants were 145175 tonnes. <iframe width="500" height="300" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ltTDKEXzCzg" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope;...
On Tuesday, March 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a countrywide lockdown for 21 days starting Tuesday midnight. Since the announcement, no report of production cuts at smelters and refineries of three major Indian aluminium giants have arrived so far, except that Hindalco has temporarily scaled down operations at some of its aluminium and copper manufacturing facilities in line with the government's directives, according to a report last week. The government has, however, exempted key production facilities from having a continuous production process during the lockdown. Reports say there is enough availability of raw material and consumable stock with the plant premises for the next 15 days, at least, which is helping carry out the production seamlessly. The government has...
Australian Bauxite Limited (ABx) has reportedly appointed Clough for the design and construction of its first Alcore production plant in New South Wales. After six months of test work, Alcore has now decided to construct the first commercial plant where byproducts from aluminium smelters will be converted into aluminium fluoride. This aluminium fluoride can then be again sold back to the smelters as an essential electrolyte for smelting. On bagging the contract, Peter Bennett, CEO and Managing Director of Clough said: "Clough is a pioneering engineering and construction company, and our expertise with technology readiness, front-end engineering and EPC delivery will ensure a smooth transition for Alcore from the lab research stage to their first commercial plant." Alcore COO Phillip Hall...
According to the latest report from the US Geological Survey, US domestic primary aluminium production came in at 92,000 tonnes in January 2020. The average daily production was 2,980 tonnes, slightly less than that in January 2019. The output was essentially unchanged from that in December 2019. Total aluminium recovered from scrap was 269,000 tonnes in January, 8% less than the amount in January 2019. That was slightly more than the revised amount in December 2019 and 12% less than that in January 2018. Of this, 146,000 tonnes of aluminium was recovered from new scrap and 123,000 tonnes was recovered from old scrap. In January, the average U.S. spot market price of primary aluminium ingot was $0.945 per pound, essentially unchanged from December 2019. Inventories of primary aluminium in...
Vedanta for the sixth consecutive time has cut its aluminium ingots prices by nearly 1 per cent, with effect from Wednesday, April 1. The company had cut the prices of these products by 2 to 3 per cent. After the cut with effect from April 1, Vedanta is now selling ingots at INR 127,250 per tonne to INR 140,250 per tonne, down by 10 to 11 per cent from that the end of 2019. The last aluminium ingot price cut by Vedanta was with effect from March 27 , which brought the prices to INR 128,500 per tonne to INR 141,500 per tonne, down from INR 131,750-144,750 per tonne on March 24. The billet price after the cut on Wednesday came in at INR 135,250 per tonne, 0.91 per cent lower than INR 136,500 per tonne last week. The Indian aluminium producers generally link their product prices to the...
Multiple US aluminium rolling mills and extrusion plants declared temporary suspensions to their operations this week as the COVID-19 epidemic has continued to disrupt markets and erode demand. Aleris Aluminium at its Lewisport, Kentucky, rolling mill has suspended its production from 30th March’20 until 13th April’20. Jason Saragian, Communications Director of Aleris said: "In response to our major automotive customers announcing temporary production shutdowns, coupled with uncertainty in other markets, we are making the difficult decision to temporarily suspend production at our Lewisport site for two weeks, or until we have worked through the full extent of COVID-19's impact on our customers.” "These are very dedicated and committed employees, and we will remain in close contact with...
With the beginning of this week, the US dollar rebounded against major currencies and riskier emerging market units, snapping a week of declines as investors braced for prolonged uncertainty and governments tightened lockdowns and launched monetary and fiscal measures to fight the coronavirus pandemic. However, on Tuesday, March 31, the dollar fell against a basket of major currencies, but again on April 1 advanced, with the index up 0.6 per cent at 99.52. Three-month LME aluminium resumed its downtrend on Monday, March 30, slipping to its lowest since April 2016 at US$ 1,522 per tonne in North American trading hours before closing the day sharply lower at US$ 1,529 per tonne. On March 31, it slipped to the further lowest at US$1,507 per tonne and closed the day at US$1,525.5 per tonne....
The Russian aluminium giant Rusal has approved a new long-term aluminium supply contract with Glencore worth up to $16.3 billion, as announced in a Hong-Kong regulatory statement on 03 rd April. The British born Swiss trader and metals producer Glencore Plc has long been one of the principal clients of Hong Kong-listed Rusal, the world's largest aluminium producer outside China. Glencore holds a stake in Rusal parent Group En+. <iframe width="500" height="300" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/G4gK_YvzyuU" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe> Rusal stated that the new contract is set for 2020-24 and can also get extended to 2025. The board of director had already approved the deal in December’19. This...
Aluminium Corporation of China Limited, popularly known as Chalco, may consider carrying out maintenance or even shut some aluminium production if prices fall below its cash costs, said a company executive on Friday, April 3. With the weak demand for aluminium in China and also across the globe due to the outbreak of COVID19, the social inventories of primary aluminium ingot have been witnessing incessant hikes, resulting in continuous declines in aluminium prices over the past 2 months. On Thursday, April 2, aluminium prices in Shanghai hit a more than four-year low of RMB 11,250 per tonne. However, as far as the alumina production is concerned, Chalco’s Finance Chief Wang Jun said that there had been no change in Chalco’s production capacity for alumina. He also said the company would...
According to the latest Reuters update, the premium for aluminium shipments to Japanese buyers has been set at $82 per tonne for April to June. The premium is lower by 1.2 per cent from the last quarter, reported sources involved in market pricing. Japan is the biggest importer of aluminium in Asia and the premiums it agrees to pay for primary aluminium shipments for each quarter over the cash price settled at the London Metal Exchange (LME) set the benchmark for the region. During January-March quarter, the premiums for aluminium shipments were $83 per tonne. This marks the third consecutive quarterly drop. The premiums for Q2 2020 are also lower than the initial offers of $98-$105 made by producers. “We have struck all deals at $82 a tonne by early this week,” a source at an aluminium...
Hydro has postponed the restart of 95, 000 tonnes capacity at the Husnes aluminium plant in Norway. The ramp-up, which was planned to start in the first half of 2020, is now postponed to the third quarter of 2020 at the earliest. The company has also decided to freeze around 25 percent of remaining capital expenditure in 2020 by NOK 2 billion. Hydro has reduced cost across the company, including forced vacations, delaying projects, and temporary layoffs. President and CEO Hilde Merete Aasheim said: “With forceful mitigating actions and contingency plans across the company, we will continue operations to the extent possible, keeping the wheels turning, to the benefit of our people, our business, local communities and society at large.” “We will continuously evaluate further measures as the...
