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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Alcoa Corporation has announced its third quarter 2019 results. The company has reported a net loss of $221 million in Q3 2019 compared with a net loss of $402 million in Q2 2019. Excluding the impact of special items, third quarter 2019 adjusted net loss stands at $82 million, from adjusted net loss of $2 million in Q2. President and Chief Executive Officer Roy Harvey said: “Our third quarter showed continued strong operational performance and stability across our aluminium value chain. Our Bauxite and Alumina segments reached new quarterly production records since our launch in 2016, and our aluminium business continued to rebound. While market and pricing challenges persisted through the quarter, our cash balance remained steady.” Adjusted EBITDA excluding special items has dropped $67...
The US dollar weakened for a second straight day to month lows against a basket of its rivals on Wednesday after bleak US retail sales data painted a gloomy picture of the economy and supported the case for further interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. LME base metals closed lower on Wednesday and aluminium dipped 0.1%. SHFE aluminium inched up 0.1%. Three-month LME aluminium recovered from earlier losses to end 0.12% weaker at US$1,727.5 per tonne on Thursday. Traders aggressively covered long positions on Wednesday, as they see limited upward momentum in LME aluminium with high inventories across LME-approved warehouses. A weaker US dollar might provide some support to base metals today. LME aluminium is expected to trade between US$1,710-1,740 per tonne. As on October 16,...
According to Shanghai Metals Market, social inventories of primary aluminium across eight major consumption areas in China, including SHFE warrants, stood at 916,000 tonnes as of Thursday, 17 October 2019, down 61,000 tonnes from a week ago. Primary aluminium inventories dropped significantly this week as arrivals shrank sharply while outflows held stable. The current status of primary aluminium inventories across China is given in the chart below: A00 aluminium ingot price recorded a growth of RMB 80 per tonne or 0.58 per cent from Wednesday’s price of RMB 13880 per tonne. The price stood at RMB 13960 per tonne on Thursday and expected to move within a range of RMB 13940 per tonne and RMB 13980 per tonne. Spot aluminium price is likely to be traded at a premium of RMB 30-70 per tonne....
China Hongqiao Group is planning to set up a “green aluminium” industrial park in Southwest China’s Yunnan capitalizing on the hydropower resources of the province, a statement from affiliate firm Shandong Weiqiao Pioneering says. A number of Chinese aluminium producers, including Aluminum Corp of China, or Chinalco, and Henan Shenhuo, have been focusing on Yunnan, because of the easy access to cleaner hydropower for the energy-intensive smelting process. Hongqiao Chairman Zhang Bo attended a signing ceremony with Yunnan government officials in Kunming on Tuesday. According to the statement, government will work together with Hongqiao to set up the park, according to the company statement. In China, Hongqiao is also known as Weiqiao. Hongqiao will be the main investor in the park...
Vedanta Ltd has raised the prices of aluminium ingots after cutting them five times in a row, trade sources told Cogencis. The natural resources major raised the prices of these products by nearly 2% with effect from Thursday, for the first time since early September. The hike in prices is in line with the improvement in prices of aluminium on the London Metal Exchange, which had been under pressure because of the trade talks between US and China failing to come to a resolution. So far in October, the three-month futures of aluminium are up over 1% on the LME, against a fall in prices in September and August. Companies generally link the prices of their aluminium products to the three-month futures of the metal on the LME. The aluminium vertical contributed around a third to the company's...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C (Alba) is hosting the 23rd Arab International Aluminium Conference (ARABAL 2019), that will be held under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Alba organized a Press Conference on Tuesday, 15 October 2019 at the Gulf Hotel, Kingdom of Bahrain to announce more details of the mega event. The press conference was presided over by Chairman of the Arabal Organising Committee Mohammed Al-Naki. The conference was also attended by Mohammed Yahya, EGA (Arabal Vice Chairman); Khalifa Al-Mazrouei, EGA; Jameel Shakeel, Sohar Aluminium; Mahmoud Fawzy Sharaf, Egyptalum; Ghannam Al Ghannam, Maa’aden; and Abdulla Seyadee, Alba. Alba’s Acting Chief Executive Officer Ali Al Baqali along with Alba’s...
Rio Tinto’s aluminium production stood at 0.8 million tonnes in the third quarter of 2019, down 3% year-on-year, reflecting reduced production at ISAL in Iceland and Kitimat in British Columbia, Canada. Rio reported aluminium production of 2.38 million tonnes in the first nine months of 2019. That was down 1% from the same periods last year. The company’s third quarter and year to date production from Quebec and Pacific smelters stood 1% higher than the same periods last year. This excludes the non-managed Becancour JV where the restart is progressing well, following a lock-out, with full ramp-up expected by mid-2020. “Production at ISAL was impacted by the preventive, safety driven shutdown of one of the three potlines due to process instability. This issue has been resolved and will...
The US dollar weakened against a basket of its rivals on Tuesday as expectations for a further easing from the Fed grew amid fading optimism over the latest China-US trade truce. LME base closed higher on Tuesday. Aluminium rose 0.6%. SHFE aluminium gained 0.3%. LME aluminium continued downward trading over the day but recovered some losses at night. Three-month LME aluminium recovered from earlier losses to close 0.61% higher at US$1,729.5 per tonne on Tuesday, as shorts trimmed their positions. LME aluminium remained under pressure from moving averages, and is expected to trade between US$1,710-1,740 per tonne today. As on October 15, Tuesday, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stood at US$ 1701.50 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 1702 per tonne; 3-months bid price...
The Aluminum Association, in cooperation with the Aluminium Association of Canada, reported primary aluminium production in North America (U.S. and Canada) was at an annual rate of 3,936,695 tonnes during September 2019, declining -0.3% from the August 2019 rate of 3,949,088 tonnes. The production rate in both the U.S. and Canada fell slightly month-on-month. Compared to a year ago, the North American annual rate was 5.8 per cent above the Septemebr 2018 rate of 3,831,539 tonnes. Actual North American production in September 2019 stood at 323,564 tonnes. For the first nine months of 2019, production stood at 2,982,001 tonnes. The U.S. produced 90,316 tonnes of primary aluminium in September 2019, up 18% from September 2018 volume of 76,578 tonnes, which is a significant increase for the...
The US dollar rebounded slightly against a basket of other currencies on Monday, after touching a three-week low on Friday, as details of the partial trade deal between the US and China remained hazy and investors fretted about the ongoing twists and turns on Britain’s exit from the European Union. LME base metals, except for copper, closed lower on Monday. SHFE aluminium gained 0.2%. Three-month LME aluminium dropped to a one-week low of US$1,710 per tonne on Monday, before it recovered some ground to finish the trading day 0.17% lower at US$1,719 per tonne. A rally in the US dollar weighed on base metals on Monday. LME aluminium is expected to trade between US$1,700-1,740 per tonne today. As on October 14, Monday, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stood at US$ 1704 per tonne, LME official...
The A00 aluminium ingot price has further shrunk by RMB 30 per tonne to come as low as RMB 13,770 per tonne, as of October 15, found Shanghai Metals Market. This marks the fourth consecutive fall since October 10, representing the lowest price in the last two months. During the same period in August, the price was at RMB 14,190 per tonne and in September RMB 14,400 per tonne. So, the price today stands lower by RMB 420 per tonne from the corresponding period in August and by RMB 630 per tonne from that in September. According to SMM, the average prices are expected to range between RMB 13,750 per tonne and RMB 13,790 per tonne, with a spot contract to be traded at a premium price of RMB 10-50 per tonne. Weak demand for primary aluminium in the downstream sector and high stock arrivals in...
According to Shanghai Metals Market, the social inventories of primary aluminium have resumed a downward trend over the weekend ended on Monday, October 14, followed by an increase in the first week after the National Day holiday. As per the data, the inventories across eight major consumption areas, including SHFE warrants, have declined by about 32,000 tonnes from 977,000 tonnes on last Thursday, October 10, to come in at 945,000 tonnes, as of October 14. Lower arrival of stocks or increasing purchase among downstream manufacturers could be a reason for the decline of the inventories. The chart below shows the current status of primary aluminium inventories in more details: The primary aluminium inventories in Wuxi, Jiangsu; Nanhai, Guangdong; and Gongyi, Henan have decreased by 14,000...
According to the latest data from Chinese Customs released on October 14, China’s aluminium exports drop in September 2019. The world’s top aluminium producer exported 435,000 tonnes of unwrought aluminium, including primary metal, alloy and semi-finished products in September 2019. That was down 6.6% from 466,000 tonnes exported in August 2019 and was down 14.2% from 507,000 tonnes in September 2018. August aluminium exports dipped 9.9% from a year ago. After the addition of September data, total exports in the first nine months of 2019 stood at 4.37 million tonnes, which is 2.6% more from the same period of 2018. Exports during January-August period were 5% higher on a yearly basis. China’s aluminium production number for September is not yet known, however, it is likely to drop from...
The US dollar weakened on Friday against a basket of other currencies after US President Donald Trump said China and the US reached the first phase of a substantial trade deal that delays tariff hikes that were set to kick in this week. LME base metals, except for aluminium and nickel, drifted higher on Friday. SHFE aluminium shed 0.6%. Three-month LME aluminium fell on Friday, losing 1.6% to US$1,722 per tonne. As reported by Reuters LME aluminium rose 0.2% on Monday morning. Today, LME aluminium is likely to regain some of the losses it made during the end of last week. As on October 11, Friday, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stood at US$ 1720 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 1721 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 1725.50 per tonne, 3-months offer price...
The production and sales report of Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) for the third quarter of 2019 reveals that the company’s aluminium production topped 385,396 tonnes, up 53 per cent from 251,472 tonnes in the same period last year. Sales volume grew 51 per cent year-on-year to stand at 376,025 tonnes, compared with 248,970 tonnes in Q3 2018. For the nine months of 2019, Alba’s report reveals that the production rose 26 per cent from 762,952 tonnes in the same period of 2018 to 963,830 tonnes, while sales volume increased to 945,067 tonnes after rising by 26 per cent as well from 750,202 tonnes in the nine months of 2018. CEO of Alba, Ali Al Baqali, said: “With the double-digit growth in our Production and Sales’ Volume, we are set for a strong finish to 2019. This year is proving to be...
Reuter reports that CME Group’s physical delivery of aluminium has gained momentum since September after expansion into Europe and Asia. It was driven by growing liquidity in Asian market “We are starting to see actually more and more materials coming into our warehouses,” Young-Jin Chang, CME’s Global Head of Metals told Reuters on Friday. He added that they were expecting more stocks of aluminium in Asian locations. Aluminum stocks at CME Group’s Asian warehouses in Malaysia and Singapore stood at 13,500 tonnes as of Oct. 10, which accounts for more than 70% of its total 19,221 tonne inventory. Ports at three European countries in Spain, Belgium and The Netherlands had no inventory on Thursday. CME has been building up its storage network through the U.S., Europe and Asia. As Young-Jin...
Brazil’s exports of petcoke have been surging over the last three years. According to recent estimates, exports of petcoke stood at 428356 tonnes in 2018, up 4.59% from 409548 tonnes in 2017 and 149.08% from 171972 tonnes in 2016. The total value of petcoke exports in 2016, 2017, and 2018 was USD 98 million, USD 528 million, and USD 558 million, respectively. {newsStudioGallery} Petcoke or petroleum coke, a by-product of the oil refining process, is a significant fuel for the power generation and aluminium smelting industries. The leading destinations for petcoke exports in 2018 were the United Arab Emirates (94770 tonnes), South Africa (75136 tonnes), Canada (67796 tonnes), and the USA (60444 tonnes) among others. Exports to the United Arab Emirates came in at 94770 tonnes in 2018....
The US dollar dropped to a more than two-week low on Thursday against its rivals on optimism over the ongoing US-China trade talks. LME base metals closed higher on Thursday. LME aluminium gained 0.4% and SHFE base metals also drifted mostly higher overnight. Aluminium edged down 0.1%. Three-month LME aluminium recovered from earlier losses to close Thursday trading 0.37% higher at US$1,750 per tonne, as the British pound strengthened against the greenback. Upside potential in LME aluminium, however, will be limited because of the rising LME aluminium inventories. The contract is expected to move between US$1,730-1,760 per tonne today. As on October 10, Thursday, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stood at US$ 1737.50per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 1738 per tonne;...
