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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Shanghai Metals Market found that the prices of aluminium fluoride across Chinese markets inched up in June, backed by the suspension of fluoride mining in Inner Mongolia that buoyed the prices of raw material used in producing aluminium fluoride. AF-1 aluminium fluoride was quoted above RMB 10,000 per tonne at the end of June, up by some RMB 1,000 per tonne from the price at the beginning of the month. However, no deal is done yet at that price level. Tight supply in the market is one of the reasons that led to the increase in fluoride prices by some RMB 200 per tonne to RMB 3,300 per tonne on a Hunan delivery-to-plant basis. Hunan, together with Henan and Shandong are the major aluminium fluoride-making areas in China. Seaborne materials, on the other hand, are not likely to help to...
The US dollar edged lower last Friday, as US economic data confirmed the likelihood of a July interest rate cut. Base metals ended mostly lower. LME aluminium fell 0.25% and SHFE aluminium fell 0.25%. Three-month LME aluminium failed to stand firm at a high of US$1,812.5 per tonne and lost all the gains at closing, ending 0.14% lower at US$1,794 per tonne on Friday night. LME cash contract also followed the decline. The aluminium contract is likely to trade at US$1,790-1,850 per tonne today. As on June 28, Friday, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stood at US$ 1773 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 1773.50 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 1793 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 1793.50 per tonne; Dec 20 bid price stands at US$ 1908 per tonne, and Dec 20...
Social inventories of primary aluminium across eight consumption areas in China, including SHFE warrants, stood at 1.041 million tonnes as of Monday July 1. This was down 10,000 tonnes from Thursday June 27, after a drop of 20,000 tonnes in the prior weekend between June 20 and 24, Shanghai Metals Market data showed. The chart below indicates the current status of primary aluminium inventories across all major China markets: Primary aluminium inventories in Wuxi, Jiangsu, and Shanghai dropped 13,000 tonnes and 1,000 tonnes to stand at 340,000 tonnes and 207,000 tonnes today. Inventories in Nanhai, Guangdong stood at 240,000 tonnes, down 6,000 tonnes from 246,000 tonnes on June 27. Primary aluminium stocks in Gongyi, Henan and Hangzhou, Zhejiang increased from 101,000 tonnes and 60,000...
As the week has come to an end, let’s take a quick recap at the movements of aluminium price and the prices of raw materials over the week across China. According to Shanghai Metals Market, the A00 aluminium ingot price started the week with a decline from RMB 13,890 per tonne to RMB 13,830 per tonne, as of June 24, despite the continued slump in primary aluminium inventories. On June 24, the inventories across eight major consumption areas, including SHFE warrants, were at 1.061 million tonnes after declining by 20,000 tonnes over the weekend. Following that, the A00 aluminium price rose for the next three consecutive days to stand at RMB 13,930 per tonne, as of June 27, backed by the tight supplies and lower stock arrivals which also resulted in a further fall of inventories to 1.051...
The US dollar started the week lower on Monday, June 24 on fear of interest rate cut but rebounded from a more than three-month low as investors tempered expectations for aggressive rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. LME base metals traded mostly higher over the week despite the rise in greenback. LME aluminium traded higher this week compared to the last. LME aluminium started the week with US$ 1747.5 per tonne and gained further to reach the monthly highest at US$ 1803 per tonne on June 27. The contract then lost some gains and closed the week at US$ 1773.5 per tonne on Friday. Three-month LME aluminium lost most of the gains from earlier this week as it ended the week at US$ 1793.50 per tonne. The contract is not likely to fluctuate much in the coming week and expected to trade within a...
Canadian aluminium manufacturer Aluminerie Alouette has reportedly finished a major step in its intensive relining programme on Friday, June 28 and started 140 AP40 pots in 180 days in the frame to move from AP40LE to AP40 Technology. Aluminerie Alouette is thus, back with 594 pots in operation going on track to achieve 600,000 tonnes per annum production in coming years. "This achievement is underlining great team work, including contractors. It is a great job, well done," quoted Patrice L’Huillier, CEO and President. He also mentioned, "After visit of Prime Minister J. Trudeau in May 21st in Aluminerie Alouette to announce removal of US tariffs on Canadian Aluminium & Steel, we have been glad to get the recent announcement about Natural Gas access to North Coast of Quebec (where...
Finnish clean energy company Fortum announced that it has signed its first commercial project with Hindalco to reduce air emissions at aluminium smelter in Mahan, Madhya Pradesh. The project is expected to be completed in mid-February 2020. Fortum will cut nitrogen oxide (NOx) through combustion modification on one of the 150-MW boilers located at the smelter. This will enable the power plant to comply with the strict restrictions on NOx emissions to 290 mg/Nm3 from the unit’s current levels. Sanjay Aggarwal, Managing Director, Fortum India said: “We are extremely proud of this association with Hindalco Industries Limited, as it reflects Fortum’s strong commitment to the Indian market. We are hopeful that this partnership will be a longstanding one and that we can support other power...
The US dollar held steady after it recovered from recent lows on Thursday as the market awaited the long-awaited trade talks between China and the US at the G-20 summit this weekend. LME base metals ended mostly higher but aluminium lost 0.9%. SHFE aluminium fell 0.5%. Three-month LME aluminium lost most of the gains from earlier this week as it dipped to a low of US$1,788 per tonne yesterday night, testing support from the 10-day moving average, and ended at US$1,798.5 per tonne, down 0.85% on the day. The cash contract also lost gains to close at US$1782 per tonne yesterday. LME aluminium is likely to trade at US$1,780-1,830 per tonne today. As on June 26, Wednesday, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stood at US$ 1780 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 1782 per tonne;...
On Wednesday, June 26, officials from Bosnia’s Federation Government conducted a meeting with British-Swiss company Glencore, where they discussed on finding ways to rescue ailing aluminium smelter Aluminij and also the establishment of a new company, said the government in a statement. The talks focused on possible restructuring of Aluminij, which would involve establishing a consortium of companies led by Glencore and comprising Bosnian aluminium processor Feal and local companies PPD and Erdal. Energy minister Nermin Dzindic said Glencore was ready to invest but did not reveal the amount in the meeting. Last week, local news daily Dnevni Avaz reported that Aluminij would require more than 500 million marka to survive. The Federation’s Prime Minister Fadil Novalic said in the government...
Alcoa Corporation is likely to reach an agreement with United Steelworkers as the management of the Aluminerie de Bécancour Inc. (ABI) smelter in Québec, Canada offered a revised labour contact to the United Steelworkers yesterday. ABI smelter is owned by Alcoa (74.95%) and Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. (25.05%), which has three potlines with an annual operating capacity of 413,000 tonnes per year. The smelter has been operating at a reduced capacity since January 11, 2018 as the United Steelworkers rejected a labour contract for the hourly workers. One of three potlines was in operation during the lockout period and Alcoa announced an additional curtailment of one half of that line on December 19, 2018. This led to a drop in Canadian aluminium production in 2018. After continuous negotiations and...
According to a report, the former CEO of Aludium Arnaud de Weert has recently joined Mr. Sanjeev Gupta’s international business GFG Alliance as a chief executive of upstream activities for its fast-growing aluminium division. After being worked with several esteem companies such as Novelis Inc., Alcan EP, Aludium, Mr. de Weert is one of the leading names now in the international metals and manufacturing industry. Immediately prior to his role at Aludium, Mr. de Weert was an operating partner at Atlas, a US-based private equity firm which bought Aludium assets from Alcoa. Before joining Atlas, he was North American President for Owens-Illinois- one of the world’s largest glass bottle makers and previously he’d held tops posts at global aluminium producers Constellium and Novelis. Mr. Weert...
Followed by the previous fall on June 24 to 1.061 million tonnes, the primary aluminium inventories today, on June 27, have come in at 1.051 million tonnes, according to Shanghai Metals Market data. This indicates that the inventories have declined by 10,000 tonnes over the past three days across eight major consumption areas, including SHFE warrants. A week ago, on June 20, the primary aluminium inventories were at 1.081 million tonnes, which shows that the inventories today dropped by 30,000 tonnes week-on-week. In Wuxi, Jiangsu; Shanghai; Hangzhou, Zhejiang; and Chongqing; the inventories have dropped week-on-week by some 21,000 tonnes, 3,000 tonnes, 12,000 tonnes, and 1,000 tonnes to stand at 353,000 tonnes, 60,000 tonnes, and 22,000 tonnes, respectively. In other major markets like...
The US dollar bounced from a three-month low as investors tempered expectations for aggressive rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. Base metals closed lower for the most part. LME aluminium gained 0.1% and SHFE aluminium edged down. Three-month LME aluminium retreated after pessimism around macroeconomic development bolstered prices to US$1,838 per tonne, the highest since May 17. It ended at US$1,814.5 per tonne, up 0.06% on the day. LME aluminium is likely to trade at US$1,790-1,840 per tonne. As on June 26, Wednesday, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stood at US$ 1802 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 1803per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 1824 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 1825 per tonne; Dec 20 bid price stands at US$ 1940 per tonne, and Dec 20 offer...
AlCircle has launched “ Aluminium LeaderSpeak 2019 ”, an exclusive e- magazine in which industry leaders from the complete aluminium value chain have shared with our readers how they think year 2019 would transpire for themselves as an organization as well as for the industry. We are already in the middle of the year 2019, and while the aluminium industry is reconciling after a year of trade wars, restrictive tariffs, sanctions and supply concerns; the industry fundamentals are not promising, mostly due to the slowing economy in China and the world as a whole. Though demand is strong in North America, it is slowing in the rest of the world. As an exclusive aluminium industry portal, it becomes imperative for AlCircle to understand what our industry players are strategizing for the rest of...
RUSAL has announced the launch of a potroom control system as part of its production efficiency improvement plan at some of its Siberian smelters. The system will use advanced scientific and methodological approaches based on a process of forecast analytics known as ‘BigData’. The project will require an investment amounting to around RUB 20 million. Rusal plans to boost its aluminium production efficiency by implementing this system in the potroom in two ways: by cutting down abnormalities throughout the production process by improving the reduction cell control quality "The use of forecast analytics in potroom control is just one step towards our target that we have set within our R&D framework. If successful, similar approaches will be enrolled for analysis and to increase efficiency...
According to a recent report, Alba’s Line 6 expansion project is expected to be completed by July 31, 2019. The news came after the company’s CEO Tim Murray revealed the due date on the sidelines of the launch of Alba’s special summer Safety Campaign. In mid-April, Alba had started an additional 106 pots in Line 6 expansion, which brought a total of 212 pots in function, equivalent to 50 per cent of Line 6 production capacity. Tim Murray, CEO of Alba, said in an interview to Oxford Business Group’s online broadcasting channel, that once the state-of-the-art Line 6 expansion project is complete, it will boost capacity at the smelter by 540,000 tonnes, producing a positive knock-on effect on the national economy. “Today Alba and the whole industry is about 12% of GDP. With Line 6, the...
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, rebounded from a more than three-month low and gained 0.21% on the day to end at 96.185. Base metals traded higher for the most part as LME aluminium increased 0.7% and SHFE aluminium went up 0.3%. Upbeat macroeconomic sentiment buoyed three-month LME aluminium to a high of US$1821.5 per tonne, after it hovering around the five- and 10- day moving averages. It closed 0.72% higher at US$1,813 per tonne, supported by longs, with the K-indicator testing the 60-day moving average above. LME cash contract also closed 1.6% higher over the previous day at US$ 1776.50 per tonne. Three months LME aluminium is likely to trade at US$1,790-1,830 per tonne today. As on June 25, Tuesday, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stood at...
National Aluminium Company will reportedly invest INR 17,000 crore to enhance its production capacity. Nearly half of the proposed investment will be made in association with joint venture partners. The state-run aluminium maker will invest around INR 6,000 crore on its own for establishing some downstream projects at Kamakhyanagar in Dhenkanal district of Odisha, while some INR 5,540 crore for setting up a new alumina refinery stream that is likely to be commission in 2021-22. As per the report, the company has already found the land for its downstream projects and hope to start them within three years of receipt of all statutory clearances. Besides, Nalco will set up a high-end aluminium alloy plant with INR 4,450 crore of investment through joint venture partner Mishra Dhatu Nigam...
