LME aluminium prices gained ground on November 4, with cash and futures contracts moving higher. The Asian Reference Price also edged up, while exchange inventories declined. Alumina Platts prices, however, moved slightly lower. The cash bid rose by USD 53.50 per tonne , or 1.74 per cent, to USD 3,134.50 per tonne from USD 3,081 per tonne. The cash offer increased 1.72 per cent to USD 3,135 per tonne from USD 3,082 per tonne. Three-month aluminium prices also advanced. The bid climbed 1.08 per cent to USD 3,073 per tonne on November 4 from USD 3,040 per tonne, while the offer gained 1.05 per cent to USD 3,074 per tonne. It was previously at USD 3,042 per tonne . Explore the production, demand and consumption forecasts of bauxite and alumina in our report: " Global Bauxite & Alumina Market...
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...
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Indonesia’s primary aluminium producer PT Inalum (Persero) has exported 20,000 tonnes of aluminium ingots to Trafigura Pte. Ltd, in Port Klang, Malaysia. President- Director of Inalum Budi G. Sadikin said the export of aluminium ingots to Malaysia is a real step to make the company a leading global company. The company’s exports, especially aluminium ingots, are expected to stand at 40,000 tonnes in 2018 worth US$79 million. The export destinations are Japan, Switzerland, Singapore, Britain, Australia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the Netherlands. "This export of aluminium ingots to Malaysia is a concrete step to make Inalum a leading global company. In the future, Inalum is expected to be able to bring Indonesia as one of the global players in the aluminium market," said Budi G....
LME aluminium started the week and the new month with a gain and closed at US$ 2047.50 per tonne on October 1. The contract gained further to close at US$2080 per tonne on October 2. Aluminium inventories in London Metal Exchange have been falling at an unforeseen speed. LME on-warrant aluminium stocks, metal not earmarked for delivery, are currently at their lowest since January 2006 at 608,050 tonnes. Though analysts are suspicious about whether the fall is as much to do with the exchange’s warehousing function as with market reality, it is also apparent that the aluminium prices are again picking up; despite the fact the market will not remain tight in the short and medium term. As on October 2, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2079.50 per tonne, LME official settlement...
Premiums for Japanese aluminium shipments for the October to December quarter were set at $103 per tonne, down 22 percent from the previous quarter, as Asian spot premiums fell amid ample supply, four sources directly involved in the pricing talks said. The new premium compares with the $132 per tonne premium in the July to September quarter and follows three quarters of rising premiums. Japan is Asia’s biggest importer of aluminium and the premiums for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay each quarter over the London Metal Exchange (LME) cash price set the benchmark for the region. “We’ve settled with all of our Japanese customers at $103 a tonne,” a source at a producer said. “All contracts were signed at $103 per tonne last week after producers made a compromise to come down as...
NALCO CMD Dr. Tapan Kumar Chand disclosed a new business plan on Monday, October 1, 2018, to increase company’s 3-digit profit figure to 4-digits and 4-digit turnover to 5-digits. Under the new business plan, the company intends to put a complete focus on business excellence so as to turn into a hardcore business organisation. While the company has already achieved 4-digit figure at INR 1342 crore in 2017-18, it now aims to achieve more than Rs.1600 crore in 2018-19. Chand said: “With the emergence of the 4th Industrial Revolution, Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Robotics, Augmented Reality etc would be the trendsetters and NALCO is all set to lead this revolution. The new technology: Industry 4.0 will bring in a substantial reduction in capital investments and Indian...
After closing the last week with a drop, LME aluminium started the week and the new month with a gain. Benchmark aluminium price on London Metal Exchange gained significantly to close at US$ 2047.50 per tonne on Monday October 1. As on October 1, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2047 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2047.50 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 2063.50 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 2064 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$ 2115 per tonne, and Dec 19 offer price stands at US$ 2120 per tonne. The LME aluminium opening stock dropped further and quicker to 987800 tonnes. Live Warrants totalled at 616575 tonnes, and Cancelled Warrants were 371225 tonne. LME aluminium 3-months Asian Reference Price is hovering at US$ 2050...
According to an Iranian Mines & Mining Industries Development & Renovation Organization (IMIDRO) official statement, Iran’s major aluminium producers produced 151,691 tonnes of aluminium during the five-month period from March 21 to August 22, registering a growth of 10 per cent from the same period of 2017. IMIDRO data registered an aluminium output of 137,473 tons during the five-month period of 2017. Last month, Deputy Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Mehdi Karbasian announced that a large aluminium production plant with a capacity of 300,000-tonne per year will be put into operation in the south of Iran by the end of current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2019). The plant will be the largest and most modern aluminium production plant in Iran. Karbasian added that...
The dollar climbed to a two-week peak versus a currency basket on Friday, as concerns about the Italian budget weighed on the euro while the greenback drew support from an outlook for multiple US interest rate hikes until 2020. LME base metals ended in mixed performance on Friday, September 28. Benchmark aluminium price on London Metal Exchange dropped further to close at US$ 2011.5 per tonne on Friday, September 28, from the previous day’s close at US$ 2030 per tonne on Thursday September 27. As on September 28, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2011 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2011.50 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 2033 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 2034 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$ 2087 per tonne, and Dec 19 offer...
The Trump administration formally turns down India’s urge for an unconditional exemption from the US aluminium and steel tariffs, reported Commerce Ministry officials to the BusinessLine . A meeting, led by Assistant US Trade Representative Mark Linscott, was held early this week in Washington with Commerce Ministry officials, where it was decided that no exemption from higher duties on aluminium and steel would be extended to India. If India wants to resolve the matter, then it should come up with a counter proposal of capping its metals exports . Though Washington had been indicating it was not in favour of giving exemptions, New Delhi had been pushing for a complete unconditional rollback. Yesterday, on September 27, Commerce Secretary Anup Wadhawan said India was not foreclosing any...
The dollar notched the largest daily increase in close to seven weeks against a basket of other major currencies on Thursday, boosted by the Federal Reserve's outlook for more rate hikes beyond this year as well as a weakening of the euro on worries about the Italian budget. LME aluminium was dragged down by its SHFE counterpart and the contract closed lower from the previous day at US$ 2028 per tonne on Thursday. Then it plunged further to a low of US$2,025 per tonne overnight, after it rebounded to US$2,060 per tonne. It settled at that lowest level overnight, with trading range expected at US$2,025-2,045 per tonne today. As on September 27, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2028 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2030 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands...
Alcoa, Century Aluminium, and Rio Tinto Alcan are the three notable aluminium smelters in Iceland. In the year 1969, Iceland started producing aluminium in Straumsvík (South Coast). During the first year, the production capacity was at 33 thousand tonnes, which currently is at 850 thousand tonnes (including both aluminium non-alloy and alloy) every year on average. The country exports a lion share of its production, accounting for 14 per cent of total exports of goods and services, as of Q3 2017. {newsStudioGallery} The below graph shows the growth of Iceland’s aluminium and aluminium products export over the years: According to the global export-import data, the estimated aluminium export from Iceland in Q1 2017 was at 188,522 tonnes, 12 per cent up from the estimated volume of 167,815...
Alba’s Line 6 Expansion Project is a turning point for the Kingdom of Bahrain and the aluminium industry in the Region. We now look forward to the next phase of the Line 6 Expansion Project, which will make us the world’s largest single-site aluminium smelter, according to a statement issued by the Chairman of Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. Alba’s Board of Directors, Shaikh Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa. This statement was made during the third quarterly Board of Directors meeting for this year, held on Wednesday, 26 September 2018 at Alba. Adding further, Shaikh Daij stated: “We are pleased to have safely progressed our roadmap for future growth as we aim to pour Line 6 First Hot Metal by January 01, 2019.” During the meeting, the Board approved the Minutes of the previous meeting, which...
Hindalco Industries chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla has said the company’s fourth captive coal mine at Dumri may become operational by March 2019. Speaking at the 59th annual general meeting of the company in Mumbai, he said that Hindalco has secured around 3.2 million tonne of coal in the linkage auctions that concluded during FY18. With this, the total quantity of secured coal via linkages reached to 11.9 million tonne, and accounts for 71 per cent of the annual coal requirements of the company. The overall annual requirement of coal is currently secured at more than 90 per cent, through long-term linkages and captive mines, he added. He added: “Currently, three captive mines viz. Gare Palma IV/4, Gare Palma IV/5 and Kathautia are operational. The fourth captive mine at Dumri is in the...
The dollar gained on Wednesday in choppy trading after the Federal Reserve raised US interest rates as expected for the eighth time. LME aluminium gained and closed higher from the previous day at US$ 2056.5 per tonne on Wednesday on quick dropping of LME inventory. More and more metal are moving out of the LME warehouses with the extension of Rusal’s sanction deadline. Aluminium inventories in warehouses approved by the London Metal Exchange fell below 1 million tonnes for the first time since March 2008. The contract then traded range bound and closed at US$2,055 per tonne overnight and is expected to continue such rangebound pattern today with a trading range of US$2,040-2,100 per tonne. As on September 26, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2056 per tonne, LME official...
As reported by Shanghai Metals Market, China's inventory of primary aluminium across major consumption areas in China, including SHFE warrants, shrank 33,000 tonnes from last Thursday to stand at 1.59 million tonne as of Thursday September 27. Inventories once again recorded a decline as downstream consumers stockpiled ahead of the week-long National Day holiday and limited materials arrived at the warehouses. In Wuxi and Jiangsu, the inventory dropped from 699,000 tonnes, as of September 20, to 686,000 tonnes on September 27; in Shanghai, the inventory dropped from 371,000 tonnes, to 363,000 tonnes; in Gongyi and Henan, the inventory stood at 138,000 tonnes on September 27, from 147,000 tonnes on September 20. The current inventory status in the major Chinese cities is as follows: The...
Shanghai Metals Market found that this year the Chinese aluminium inventory cycle so far has lingered in a destocking phase for 25 weeks, as of Wednesday September 26. This has been the longest destocking period since 2007, which was first recorded in 2011. As of Tuesday September 25, the social inventories of primary aluminium across major consumption areas in China had stood at 1.606 million tonnes, down 29.64 per cent from the peak of 2.284 million tonnes notched on March 12, 2018. The primary reasons behind these shrinking inventories across China could be the production cut and shutdown of capabilities, SMM found. In March-August, Chinese smelters produced 18.31 million tonnes of primary aluminium, down 1.6 per cent from the contemporary period of 2017. In June-September, over...
The union at Alcoa’s aluminium operations in the state of Western Australia said it was meeting with the company again on Wednesday to try to resolve a strike that has lasted more than six weeks, after the firm last week revised an earlier offer. Unionised workers at two alumina refineries and three bauxite mines walked out on Aug. 8 on worries that a new workplace agreement did not adequately address job security. The strike has come during a period of very tight supply for aluminium-making material alumina, helping prices for the commodity rally by 20 percent over a month. “(The union’s negotiating team) is meeting with Alcoa this Wednesday to discuss a resolution to the dispute,” said Australian Workers’ Union State Secretary Mike Zoetbrood. He said that union members had met last...
The dollar was slightly weaker on Tuesday ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting. The market is expecting another interest rate hike, leaving little room for further currency gains. Both LME and SHFE base metals ended in mixed performance overnight. After opening the week higher at US$ 2035 per tonne, LME aluminium slid and closed at US$ 2020 per tonne on Tuesday. Then the contract broke through resistance at several moving averages to a high of US$2,033.5 per tonne before it came off from the 20-day moving average to close at the 40-day moving average. Shanghai Metals Market expects LME aluminium to remain strong in the short term and trade at US$2,055-2,075 per tonne today. As on September 25, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2018 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands...
According to the Shanghai Metals Market report, primary aluminium spot discounts in the east China market had slightly widened yesterday, September 25, after the Mid-Autumn Festival. The market was oversupplied amid sellers’ enthusiasm to offload cargoes. Purchasing activity, however, had taken a back seat as buyers took a wait-and-watch stance. This exacerbated the supply overhang across the market. This scenario is more or less similar even today, on September 26, except the fact that buying enthusiasm among downstream consumers have spurred as they have begun to stockpile for the National Day holiday, SMM found. The SHFE morning contract for October delivery today is still sluggish like yesterday in the morning trading hours. Yesterday, on September 25, most transactions in Shanghai...
