Canada and China have extended a bilateral trade arrangement that links Chinese market access for Canadian agricultural products with Canada's access for Chinese steel and aluminum. The decision provides greater certainty for exporters on both sides as Ottawa seeks to expand its trade relationships beyond the United States. The extension, announced on November 4, 2026, will keep the existing arrangement in place until the end of 2028. It comes amid renewed efforts by the two countries to strengthen economic ties and address outstanding trade issues. For the aluminum industry, the agreement offers a clearer timeline for market access, while its agricultural provisions provide Canadian producers with greater predictability in one of their key export markets. Canada-China trade agreement...
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...
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Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska quit the boards of EN+ and its subsidiary Rusal on Friday. The action is expected to ease the sanctions on Rusal soon. As the US treasury yield climbed, the US dollar index rose 1.2% to close at 93.66 and reached a new high at 93.83 since December 2017 on Friday. Base metals saw mixed trading on higher US dollar price, but LME aluminium went up slightly. LME aluminium received support and closed at US$ 2297per tonne on May 18 from US$ 2280 per tonne on previous closing. Shanghai Metals Market expects LME aluminium to face resistance at US$2,300 per tonne level and the contract is likely to trade at US$2,250-2,295 per tonne today. As on May 18, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2296.50 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2297...
Alcoa Corporation, the world’s sixth largest aluminium producer with headquarter in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, has started working towards resuming its south-west Indiana smelter by this summer and already hiring workers for it. The Pittsburgh-based company had announced the permanent shut at its Warrick operations smelter at the end of March 2016 on becoming incompetent after a drop in aluminium prices. 325 workers out of total 600 were laid off, while the rest either found new jobs or accepted severance or retirement packages. As Alcoa confirmed last year, the company would reopen three of its five smelter lines and contribute to about 275 new jobs at the complex, where rolling mill makes aluminium for food and beverage packaging. Kari Fluegel, Alcoa’s spokeswoman has reported to the...
While the USA is holding on to its 10 per cent import tariff on aluminium from all countries, every aluminium exporter to the US is fighting for exemptions from the tariff. The main issue of overcapacity in China and the export of subsidized aluminium to the US is taking a backseat while protectionist policy is creating supply concerns among the aluminium consumers in the US. We are trying to analyse the top aluminium (alloyed and non-alloyed) exporters to the US and their contribution to total import by the US for the year 2017. Canada remains the top aluminium exporter to the US contributing about 61% of the total import. Our data shows Canada exported about 2.36 million tonnes of aluminium to the US in 2017. The value of import stood at US$ 4.3 billion. Russia stood second with the...
Gervais Jacques, Managing Director – Atlantic, at Rio Tinto Aluminium, has been appointed Chair of the International Aluminium Institute (IAI), at the 93rd meeting of its Board of Directors in Hong Kong. Jacques has over 25 years experience across all facets of Rio Tinto's aluminium operations. Prior to his current role, Jacques was Chief Commercial Officer - Rio Tinto Alcan, responsible for all the commercial and marketing activities worldwide for bauxite, alumina and aluminium. As IAI Chair he succeeds Hilde Merete Aasheim, Executive Vice President of Hydro’s Aluminium Metal business, at the end of her two-year tenure. "The role of the Institute, representing the interests of the global aluminium industry, is more important than ever,” says Jacques. “I am grateful to my fellow Directors...
Aluminium-producing companies have moved the government to impose quantitative restrictions on imports as their demand to levy anti-dumping duty on cheap imports has not materialised for the last two years. Imports account for 54 per cent of total aluminium consumption in India, up from 52 per cent earlier. Satish Pai, Managing Director, Hindalco Industries, said levy of anti-dumping duty seems to be a time consuming effort and would not have much impact as most of aluminium imports are from ASEAN countries with which India has signed a free trade agreement. The industry, he said, is now demanding that the Government impose quantitative restrictions so that the interest of domestic producers are protected, particularly when the demand is picking after a gap of several years. The...
Alro S.A., one of the largest vertically integrated aluminium producers, by capacity in Europe, announces consolidated financial results for the first quarter of 2018. Its net profit stood at RON 125 million in Q1 2018, up 39% from RON 90 million in Q1 2017.The Group's turnover increased 10% to RON 749 million, from RON 681 million in Q1 2017. The Group reported primary aluminium sales of 33,000 tonnes in Q1 2018, up 6% from 31,000 tonnes in the same period last year. Processed aluminium sales stood at 27,000 tonnes in Q1 2018, down 7% from 29,000 tonnes in Q1 2017. "In the first quarter of 2018 we continued to implement our strong investment programme aimed at improving the output and products’ quality, while reducing the overall consumption rates",said Marian Năstase, Chairman of the...
Aluminium inventory had been plunging over a week but Thursday, May 17 broke all the record of the year 2018, as it witnessed the largest week-on-week decline. According to Shanghai Metal Market, China’s inventory of primary aluminium, including SHFE warrants, fell 58,000 tonnes to stand at 2.138 million tonnes on May 17, while on May 14; the inventory was at 2.15 million tonnes, dipped right from 2.196 million tonnes on Thursday, May 10, 2018. Most of the major Chinese cities had also witnessed a shrink in the inventories, with relatively low deliveries and stable shipments. This indicates there’s a balance maintained between production, deliveries and consumption all across the major cities in China. More details are as follows: However, against this positive sentiment in the market,...
LME aluminium prices faced pressure overnight as Chalco called for a lift of China's tariff on primary aluminium's export, as seen by SMM. Base metals mostly inched up last night, but LME aluminium fell nearly 1% as inventories grew. The metal closed at US$ 2280 per tonne on May 17 from US$ 2319.50 per tonne on previous closing. As on May 17, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2279 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2280 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$2260 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 2260.50 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$2205 per tonne, and Dec 19 offer price stands at US$ 2210 per tonne. The LME aluminium opening stock stood at 1249450 tonnes. Live Warrants totalled at 996875 tonnes, and Cancelled Warrants were 252575 tonne....
Shanghai Metal Market observed poor trading in East China early morning today, on 17 th of May, 2018, because of plunging demands for downstream aluminium, which in turn deterred the processors from purchases. Compared to South and Central China, processors in East China made a very few purchases on receiving fewer orders. Guangdong province, in contrast, witnessed encouraging trade as processors purchased on demand with stable orders. Some even purchased to stockpile for the future weekend as well. Owing to this overall positive sentiment in Chinese major markets other than the east, the SHFE 1806 contract has witnessed a jump to as high as RMB 14,845 per tonne on May 17, 2018, while on May 16 the SHFE 1806 contract was at the highest level of RMB 14755 per tonne. Smelters in east and...
Base metals saw mixed trading on higher US dollar price, but LME aluminium went up slightly. LME aluminium received support and closed at US$ 2319.50 per tonne on May 16 from US$ 2313 per tonne on previous closing. After that the contract dipped to a low of US$2,302 per tonne during the European trading session last night, but closed slightly higher at US$2,311.5 per tonne. As seen by Shanghai Metals Market, the contract is likely to trade rangebound at US$2,280-2,320 per tonne today. As on May 16, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2319 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2319.50 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 2312per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 2312.50per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$ 2260 per tonne, and Dec 19 offer price stands...
At Asia Metals Seminar, jointly organised by Shanghai Metal Market, Bloomberg and HKEX on Tuesday, May 15, 2018, Ian Roper, general manager of SMM Singapore was of opinion that SHFE aluminium prices would likely to remain on the cost curve this year, while alumina prices would be dependable on the recommencement of Hydro’s Alunorte refinery. This year until May, China has exported around 300,000 tonnes of alumina, according to SMM. On Wednesday, May 16, analyst of Macquarie Bank Lynn Zhao shared her aluminium market forecast at the seminar saying that global aluminium market might undergo a deficit in 2021 and 2022 but the surplus will come from China’s continuous build-up of capacity. Added to this, she also opined that winter cuts in China this year are going to leave some impact on the...
Norwegian aluminium and renewable energy company Norsk Hydro ASA’s wholly-owned subsidiary Hydro Energi AS has signed a long-term power contract with a Swedish wind power company Blakliden Fäbodberget Wind AB for an annual baseload supply of 0.66 terawatt hours (TWh) in the period between 2022 and 2041. Blakliden Fabodberget Wind AB is currently developing an onshore wind park located in northern Sweden, 30 per cent of which is owned by Vattenfall and the rest 70 per cent by PKA Funds and Vestas. The park, with an installed capacity of producing 350 MW is also planning to enhance to around 1.1 terawatt hours (TWh) annually when done. The newly signed contract between Hydro Energi AS and Blakliden Fäbodberget Wind AB is going to contribute to the power supply to Hydro’s aluminium plants in...
LME aluminium received support and rebounded to close at US$ 2313 per tonne on May 15 from US$ 2285.5 per tonne on previous closing. After that it fell to a low of $2,274 per tonne last night. The contract is expected to trade range bound with downward room today as the US dollar strengthened and rebounded to a four-month high of 93.46, and closed at 93.25 last night. The pickup in trading volumes at the London Metal Exchange (LME) following years of stagnation is going to be a common topic of discussion during this week’s LME Week Asia conference in Hong Kong, industry’s largest event in Asia this week. It was the U.S. sanctions against Rusal that drove the trading frenzy in the LME aluminium contract. As on May 15, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2312 per tonne, LME...
With local downstream consumers having keen interest to purchase aluminium at given stable prices, Guangdong province in China saw a swift growth in overall trading on Tuesday, May 15, 2018, learned Shanghai Metal Market. In this background, the average A00 aluminium ingot price did not miss to grab the opportunity to witness a hike again on May 16, 2018, to close at RMB 14640 per tonne from RMB 14570 per tonne on May 15, 2018. The prices are expected to range between RMB 14620 per tonne and RMB 14660 per tonne, with spot discounts to settle at RMB 90 to RMB 50 per tonne. While in East, the aluminium ingot price rose from RMB 14570 per tonne to RMB 14630 per tonne; in South and North, the prices surged from RMB 14575 per tonne to RMB 14655 per tonne and RMB 14555 per tonne to RMB 14625...
According to news published by Reuters, aluminium production in China increased to its highest level on a daily basis since June as higher aluminium prices encouraged producers to increase output. China’s aluminium production reached 2.77 million tonnes in April, an increase of 1.1 per cent from the same period last year. That equates to 92,300 tonnes per day, the highest since June last year and up from 89,500 tonnes in March, which was one day longer, according to Reuters calculations based on National Bureau of Statistics data In the first four months of 2018, China produced 10.89 million tonnes of aluminium, up 0.2 percent from the same period last year, the data showed. Production of 10 nonferrous metals - including copper, aluminium, lead, zinc and nickel – increased 3.1 percent to...
National Aluminium Company (Nalco), a navratna firm under Union Mines of Ministry, sets a goal to achieve revenue of INR 93.5 billion from operations in FY19, 15 per cent higher than the previous financial year. The company’s chairman and managing director Tapan K Chand has signed off on a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the ministry, represented by Anil Gopishankar Mukim, secretary of Union Mines Ministry on Monday, May 14, 2018. The MoU has been formulated as per the guidelines of the Department of Public Enterprise and finalised after discussions with the inter-ministerial committee as well as the Ministry of Mines, setting a target of 2.1 million tonnes of alumina production with 100 per cent utilisation of capacity and optimum aluminium production target of 0.41 million...
According to Shanghai Metal Market report, spot aluminium inventories in Guangdong province in China plunged 16,000 tonnes on Monday, May 14, 2018, from a week ago with fewer deliveries. Inventories declined, owing to the rise in production of molten aluminium and as busbars in newly added aluminium capacities utilised more aluminium. The SHFE 1805 contract rose from lows of RMB 14,505 per tonne to RMB 14,535 per tonne. While in East China, transactions of cargoes with May invoices were heard at RMB 14,460 per tonne to RMB 14,510 per tonne with discounts of RMB 30 to RMB 20 per tonne against the SHFE 1805 contract, transactions in Wuxi and Hangzhou hovered at RMB 14,460 per tonne to RMB 14,510 per tonne and RMB 14,480 per tonne to RMB 14,530 per tonne respectively. In Guangzhou market...
LME aluminium gained 1.82% after touching a low of US$2,263.5 per tonne at one point last Friday.The metal surged to a high of US$2,325 per tonne last night with support from calm US-Sino trade tension. Benchmark aluminium price on London Metal Exchange increased to close at US$ 2285.50 per tonne on Monday, May 14.SMM expects the metal to hover at US$2,290-2,330 per tonne today. As on May 14, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2285 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2285.50 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$2295 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 2296 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$2250 per tonne, and Dec 19 offer price stands at US$ 2255 per tonne. The LME aluminium opening stock stood at 1259300 tonnes. Live Warrants totalled at...
