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 aluminium producer Rusal said that the company believed Russia should be granted an exemption from the tariffs on imports of aluminium and steel imposed by the United States. Rusal supplies to the US markets with the low carbon aluminium. "Our subsidiary Rusal America in State of Delaware has been operating since 1999. We supply to the US market products with low carbon footprint, which are marketable, though scarce.” “ We assume that Russia should be exempted from tariffs for protecting American consumers from price growth, and for ensuring that the American manufacturing industry remains competitive," the company’s spokesman told TASS. U.S. President Donald Trump has temporarily exempted Argentina, Australia, Brazil, South Korea, Canada, Mexico and the European Union from import...
The Canadian government announced today new measures to prevent transshipment and diversion of metal in Canada. "This announcement demonstrates Canada's leadership and commitment to the integrated North American aluminium supply chain, which benefits both Canada and the United States. It takes all available means and resources to protect the integrity of this supply chain, while respecting the rules of international trade," said Jean Simard, President and CEO of the Aluminium Association of Canada. In the context of the U.S. section 232 investigation and the threat of a 10% tariff on Canadian aluminium exported to the United States, these new measures will ensure that there is no foreign metal entering the United States via Canada, while demonstrating Canada's willingness to work with the...
LME aluminium registered some gain over yesterday’s trading as the dollar index slipped by 0.1 per cent to 89.29 and closed lower as it met some strong resistance. The light metal contract finally closed at US$2035 per tonne on Tuesday March 27. Shanghai Metals Market expects the contract to trade at US$2,030-2,055 per tonne today. As on March 27, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2034 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2035 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 2055 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 2056 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$ 2110 per tonne, and Dec 19 offer price is US$ 2115 per tonne. The LME aluminium opening stock has dropped to 1268175 tonnes. Live Warrants totalled at 1031525 tonnes, and Cancelled Warrants were 236650...
Yet another country asks for a relief from the US's high customs duties on imported aluminium and steel. The Israeli government is pressing the United States of America to exempt it from the tariffs as they are affecting the small businesses. As reported by “Globes”, Israel’s Ministry of Economy and Industry Foreign Trade Administration has already corresponded with the International Trade Administration in the US Department of Commerce seeking an exemption from the restrictions on aluminium and steel exports to the US. Israel’s official has put up a reason for the request that its metal exports to the US are too marginal (a total of US$25 million a year) to pose any kind of threat to the US economy. At the same time, limiting aluminium and steel exports from Israel to the US by imposing...
China’s aluminium giant and the world's biggest aluminium producer Hongqiao Group Ltd announced its results for 2017 on Friday. The company reported 25.3 per cent drop in its 2017 net profit due to capacity shutdowns and rising raw material costs. In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, the company reported a full-year net income of RMB 5.12 billion ($811 million), down 25.3 % from RMB 6.85 billion in the previous year. However, revenues increased 52 per cent to RMB 93.3 billion. Hongqiao attributed the fall in profit primarily to the production capacity closure following to Beijing’s direction. The filing referred to the mandatory capacity cut as “the group's response to the relevant policies and plans for the supply-side reform of the aluminium industry. Hongqiao did not divulge a...
LME aluminium continued to weaken overnight and closed the first trading day of the week at US$2022 per tonne on Monday March 26, and SMM expects this downward trend to continue today. SMM sees it trading at $2,035-2,060 per tonne today. According to Reuters, most base metals prices climbed on Tuesday, lifted by hopes that a trade war between top metals consumer China and the United States may be avoided. However, downward pressure will continue in case of LME aluminium. As on March 26, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2021.50 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2022 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 2047 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 2048 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$ 2098 per tonne, and Dec 19 offer price is US$ 2103 per...
Century Aluminum made a second attempt to get power rate relief from the S.C. General Assembly for its Mount Holly smelter and failed again. The company has a few months left before it will have to close the plant and its 300 jobs. The public utilities subcommittee of the House Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry last week voted 4-2. The negative vote stopped Century from buying all of the electricity for its Berkeley County operation from the open market. Century currently gets 75 per cent of its power from open market and other 25 per cent from state-owned Santee Cooper. Century's current contract with Santee Cooper expires at the end of this year. Mike Bless, the president and CEO of Century said Mount Holly needs to start negotiating its open-market power deals by summer....
Like many other countries, India too is perturbed about the US aluminium and steel imports tariffs and thus, decided to approach the WTO’s dispute settlement body to question the duty hike, especially after an exception made for the European Union, Australia, Canada and Mexico by the US on late Thursday evening. Until the time the European Union was exempt from the US imports tariffs, Indian government thought to go along with the EU and approach the WTO. But now since the EU is outside the ambit of the hike, India has to design a new strategy by its own, said an incognito official. Brazil, South Korea, Japan and EU already questioned the US action (without naming it) when trade ministers and envoys from over fifty countries met in the Capital on Tuesday. Among them, Norway was the only...
Continuing with its downward pressure, LME aluminium is hovering at its lowest since late December. Metal prices also came under pressure amid mounting investor concerns that growing trade tensions would hurt the equilibrium in the global economy. LME aluminium saw weaker performance than its SHFE counterpart. LME aluminium closed the last week at US$2049 per tonne on Friday March 23 after registering a slight gain on Thursday’s closing. SMM expects LME aluminium to stay rangebound at lows with trading range at $2,045-2,065 per tonne today. As on March 23, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2048 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2049 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 2070 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 2072 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price...
China’s refined aluminium inventory saw a first dip last week to 2.28 million tonnes since the start of February. According to SMM data, China's aluminium inventory including SHFE warrants dropped further to 2.26 million tonnes as of Monday March 26. This is down from 2.28 million tonnes on Thursday March 22 and from 2.29 million tonnes on Monday March 19. According to SMM senior analyst Liu Xiaolei, Pressure on aluminium prices will emerge if China’s inventory grew over 2.4 million tonnes. In the Copper and Aluminium Summit in Shanghai on Friday March 23, he projected a turning point for the increasing inventory to appear in late March based on positive downstream demand outlook. Liu expected new aluminium capacity and restarted production to put pressure in the aluminium prices. He...
China, being the largest aluminium exporter to the US, has decided not to remain silent about Trump’s $3 billion tariffs imposition on Chinese aluminium and steel imports. The country has unveiled its plan today (23rd of March, 2018) to consider a 15 per cent tariff on US products including dried fruit, wine, and steel pipes, and 25 per cent on pork products and recycled aluminium, said the commerce ministry in a statement on its website. The ministry further added that China has made a list of 128 US products in total that could be targeted, unless both the countries come to a mutual agreement on trade issues. This, they say, will implement in two stages: first the 15 per cent tariff on 120 products including pipes and wine worth $977 million and later, the 25 per cent tariff on pork and...
According to a BBC update, the European Union (EU) and six other countries will be exempt from steel and aluminium tariffs announced by President Trump, for the time being. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer announced Mr Trump’s decision to "pause" the import duties temporarily for these countries to a Senate panel. The 25% and 10% tariffs on steel and aluminium are due to come into effect on Friday March 23. Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and South Korea are the other countries that are in the exemption list. "There are countries with whom we're negotiating and the question becomes the obvious one that you think, as a matter of business, how does this work?” "So what he has decided to do is to pause the imposition of the tariffs with respect to those countries," he...
Chinese aluminium giant Chalco increased net profit by 274 percent in 2017 compared to last year mainly due to higher aluminium prices. The company posted net income of 1.38 billion yuan in 2017, from net profit of 368.4 million yuan in 2016. The company said in a filing to the Shanghai stock exchange that it generated revenue of 180.1 billion yuan, up from 144.2 billion yuan a year earlier, according to a report published by Reuters. Chalco’s net profit decreased to 38.9 million yuan in the fourth quarter of 2017, from 599.1 million yuan in the previous quarter - its smallest gain since the first quarter of 2016, according to Reuters records. Chalco had posted 1.36 billion yuan in profit in the first nine months of 2017.The company’s revenue rose 52.5 per cent during January- September....
Aluminium remains one of major exports of the United Arab Emirates. In the face of Trump’s 10% global tariff on aluminium, UAE is reeling under fear as the tariff is expected affect a solid portion of its aluminium export. The Emirates’ main aluminium producer is Emirates Global Aluminium (UAE), created by the merger between Dubai Aluminium (DUBAL) and Emirates Aluminium (EMAL) in 2013. EGA turned out a record 2.5 million metric tons of primary aluminium in 2017. The U.A.E. is the United States’ third-most-prolific source of aluminium, after Canada and the Russian Federation. EGA is one of the largest producers of value added products or ‘premium aluminium’. About 80 per cent of EGA’s production is value-added products and it exports 90% of its high purity aluminium and aluminium alloys...
Vedanta has proposed to invest INR 12.4 billion on its Jharsuguda unit (Odisha) to elevate the capacity of aluminium smelter from 1.6 million tonnes to 1.8 million tonnes per annum. The proposal underwent a scrutiny of the State Level Single Window Clearance Authority (SLSWCA) yesterday (March 22, 2018). After a round of scrutiny by SLSWCA, the proposal is now referred to a higher body, the High Level Clearance Authority (HLCA) for an approval, since the former is entitled to approve an investment proposal of up to INR 10 billion only. An investment proposal presented by diversified conglomerate ITC Ltd. for expanding a product line at its existing unit Khurda at a cost of INR 630 million envisioning creating an employment for 100 heads, along with a proposal by wires and cables...
2017 was a year of significant change for the global aluminium market. The Chinese government initiated its aluminium supply-side reform policy, which we expect will limit long run primary capacity growth in China. The year also saw barriers to Chinese exports rise, particularly in the US. Limited production growth in China and low inventory levels outside of China, combined with strong consumption growth means smelters need to be built outside of China. But where will these new smelters be constructed? And who will build them? Russia to add the largest share of capacity outside China CRU has incorporated a number of greenfield and brownfield smelter expansions into our long term output forecasts. Although we still expect China to account for majority of the new smelting capacity, a large...
Benchmark aluminium price on London Metal Exchange increased to close at US$2059 per tonne on Thursday, March 22, up from the previous day’s close at US$ 2056.5 per tonne. According to SMM, increasing US trade protectionism dragged aluminium prices down, with LME aluminium falling to lows of $2,063 per tonne. SMM expects LME aluminium to weaken and trade at $2,050-2,090 per tonne. As on March 22, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2057 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2059 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 2078 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 2079 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$ 2123 per tonne, and Dec 19 offer price is US$ 2128 per tonne. The LME aluminium opening stock has dropped to 1279025 tonnes. Live Warrants totalled at...
After a gain on Tuesday to US$ 2073 per tonne, LME aluminium resumed its downward trends and closed at US$ 2056.5 per tonne on Wednesday 21 March. As updated by Shanghai Metals Market, LME aluminium met resistance at the 10-day moving average and lacked strong support overnight. SMM expects the contract to trade at US$2,065-2,095 per tonne today. As on March 21, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$ 2056 per tonne, LME official settlement price stands at US$ 2056.50 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$ 2078 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$ 2079 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$ 2127 per tonne, and Dec 19 offer price is US$ 2132 per tonne. The LME aluminium opening stock has dropped to1283025 tonnes. Live Warrants totalled at 1049625 tonnes, and Cancelled...
