South32 expects the sale of its aluminium value chain assets to Alcoa to be completed in the six months ending June 2027. The proposed transaction covers its aluminium operations and related bauxite and alumina assets in South Africa, Australia and Brazil. The sale follows a binding conditional agreement signed by the two companies, under which Alcoa agreed to acquire the assets for up to USD 5.6 billion . The assets include South32's Hillside Aluminium smelter and the idled Bayside smelter in South Africa, its interests in the Boddington bauxite mine and Worsley alumina refinery in Australia, and the Mineração Rio do Norte bauxite mine and Alumar alumina refinery and aluminium smelter in Brazil. Explore the production, demand and consumption forecasts of bauxite and alumina in our...
LME aluminium cash prices recorded an increase on November 5, 2026, with the cash offer price rising by 0.80 per cent day on day to USD 3,160 per tonne from USD 3,135 per tonne on November 4. On November 5, the LME aluminium cash bid price stood at USD 3,158 per tonne, up by 0.75 per cent from USD 3,134.5 per tonne recorded on November 4. The cash offer price increased by USD 25 per tonne. Similarly, LME aluminium 3-month prices moved higher. The 3-month bid price rose by 0.78 per cent to USD 3,097 per tonne on November 5 from USD 3,073 per tonne on November 4. The 3-month offer price increased by 0.76 per cent to USD 3,097.5 per tonne from USD 3,074 per tonne. For December 27 contracts, the bid price advanced by 0.33 per cent to USD 2,997 per tonne on November 5 from USD 2,987 per tonne...
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As China squeezes 10% of its aluminium production and as a result, the LME aluminium prices have jumped to a three-year high, Press Metal Aluminium Holdings Bhd (PMETAL) is poised to leverage on the benefits. Analysts have conservatively increased the company’s estimated financial year 2018 (FY18E) aluminium price to US$1,900 (RM8,151) per tonne. This will lift the estimated earning in FY18 up to 7% from 0% in FY17. Recently, Bloomberg reported that China “called for the closure of 3.21 million tonnes of illegal aluminium capacity by end-July” in Shandong on July 24, higher than analysts’ expectations. Shandong is a major aluminium production hub in China, and the target makes up 10% of China’s total production of 31.6 million tonnes in 2016. The news resulted in a price hike of +7% to...
Hindalco Industries Ltd., India's leading producer of aluminium and copper and a subsidiary of the Aditya Birla Group, released its standalone unaudited financial results for the quarter ended 30th June, 2017. The company’ revenue during the quarter stood at INR 10,407 crore, up 28 per cent compared to Q1 FY2017 driven by higher volumes and realisation. EBITDA (Earnings before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation) was INR1,404 crore, an increase of 4 per cent compared to Q1 FY2017 on account of higher aluminium and copper volumes, supportive macros partly offset by higher input cost. The company’s net profit for Q1 FY2018 declined to INR 290 crore from INR 294 crore in the previous year. “The net profit for the current quarter factors the exceptional provisioning of INR 104 crore...
The International Committee for Study of Bauxite, Alumina & Aluminium (ICSOBA; www.icsoba.org) unites the aluminium industry professionals and offers forum to promote collaboration and exchange of ideas among its members and results of work from different fields of research and practice related to bauxite exploration & mining, and alumina and aluminium production. Beyond this objective, ICSOBA is striving towards its vision to be The Technology Conference of the Aluminium Companies, for the Aluminium Companies. At present, ICSOBA is in the process of organizing the 35th International Conference and Exhibition, which will be held in the Radisson Blu hotel in Hamburg in the period of 2 - 5 October 2017. The selection of Hamburg follows ICSOBA’s practice of rotating the venue of...
China Aluminum International Trading Co. (Chalco Trading) has further cut aluminium prices it offered in China’s major markets today. Unit: RMB/tonne Aluminium stocks in five major markets continued growing this week to new record highs, including SHFE aluminium stocks. Stocks in these five regions: Shanghai (275,000 tonnes), Wuxi (589,000 tonnes), Nanhai (325,000 tonnes), Hangzhou (90,000 tonnes) and Gongyi (94,000 tonnes) - totalled 1.37 million tonnes as on August 10, up 39,000 tonnes from a week ago, SMM data showed. Base metals on SHFE got a boost from rising ferrous and non-ferrous metals price on Thursday’s night trading. According to SMM weekly price outlook, aluminium prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) is expected to move within a range of RMB 16,000-16,250 tonnes...
Finally, the most awaited turnaround in the aluminium market seems to have arrived! LME aluminium which hit the highs after more than two-and-a-half-years has crossed the US$2,000 per tonne mark on Wednesday, August 9, at US$2,018 per tonne and climbed further up to close at US$2,024 per tonne on Thursday August 10. With positive market sentiments flooding and investors thronging the market, the LME aluminium prices are expected to stay highs in the near term. LME base metals outperformed SHFE base metals yesterday. According to Shanghai Metals Market forecast, LME aluminium will trade at US$2,025-2,045 per tonne on Friday, August 11. As on August 10, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$2,023 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is...
The charge in SHFE aluminium prices have caused a dramatic drop in aluminium billet processing fees (including tax, self-pickup) in Guangdong recently and are even offered flat with or lower than aluminium ingot prices. According to SMM, the drop has been attributed to a chain of developments. Due to rise in SHFE aluminium, aluminium billet prices have currently increased in all the markets which are not acceptable to aluminium buyers. Secondly, according to recent statistics, aluminium billet stocks at public and private warehouses in Guangdong have exceeded 200,000 tonnes due to slow demand. Because of the off-season, orders have fallen sharply at local aluminium extrusion producers, causing a fall in aluminium billet demand. The billet processing fees have been dropped to encourage...
AlCircle, the Virtual Aluminium Ecosystem, has just published an exclusive report titled “Potline Failure in Aluminium Smelters: Observations and Recent Case Studies (2013-2017).” The study which looks into major case studies spanning last five years across the global aluminium industry finds in power outage the single biggest cause behind plotline failure in aluminium smelters. Potline failures in aluminium smelters have significant financial impact. They reduce the potlife up to varying extent thereby lowering the productivity of the smelter for a proportionate duration of time. To cope with this unplanned yet sizeable loss of man-hour and money, aluminium producers across the world have been investing in cutting-edge smelter technologies over the years.; yet, it continues to remain a...
Despite massive production cuts in July, China still has surplus aluminium in the market due to poor domestic consumption. SMM feels the oversupply will persist and aluminium stocks will continue growing in the long term due to new capacity that would be coming online in future. China Aluminum International Trading Co. (Chalco Trading) has cut aluminium prices it offered across major markets today after hiking prices for three consecutive days. According to a statement filed by Chalco to the Shanghai Stock Exchange, aluminium market is facing uncertainties because of two factors. On the one hand, they feel, aluminium industry is benefitting from government policies, while higher power tariffs may push up production costs for aluminium which will lead to big volatility in aluminium market....
The uptrend in LME aluminium is finally on solid tracks. The light metal which hit the highs after more than two-and-a-half-years crossed the US$2,000 per tonne barrier to close at US$2,018 per tonne on Wednesday, August 9, rising from the earlier close of US$1,981 per tonne on August 8. With investors flooding the world market on the prospects of wide-scale capacity closures by the biggest aluminium producing region, China, the aluminium prices are expected to hover at highs in the foreseeable future. According to Shanghai Metals Market forecast, LME aluminium will trade at US$2,005-2,035 per tonne on Thursday, August 10. As on August 9, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$2,017 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is US$2,018 per...
Aluminium export by the U.S., both alloyed and non-alloyed varieties, fell considerably in the first half of 2017. According to the data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce, the once formidable primary aluminium producing country exported 6,888.372 tonnes of aluminium in June 2017, down from 7,302.04 tonnes in the previous month. {newsStudioGallery} Going by the global export-import data, the U.S. exported 82476 tonnes of aluminium during the initial six months of 2017. This is significantly less than 1,31,656.5 tonnes of aluminium exported in H1 2016. It is estimated that the U.S. will export a total volume of 61985 tonnes of aluminium ingots (alloyed as well as non-alloyed) in H2 2017, compared with 1,31,752 tonnes in the corresponding period previous year. The major countries...
National Aluminium Company's (NALCO) first quarter earnings are expected to be strong on volume growth. Profit is seen rising 23 percent year-on-year to INR 166 crore and revenue may increase 31.8 per cent to INR 2,042 crore in the quarter ended June 2017. Operating profit is expected to surge 56.9 percent to INR 306 crore and margin may expand 240 basis points to 15 per cent compared to same quarter last year, according to average of estimates of analysts polled by CNBC-TV18. Analysts expect alumina volumes at 3.3 lakh tonnes (a growth of 14 per cent YoY but fall 18 per cent QoQ) and aluminium volumes at 1.02 lakh tonnes (up 24 per cent YoY but down 6 per cent QoQ). Benchmark alumina prices increased 15 per cent YoY at approximately US$290 per tonne. Analysts expect cost pressures on...
Aluminium ingot prices in China major markets rose consistently at a moderate pace in July this year but slowed down towards the month end, revealed National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data. The prices of aluminium ingots in late July were RMB 14,244.60 per tonne, up RMB 120.8 per tonne (0.9 per cent) from mid-July. The average price trend for A00 aluminium ingot (as on July 31) across five major regions in China is depicted in the below graph: China Aluminum International Trading Co. (Chalco Trading) has been rising aluminium prices it offered across major markets for the last three consecutive days. The prices it offered are already hovering near RMB 15,000 per tonne, buoyed up by capacity cut news. Shanghai Metals Market understands that Chalco aluminium prices would potentially break...
Taking the cue from the Chinese Weiqiao Group’s rumoured announcement of higher than expected capacity cuts, LME aluminium surged above US$2,000 per tonne on Tuesday, August 8. The rise marked two-and-a-half year peak for the light metal which ended the trading day at US$1,981 per tonne yesterday after hitting US$2,030 per tonne. Its earlier close was at US$1,920 per tonne on Monday, August 7. News has it that Shandong province in China has ordered 3.21 million tonnes of smelting capacity to be shut, as Beijing ups the ante for its pollution control activities for every industry. According to Shanghai Metals Market forecast, LME aluminium will climb further higher into the range of US$2,015-2,035 per tonne on Wednesday, August 9. As on August 8, LME official cash buyer aluminium price...
According to an SMM, Shandong 2017 Coal Consumption Reduction Work Action Program was issued by the Shandong Development & Reform Commission which states that the Weiqiao Pioneering Group and Xinfa Group were ordered to cut illegal aluminium capacity. Weiqiao Pioneering Group was ordered to close 2.68 million tonnes of illegal aluminium capacity while Xinfa Group was ordered to shut down 530,000 tonnes of illegal aluminium capacity before the end of July 2017. Also,these two companies were required to close coal-fired power generating units built in support of these illegal aluminium capacities, SMM said. Recently, Xinfa Group confirmed closing of 530,500 tonnes of annual illegal aluminium production capacity. Shandong Weiqiao Group announced that it will cut aluminium capacity by 250,000...
SMM statistics showed that China’s aluminium production had a sharp rise in July compared with a year ago. China produced 3.12 million tonnes of aluminium in July, up 16.5% YoY, and 21.42 million tonnes of aluminium during the first seven months of this year, up 20.9% from the same period of 2016. Total annual operational aluminium capacity nationwide stood at 36.74 million tonnes in July, down 872,000 tonnes from June. In china’s domestic market, aluminium led the gains in all base metals on Monday’s night trading at SHFE. SHFE 1710 aluminium is expected to rise to RMB 15,350-15,530/t on August 8. Despite the continuous rise in domestic aluminium stock, China Aluminum International Trading Co. (Chalco Trading) hiked aluminium prices it offered across major markets significantly today...
LME aluminium took a cue from the recent China aluminium capacity cut announcement s and surged to US$1,920 per tonne on Monday, August 7. The rise of nearly 1.6 per cent from the contract’s earlier close of US$1,890 per tonne on Friday, July 4, can be partially attributed to the somewhat weak US dollar index. Reuters’ technical analysis suggests that LME aluminium may test a resistance at US$1,988 per tonne, and stands a good chance of breaking above this level rising into a range of US$1,996-US$2,010 per tonne in the short term. According to Shanghai Metals Market forecast, LME aluminium which has entered a new trading range now is likely to hover at highs of US$,960-1,980 per tonne on Tuesday, August 8. As on August 7, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at...
According to the recently published Bahrain Economic Quarterly, by the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB), growth in the non-oil sector of Bahrain’s economy reached 4.4% in Q1 2017, up from 3.7% during the same period of 2016. This growth was primarily driven by strong performance across the non-oil private sector. The Kingdom is experiencing large amount of investment in infrastructure projects which is supporting the growth momentum in Bahrain’s non-oil economy. Overall, in the first quarter of 2017 the Bahraini economy expanded by 2.9%. One of such projects is the US$ 3 billion Alba Line 6 project – which is set to create the world’s largest single-site aluminium smelter. The Potline 6 has two pot rooms that are considered the longest buildings on the Line 6 Expansion Project...
China Aluminum International Trading Co. (Chalco Trading) has increased aluminium prices it offered in China’s major markets today by more than 300 RMB/tonne. Unit: RMB/tonne Also, SHFE aluminium prices surged today following release of Program for Off-Peak Production during Winter Heating Season in Hebei Province. Currently, there are no alumina refineries and aluminium smelters in operation in Hebei Province, and hence the alumina and aluminium production was not affected, SMM reports. China’s aluminium smelters have registered a rise in profit driven by aluminium prices. Chinese aluminium smelters sees cost fall in the future. SMM statistics showed that the increasing aluminium prices expanded the average profit further to above 1,300 RMB/tonne. An increase in prices of prebaked anode...
