1. Macro perspective The US-Iran conflict entered its second week. After the escort coalition intervened, traffic through the Strait of Hormuz partially recovered, but war risk insurance rates remained elevated. Brent crude pulled back from a high of USD 101 to consolidate around USD 95, with energy cost support weakening from earlier levels but not yet fading. The US Fed delivered a 25bp rate hike at its September FOMC meeting, and the dot plot indicated one more hike may still occur this year. Chair Warsh struck a hawkish tone in his post-meeting remarks, and the US dollar index held at a 13-month high. Next week, attention turns to China's official PMI on September 30, as well as US PCE and non-farm payrolls data during the National Day holiday—with China's market closed for seven days...
According to data released by the General Administration of Customs of the People's Republic of China (GACC), China's total primary aluminium imports reached 185,500 tonnes in August 2026, down 14.65 per cent year-on-year but up 0.16 per cent month-on-month. Total imports for January-August amounted to 1.66 million tonnes, a decrease of 3.41 per cent year-on-year. The 14.65 per cent year-on-year decline in August imports, coupled with a nearly flat month-on-month performance, indicates that imports have not collapsed but rather maintained a steady inflow. In August, China's total primary aluminium exports stood at 21,900 tonnes, down 14.53 per cent year-on-year and 30.48 per cent month-on-month. Cumulative exports for January-August totalled 167,500 tonnes, up 9.26 per cent year-on-year....
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Emirates Global Aluminium reported net income of AED 3.3 billion in 2017 on stronger aluminium prices and record production levels. The company’s revenue increased to AED 20.5 billion in 2017 compared to AED 17.1 billion in 2016. Adjusted EBITDA stood at AED 6.7 billion, up 31% from AED 5.1 billion in 2016. The company produced record 2.6 million tonnes of cast metal, exceeding 2016’s 2.5 million tonnes and making EGA the third largest producer of primary aluminium outside China. The company said it sold 268 thousand tonnes of metal to customers in the UAE in 2017. This included sales of hot liquid metal to customers located near EGA’s Al Taweelah smelter in Abu Dhabi. EGA’s sales of value-added products increased by 87 thousand tonnes in 2017 to 2.1 million tonnes, representing 82% of...
After having crossed the US$2,200 per tonne mark last Friday, LME aluminium dropped again on Monday, February 27, as nearby aluminium spreads came under intense pressure. The light metal contract closed at US$2,188.50 per tonne, down from US$2,210 per tonne on February 23. Shanghai Metals Market opines that with pressure still there from short bets, LME aluminium will continue to test resistance at the 60-day moving average and move within the US$2,152-2,165 per tonne range on Tuesday, February 27. As on February 26, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$2,188 per tonne, LME aluminium cash (offer) price stands at US$2,188.50 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$2,159.50 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$2,160.50 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$2,212 per tonne, and...
Norsk Hydro has made a $345 million binding offer to acquire Rio Tinto’s wholly owned Icelandic aluminium plant ISAL. The transaction also includes Rio's 53% stake in Dutch anode facility Aluminium & Chemie Rotterdam B.V. (Aluchemie), and 50% stake in Swedish aluminium fluoride plant Alufluor AB (Alufluor). Hilde Merete Aasheim, Head of Hydro’s Primary Metal business area, said: “We see great potential in exchanging competence and technology elements between our aluminium plants. We are now running a technology pilot in Norway which aims to be the world’s most energy-efficient and climate friendly aluminium production facility. These innovations will be expanded to other Hydro facilities, and as part of Hydro, ISAL will benefit from such technological spin-offs and competence.” Rio Tinto...
A new aluminium smelter will be constructed beside the hydroelectric plant on Ecuador’s Santiago River, starting June 2024, Pablo Campana, the Ecuadorian Foreign Trade and Investment Minister, said during his recent visit to Qatar. Source: Sputnik International The project costing around US41.9 billion initially will be placed before many global companies including UC RUSAL for discussion. The integrated aluminium smelter will use electricity from the Santiago River hydroelectric plant only after ensuring adequate power supply to various regions of Latin America. Campana visited the Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA) headquarters in Jebel Ali last November, where he was received by top officials from the aluminium company. The two sides discussed ways to develop and strengthen economic and...
Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest industrial company in the United Arab Emirates outside oil and gas, today announced that its emissions of perfluorocarbons were a record low for the company in 2017, and that EGA has signed an agreement with the University of New South Wales to research further reductions. Perfluorocarbons, known as PFCs, are a group of greenhouse gases and cutting down PFC emissions remains an important environmental goal for the global aluminium industry. EGA’s emissions of PFCs were 22 kg per tonne of aluminium produced in 2017 compared to a global average of 380 kg per tonne in 2016, according to International Aluminium Institute statistics. At EGA’s newer Al Taweelah smelter, PFC emissions in 2017 were seven kilogrammes per tonne of aluminium produced. In the...
According to Shanghai Metal Market, SHFE’s aluminium inventory jumped to a record high at 811,839 tonnes as on Friday February 23, as shown by SHFE data. The stocks have been rising every week since late June 2017 and it is mostly driven by lower consumption by domestic manufacturers. There is no such significant movement in the prices of commodities and the raw materials. After the first significant gain on Friday Feb 23 to RMB 13,940, average A00 aluminum Ingot prices dropped today to RMB 13,910 per tonne. The prices are expected to move within a range of RMB 13,890-13,930. Spot discount will range within RMB 290-250 per tonne today. In the individual markets primary aluminium ingot prices drop around all markets. However, in the North China market aluminium ingot prices shot up RMB...
The benchmark aluminium price on London Metal Exchange climbed higher on Friday, February 23, to cross the US$2,200 per tonne mark as the market got direction from the return of China to trading after Lunar New Year Holidays. The light metal contract closed at US$2,210 per tonne, up from US$2,190 per tonne. Shanghai Metals Market forecasts that LME aluminium will trade at US$2,130-2,160 per tonne range on Monday, February 26, after testing resistance at the 60-day moving average. As on February 23, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$2,209 per tonne, LME aluminium cash (offer) price stands at US$2,210 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$2,165 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$2,165.50 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$2,213 per tonne, and Dec 19 offer price is...
Responding to the U.S. Commerce Department’s tariff recommendations on steel and aluminium imports, President Donald Trump has expressed his willingness to impose the hardest of tariffs on steel and aluminium. As told to his confidants Trump is looking a global tariff of 24 per cent on steel imports, the hardest of the three options presented to him by the Commerce Department in January. As for aluminium is concerned, he is said to be considering as much as a 10 per cent duty on all imported aluminium, which would be about 2.5 per cent higher than the Commerce’s highest recommendations. Political and economic analysts are of the view that such huge tariffs on widely used commodities could spark retaliation from exporting countries like China and Canada and rise prices of end-use products...
President of Rusal and En+ Group Oleg Deripaska has stepped down from his post and Vladislav Soloviev, the previous CEO of Rusal has been appointed as the CEO of En+ and the President of RUSAL. Alexandra Bouriko, previously Chief Financial Officer of RUSAL will take up the position of the Chief Executive Officer of RUSAL. As CEO, Alexandra Bouriko’s focus will be on the Company’s long-term development, through implementation of RUSAL’s facilities efficiency programme as well as the introduction of modern technologies, designed to cut down the environmental footprint. She will also drive the output growth of value-added products, which is the current focus of the company. Development of the domestic market and continued expansion of aluminium applications cross-sector would be her other...
Century Aluminum Company today announced fourth quarter and full year 2017 results. Q4 2017 Highlights Century Aluminum Company reported net income of $35.8 million for Q42017 in comparison to the net income of $20.8 million for the third quarter of 2017. Results were favourably driven by a $7.3 million non-cash gain. Adjusted net income for Q42017was $24.8 million compared to adjusted net income of $14.4 million for the third quarter of 2017. Century reported adjusted EBITDA of $60.2 million in Q42017, up $12.3 million from the third quarter of 2017, primarily driven by higher LME prices, partially offset by higher raw material costs. Sales for Q42017 were $433.8 million compared with $400.6 million for the third quarter of 2017. Primary aluminium shipments stood at 189,000 tonnes...
Leading global aluminium producer UC RUSAL announced all-round growth in terms of performance (production and sales) as well as income for the 12-month period ended December 31, 2017. The Russian aluminium giant with fully-integrated aluminium value chain operations posted 24.9 per cent increase in revenue, 42.4 per cent increase in adjusted EBITDA margin, and 268.8 per cent increase in adjusted net profit from the last financial year, on the back of strong LME aluminium prices and steady demand. Source: South China Morning Post Rusal’s total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2017, stood at US$9,969 million (against US$7,983 million in 2016), adjusted EBITDA was US$2,120 million (compared to US$1,489 million in 2016), and adjusted net profit margin climbed to 10.8 per cent (from 3.7...
As reported by Shanghai Metals Market A00 ingot price has gained substantially today with the pickup of trading after the Chinese New Year Holidays. Average Aluminum Ingot prices have gained to stand at RMB 13,940 per tonne. The prices are expected to move within a range of RMB 13,920-13,960. Spot discount will range within RMB 280-240 per tonne today. China’s aluminium production in January rose to 2.88 million tonnes, from 2.71 million tonnes in December. Unreported output was estimated at 310,000 tonnes in January, in line with the level seen in December, IAI data showed. This shows how aluminium producers were slowly returning to action after the environmental crackdown drives were saturated. Average primary ingot prices saw the biggest gain in the North China market at RMB 270 per...
Benchmark aluminium price on London Metal Exchange inched slightly higher on Thursday, February 22, as US dollar index weakened lifting prices across the board. The light metal contract closed at US$2,194 per tonne, up from US$2,190 per tonne on Wednesday, February 21. Shanghai Metals Market analyses that LME aluminium will trade at US$2,172-2,200 per tonne range on Friday, February 23, after testing resistance at the five-day and 20-day moving averages. The support is identified at the 10-day and 60-day moving averages. As on February 22, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$2,193.50 per tonne, LME aluminium cash (offer) price stands at US$2,194 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$2,180 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$2,182 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at...
Trading starts in China at a sluggish pace after the Chinese New Year and there is no such significant movement in the prices of commodities and the raw materials other than the substantial drop in A00 aluminium ingot prices. According to Shanghai Metals Market, China’s social inventory of refined aluminium including SHFE warrants amounted to 1.96 million tonnes as of Thursday February 22. This is up from 1.82 million tonnes recorded on Wednesday February 14, before the Chinese New Year holiday. The current inventory status in the major Chinese cities is as follows: Average Aluminum Ingot prices dropped RMB 310 per tonne today to stand at RMB 13,700 per tonne. The prices are expected to move within a range of RMB 13,680-13,720. Spot discount will range within RMB 300-260 per tonne today....
The European aluminium industry continues to greatly improve its environmental performance by substantially reducing its carbon intensity across the entire aluminium value chain. This is the main outcome of its new Environmental Profile Report, released today by European Aluminium. Commenting on the findings, Gerd Götz, Director General of European Aluminium, said: “The report demonstrates that the industry is delivering on its aim to realise the industry’s greenhouse gas reduction potential towards 2050 as set out in the Sustainability Roadmap Towards 2025. Aluminium production in Europe now leads the world in most aspects of low-carbon production. For instance, the carbon intensity of European primary aluminium production is approximately three times lower than in China, which is the...
Benchmark aluminium price on London Metal Exchange was mostly lower during the Asian morning trading hours on Wednesday, February 21, as buyers backed away to wait and watch what China did with prices once it returned to trading on February 22. The light metal contract fell back at US$2,190 per tonne yesterday from US$2,239 per tonne on Tuesday, February 20. Edging up of the US dollar index on renewed Japanese concerns over the yen’s strength also kept the pressure on LME aluminium. As on February 21, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$2,189.50 per tonne, LME aluminium cash (offer) price stands at US$2,190 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$2,175 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$2,176 per tonne; Dec 19 bid price stands at US$2,215 per tonne, and Dec 19 offer price is...
Canada, the biggest exporter of steel and aluminium to the U.S. is optimistic about being exempted from Trump administration’s crackdown on steel and aluminium import. Though the U.S. Commerce Department didn’t mention any exemption for Canada in its report where possible tariffs and quotas were outlined, it acknowledged northern neighbour’s crucial relationship to the U.S. aluminium industry. Canada supplies about half of the U.S.’s almost 5 million-metric-ton aluminium deficit, and currently domestic smelters are not in a position to fill up that gap. For steel, however, there are exemptions for allies like Canada and Japan. “If any country should be granted an exemption, I put my bet on Canada,” said Aluminum Association of Canada President Jean Simard. Adam Austen, a spokesman for...
Benchmark aluminium price on London Metal Exchange dropped marginally on Tuesday, February 20, as trading remained mostly muted during Asian morning trading hours. The light metal contract closed at US$2,239 per tonne, down from US$2,266 per tonne on Monday, February 19. After the US Commerce Department’s recommendation on the imposition of tariffs and quotas on aluminium (and steel), LME base metal prices are expected to ease a bit. However, knee-jerk reaction amid uncertainty caused may again lift LME aluminium prices in the short term. As on February 20, LME aluminium cash (bid) price stands at US$2,238.50 per tonne, LME aluminium cash (offer) price stands at US$2,239 per tonne; 3-months bid price stands at US$2,205 per tonne, 3-months offer price is US$2,206 per tonne; Dec 19 bid...
