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....
Grow with
AL Circle
Benchmark aluminium price on London Metal Exchange edged further lower on the last trading day of the week ending February 9. Surging aluminium exports from China pressured down LME aluminium prices to US$2,142 per tonne on Friday from US$2,168 per tonne the previous day. Shanghai Metals Market said that LME aluminium is likely to trade at US$2,100-2,135 per tonne range on Monday, February 12. As on February 9, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$2,141.50 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is US$2,142 per tonne, 3M Bid Price is US$2,143 per tonne, 3M Offer Price is US$2,144 per tonne, Dec1 Bid Price is US$2,195 per tonne, and Dec1 Offer Price is US$2,200 per tonne. LME aluminium opening stock stands at 1097100 tonnes, total Live...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) released its operating and financial results for the full-year and fourth quarter of 2017 during a meeting of the Company’s Board of Directors on Thursday February 08. Alba closed 2017 with a strong financial performance reflecting its resilience in achieving quick recovery of Line 5, which was driven by superb management performance. The Company reported total sales of US$ 2.3 billion in 2017, up 28% from US$ 1.8 billion in 2016. For Q4 2017, total sales stood at US$ 672.2 million, up 39% from US$ 483.0 million in the same period in 2016 – both driven by favourable LME prices. The Company generated a net income of US$ 245.9 million in 2017, up 91% from US$ 128.7 million in 2016. For Q4 2017, Alba posted a net income of US$ 62.4 million, up 72% from US$...
Sluggish trading ahead of the Chinese New Year holiday next week is keeping the Chinese market passive and there is no such significant movement in the prices of commodities and the raw materials. According to Shanghai Metals Market, China’s social inventory of refined aluminium including SHFE warrants stood at 1.78 million tonnes SMM on Thursday February 8, up 17,000 tonnes from a week ago due to buyers’ unwillingness to invest. The inventory status in the major Chinese cities is as follows: SHFE aluminium is expected to get stronger with the approaching of Chinese New Year holiday. The contract outperformed its nonferrous peers yesterday, registering a 0.28% increase. SMM believes this is mostly due to investors pricing in the weak fundamentals of aluminium much earlier on. Some...
Benchmark aluminium price on London Metal Exchange dropped further to close at US$2,168 per tonne on Thursday, February 8, down 0.59 per cent from the previous day’s close at US$2,181 per tonne. Thanks to the recent share market volatility, most of the components in the LME base metal complex were able to hold grounds, except aluminium. Shanghai Metals Market predicts that LME aluminium will trade range-bound at US$2,158-2,193 per tonne range on Friday, February 9, with support at the 60-day moving average. As on February 8, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$2,167.50 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is US$2,168 per tonne, 3M Bid Price is US$2,162.50 per tonne, 3M Offer Price is US$2,163 per tonne, Dec1 Bid Price is US$2,213...
UC RUSAL, a leading global aluminium producer, is pleased to announce that it intends to complete the development of a feasibility study in 2018 for the construction of a scandium oxide production unit at one of its Russian operations. Such a development adds to the Company completing another series of pilot-scale tests in 2017 to recover scandium oxide from red mud on its new unit constructed at the Urals Aluminium Smelter (UAZ). The technology encompasses processing red mud from alumina refineries and making scandium oxide as a by-product. This advancement boasts a fundamental difference from attempts by other companies’ at starting an economically feasible production of scandium. At RUSAL, the red mud processing technique was embedded into the conventional alumina production system; it...
Notwithstanding the absence of any strong fundamentals, average price of A00 ingot have registered a moderate gain today to stand at RMB 14,090 per tonne. The prices are expected to move within a range of RMB 14,070-14,110. Spot discount will range within RMB 130-90 per tonne today. Average A00 ingot prices saw the biggest rise in the East China market at RMB 85 per tonne. All other individual markets registered moderate gains. Today’s average aluminium ingot prices in the domestic markets are shown in the table below: As reported by Shanghai Metals Market, spot aluminium in Guangdong area mostly traded at RMB 14,110-14,120 per tonne on Wednesday February 7. Sellers were unwilling to give in much on prices even though the SHFE contract closed lower. Trading of ingots was more active than...
Benchmark aluminium price on London Metal Exchange shed 0.6 per cent to touch the lowest at US$2,158 per tonne since January 9, yesterday. The light metal contract then recuperated some losses to close at US$2,181 per tonne. Current price trend analysis by Shanghai Metals Market suggests that LME aluminium may continue to test support at the 60-day moving average and trade at US$2,145-2,170 per tonne range on Thursday, February 8. As on February 7, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$2,180.50 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is US$2,181.50 per tonne, 3M Bid Price is US$2,178.50 per tonne, 3M Offer Price is US$2,179 per tonne, Dec1 Bid Price is US$2,228 per tonne, and Dec1 Offer Price is US$2,233 per tonne. LME aluminium opening...
Rio Tinto announces financial results for 2017 with a cash generation of $13.9 billion, full year dividend of record $5.2 billion and an additional $1 billion share buy-back. The share buy-back will be completed by the end of 2018. Commenting on the results, Rio Tinto chief executive J-S Jacques said “Today we have announced a strong set of results with operating cash flow of $13.9 billion, a record full year dividend of $5.2 billion and an additional $1 billion share buy-back. This brings total cash returns to shareholders to $9.7 billion declared for 2017.” Underlying EBITDA for the full year stood at $18.6 billion and a ten year record EBITDA margin of 44 per cent has been recorded. The company reported underlying earnings of $8.6 billion and net earnings of $8.8 billion. Rio Tinto...
The Chinese market is lying low due to the absence of any strong fundamentals. Average A00 ingot prices have registered a slight drop today to stand at RMB 14,070 per tonne. The prices are expected to move within a range of RMB 14,050-14,090. Spot discount will range within RMB 130-90 per tonne today. As reported by Shanghai Metals Market, China’s aluminium output was down 1.7% YoY in January to 2.99 million tonnes. The volume also dropped by 16,000 tonnes from December 2017. In 2017, China churned out 35.15 million tonnes of aluminium, up 7.6% from 32.64 million tonnes (IAI data) in 2016. The lower production was attributed to the operation shutdown at Aluminium Corp of China (Chalco) in Guizhou province due to power supply disruption. The company has also done a capacity swap with...
According to a Reuters report, London base metals on Wednesday recovered some of the ground lost in the previous session as global equities bounced back after days of sharp falls and investors focused on fundamentals. LME aluminium contract continued to drop till yesterday’s closing and the light metal dropped further from US$ 2202 per tonne on February 5 to close at US$ 2196 per tonne on February 6. Good market fundamentals may provide some support to the prices today as aluminium gained 1 per cent on Wednesday’s trading. The LME aluminium price, according to Shanghai Metals Market is expected to trade at $2,150-2,185/t. As on February 6, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$ 2195.50per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is US$ 2196...
Judging by the somewhat stoic reaction of the Indian aluminium industry after the unveiling of Budget 2018 last Thursday, February 1, it is not hard to tell that the announcements have failed its expectations. Not a single demand or wish from the list of many has been addressed in the last budget presented by the NDA government before elections. But nonetheless, the Budget spoke of an economy built on advanced infrastructure, enhanced manufacturing and greater employment. There are areas of hope which can certainly give the right traction to the Indian aluminium industry as a whole. Five points of hope for Indian aluminium industry in Budget 2018: It is a Budget guided by mission to strengthen agriculture, rural development, health, education, employment, MSME and infrastructure sectors -...
Alro said on Friday that its shareholders have approved an investment of USD 61 million in 2018.The company expects net profit of USD 42.8 million and sales revenue of USD 662.9 million this year, according to Business Review. The company reported net profit of RON 223.4 million in the first nine months of 2017. Revenue from sales increased 18 per cent to RON 1.86 billion. Alro, one of the biggest aluminium smelters in Central and Eastern Europe, is part of the international industrial and investment group Vimetco NV. The company has an installed production capacity of 265,000 tonnes per year. The main markets for the products manufactured by Alro are within the EU (Germany, Hungary, Poland, Greece and Romania). Alro also exports to the USA and Asia Last month, Alro signed three-year USD...
Fundamentals for the lightweight metal remain weak in China. There is lack of activities in the market and domestic prices for most of the raw materials and primary metal remain flat. The market is expected to pick up before the Chinese New Year holidays. After a moderate gain, average A00 ingot prices have registered a further drop today to stand at RMB 14,090 per tonne. The prices are expected to move within a range of RMB 14,070-14,110. Spot discount will range within RMB 130-90 per tonne today. Though the A00 ingot prices showed some gain in mid-January, the trend has been downward since the beginning of 2018. Prices of primary ingot have dropped across all domestic markets. Aluminium ingot in the east China market remains the lowest at RMB 14,065 per tonne today. Though alloy prices...
Benchmark aluminium price on London Metal Exchange slid again on the first trading day of the week as market sentiments soured across the globe and dollar strengthened due to safe-haven buying. The light metal contract closed at US$2,202 per tonne on Monday, February 5, down from US$2,228 per tonne on Friday, February 2. Recent trend analysis suggests that LME aluminium may remain range-bound in the near term as there is pressure around the moving averages. As on February 5, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$2,201.50 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is US$2,202 per tonne, 3M Bid Price is US$2,202 per tonne, 3M Offer Price is US$2,203 per tonne, Dec1 Bid Price is US$2,253 per tonne, and Dec1 Offer Price is US$2,258 per tonne....
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), the Bahrain-based international aluminium smelter, announced that its Line 6 Smelter, of the iconic Expansion Project, achieved a significant milestone - the First Cathode Sealing Operation - on Wednesday January 31, 2018. The first cathode is an integral part of the pot lining activities for the new Line 6 pots based on the Dubal DX+ Ultra Technology that is being employed at the Line 6 Smelter. Commenting on this achievement, Alba’s Chairman of Board of Directors Shaikh Daij Bin Salman Bin Daij Al Khalifa said: “We are very much pleased with the overall progress we have made on Line 6 Smelter. The focused-approach adopted by our team has yielded nicely on the progress of Engineering (79%), Procurement (83%), Contracts (97%) and Construction (17%)...
Rusal said its aluminium production rose 1.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter in 4Q17 to 944 thousand tonnes, with Siberian smelters representing 94 per cent of total aluminium output. In 4Q17, aluminium sales increased by 3.3 per cent QoQ totalling 1 million tonnes. In 2017, the company produced 3,707 thousand tonnes of aluminium, an increase of 0.6 year on year. Aluminium sales increased 3.6 per cent YoY to 3,955 thousand tonnes. “This increase was achieved largely due to an increase in third party aluminium products sales (+91.3% YoY to 169 thousand tonnes),” Rusal said. In 4Q17, production of value added products stood at 469 thousand tonnes, up 9.1 per cent YoY. Sales of VAP declined 3.4 per cent QoQ to 462 thousand tonnes. “The QoQ decline in VAP sales dynamics is largely explained by a...
Sohar Aluminium successfully resumed full operations in record time after an unexpected disruption in its normal operations, which led to the complete shutdown of its Potline on August 4th, 2017. The entire plant was involved in the recovery efforts to ensure the fastest return to full production, while sustaining excellent safety standards. The recovery process was recognized as an important accomplishment within the Aluminium industry. Sohar Aluminium pays tribute for this great success to all its employees and contractors for their resilience, determination, and their “all-inclusive teamwork”. The company takes pride in its entire team that demonstrated excellence and efficiency of its operations, and thanks its Shareholders, Oman Oil, TAQA and Rio Tinto and all Stakeholders for their...
Benchmark aluminium price on London Metal Exchange inched higher on Friday, February 2, as dollar weakened and market sentiments were moderately favourable. The light metal contract closed at US$2,228 per, up from US$2,218 per tonne on Thursday, February 1. Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) foresees range-bound trading in LME aluminium; says the contract will trade at US$2,210-2,240 per tonne range on Monday, February 5. As on February 2, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$2,227 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is US$2,228 per tonne, 3M Bid Price is US$2,226 per tonne, 3M Offer Price is US$2,227 per tonne, Dec1 Bid Price is US$2,275 per tonne, and Dec1 Offer Price is US$2,280 per tonne. LME aluminium opening stock stands at 1077650...
