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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According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), China churned out 2.71 million tonnes of primary aluminium in December, down 1.8 per cent on a yearly basis. Full year production in 2017, the country produced 32.27 million tonnes of aluminium, up 1.6 per cent on a yearly basis. China’s aluminium production increased despite capacity cuts in the country during winter. In December, the production volume of non-ferrous metals, including copper, aluminium, lead, zinc and nickel, increased 2.8 per cent to 4.72 million tonnes. Full-year nonferrous production came in at 53.78 million tonnes, an increase of 3 per cent on a yearly basis.
Alcoa Corporation the leading global conglomerate in bauxite, alumina and aluminium reported fourth quarter and full-year 2017 results yesterday. The results were positively impacted by strong alumina and aluminium pricing and management’s focus on reducing complexity, driving returns and strengthening the balance sheet. The Company closed the year with $1.36 billion cash, up $239 million sequentially and $505 million year-over-year. Based on January 2018 market assumptions2, Alcoa is projecting its full-year 2018 adjusted EBITDA to range between $2.6 billion and $2.8 billion. For Q4 2017, the company reported net loss of $196 million and excluding special items, adjusted net income of $195 million. EBITDA excluding special items was up 38 per cent sequentially, on higher alumina pricing....
The zigzag movement of the A00 ingot price graph is continuing and it is still struggling with climbing inventory and slow consumption. According to Shanghai Metals Market, average A00 ingot price saw another drop today to stand at RMB 14420 per tonne and expected to move within a range of RMB 14,400-14,440. Spot discount will range within RMB 170-130 per tonne today. Aluminium ingot prices registered a drop in all individual markets in China except the South China and North China market. Average spot alumina prices have registered a slight drop to stand at RMB 2864 per tonne today. In East China Market alumina prices registered a rise and in Central China it saw a fall. Chalco and imported alumina prices remain unchanged and so are other domestic spot markets. Bauxite (4.5≤Al/Si＜5.5) and...
LME aluminium managed to hold grounds as it showed modest gain to US$2,197.50 per tonne during morning trading hours on Wednesday, January 17. However, the light metal contract fell marginally to close at US$2,187 per tonne, still up from US$2,172 per tonne on Tuesday, January 16. Shanghai Metals Market analysis suggests that LME aluminium will stay range-bound at US$2,175-2,200 per tonne on Thursday, January 18, with resistance at US$2,000 per tonne. As on January 17, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$2,186.50 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is US$2,187 per tonne, 3M Bid Price is US$2,193.50 per tonne, 3M Offer Price is US$2,194 per tonne, Dec1 Bid Price is US$2,248 per tonne, and Dec1 Offer Price is US$2,253 per tonne. LME...
Concurring with Bengal Global Business Summit, AlCircle; the Global Aluminium Ecosystem organised a Global Aluminium Roundtable Conference at its Ecospace office in Kolkata today. A roundtable meeting covering the topic of global aluminium industry with a special focus on the demand supply dynamics, price trends, downstream expansions, new business opportunities and an outlook for 2018 was hosted with delegates from Gulf Aluminium Council, Danieli, A&L aluminium magazine & Metef Group and JS Group. <iframe width="100%" height="350" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BWVRwuUypt0?ecver=1" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe> Gulf Aluminium Council was represented by its Secretary General Mahmood Daylami. Mr Alberto Pomari, the Marketing Director of A&L...
UC RUSAL, a leading global aluminium producer, is pleased to announce the launch of pilot operation of eight new generation RA-550 pots at Sayanogorsk Aluminium Smelter. The total amount of investment in the project amounted to USD 30 mln. The project to develop the technology and launch the RA-550 site at SAZ was implemented within three years. The key advantage of this new development made by the Technical Directorate of RUSAL is its high energy efficiency. RA-550 consumes 10-15% less electricity versus pots of previous generations. Due to design and technological solutions, RA-550 became lighter, more compact, and more environmentally efficient. The RA-550 technology applies a number of innovative engineering solutions that define the new standard of the industry: · Fundamentally new...
Aluminium prices in China are under pressure as Chinese inventory grows on slow consumption. As reported by Shanghai Metals Market, Average A00 ingot price dropped further to stand at RMB 14,440 per tonne today from RMB 14,700 and expected to move within a range of RMB 14,420-14,460. Spot discount will range within RMB 120-80 per tonne today. Aluminium ingot prices registered a drop in all individual markets in China. As of January 12, domestic primary aluminium inventory stood at 1.76 million tonnes. The record high inventory is also due to the transportation hurdles caused by the bad weather conditions in northwest China. According to Huatai Futures analyst Wu Xiangfeng, profits are expected for aluminium producers after losses since November 2017 due to capacity cut drives. This...
LME aluminium price dropped as ingot flow increased and US dollar index regained strength on Tuesday, January 16. The light metal contract which started the week at around US$2,233 per tonne, slipped to US$2,172 per tonne after night trading yesterday. Shanghai Metals Market analysis suggests that LME aluminium will trade at US$2,180-2,200 per tonne with support at the 20-day moving average on Wednesday, January 17. As on January 16, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$2,171.50 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is US$2,172 per tonne, 3M Bid Price is US$2,181 per tonne, 3M Offer Price is US$2,181.50 per tonne, Dec1 Bid Price is US$2,242 per tonne, and Dec1 Offer Price is US$2,247 per tonne. LME aluminium opening stock stands at...
RUSA announced today that it has entered into a five year agreement with ENERGOPROM Group (EPM) for the supply of 21,500 tonnes of cathode blocks per year. Cathode blocks are critical materials for production of primary aluminium. In the period from 2018 through 2022 ENERGOPROM will cover up to 70 per cent of the total demand for coal-graphite raw materials of company's smelters. The company will supply the products from its Novosibirsk Electrode Plant- the largest of its kind in Russia. Vladislav Soloviev, CEO of RUSAL, commented: “The security of raw materials supply is one of RUSAL’s long term priorities that ensures stable operation of our production facilities. A fixed price, which is a condition of the five-year contract, will help to mitigate risks related to imports, as prior to...
Rio Tinto’s aluminium production for the fourth quarter of 2017 stood at 887,000 tonnes, 3 per cent lower compared with the corresponding period of 2016. Aluminium production in 2017 was one per cent lower than 2016. Rio Tinto produced 3.6 million tonnes of aluminium. “Strong operational performances were achieved across most sites, reflecting the implementation of productivity improvements across the business,” it said. “This was offset by production curtailment at the Boyne smelter due to higher power prices in Queensland, and by lower production at the non-managed Sohar smelter due to a power interruption incident in the third quarter.” “Average realised aluminium prices in 2017 were $2,231 per tonne. This includes a $221 per tonne premium for value-added product, which represented 57...
The world’s biggest aluminium producer China Hongqiao Group Limited will raise HK$6.24 billion (US$800 million) through sale of shares to reduce debt, Reuters reported Tuesday. The Group having US$16.6 billion (approximately) liability will use 70 per cent of the raised money to pay off debt this year. The balance amount will be used as working capital, it said in a filing. The decision to sell shares comes after China Hongqiao faced a defamatory issue last year when Emerson Analytics, a market research group, said in their report that the company had exaggerated its profits and understated costs. China Hongqiao was asked to suspend trading for almost a year, after which it rebounded back with 28.3 per cent rise in share price. As per filing, China Hongqiao Holdings Ltd, China Hongqiao’s...
LME aluminium traded higher by 0.9 per cent at US$2,233 per tonne on Monday, January 15, as demand remained high. The light metal contract later came down to close at US$2,227.50 per tonne, still higher than previous week’s close at US$2,215 per tonne. Shanghai Metals Market forecasts that LME aluminium will trade higher in the range of US$2,220-2,250 per tonne on Tuesday, January 16 supported by positive fundamentals. As on January 15, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$2,227 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is US$2,227.50 per tonne, 3M Bid Price is US$2,231 per tonne, 3M Offer Price is US$2,231.50 per tonne, Dec1 Bid Price is US$2,2295 per tonne, and Dec1 Offer Price is US$2,300 per tonne. LME aluminium opening stock stands...
India’s National Commodity & Derivatives Exchange Limited (NCDEX) has sought permission from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to launch options trading in aluminium. The online commodity exchange wants to introduce options trading in non-farm items including select base metals, NCDEX MD and CEO Samir Shah confirmed media. "Our main focus is on options now. We want to launch non-agri items especially nickel and aluminium. It will all depend on the Sebi's approval. We have sought permission," Shah told PTI recently. Sebi has given a nod to futures option trading as underlying. According to Investing Answers , an options contract is an agreement between a buyer and seller that gives the buyer the option and/or the right to buy or sell a particular asset at a future date (any...
Emirates Global Aluminium, the largest aluminium company in the United Arab Emirates has announced that a record 34,419 ideas were submitted by individual employees through its suggestion scheme in 2017, leading to AED 36 million in cost savings in the year. EGA has been operating an employee suggestion scheme since 1981, based on the belief that individuals related to a work process are the best people to spot required improvements in the process and implement simple solutions. The cost savings from such suggestions are shared with the concerned employees who propose them and the best suggestions are recognized and implemented in the company. Abdulla Kalban, EGA’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, said: “Continuous improvement is a foundation of our global success and we...
After a brief marginal, mid-week drop, LME aluminium rose 1.1 per cent to reach a 10-day peak at US$2,239 per tonne on Friday, January 12. The consistent rise in the light metal prices can be partly viewed as a result of the erosion in global aluminium supply caused due to output cuts in China. LME aluminium closed at US$2,215 per tonne on Friday, up from US$2,179 per tonne on Thursday, January 11. Shanghai Metals Market analysis suggests that LME aluminium will rise higher at US$2,210-2,240 per tonne on Monday, January 15, due to the closure of Alcoa’s plant and anti-dumping factors. As on January 12, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$2,214 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is US$2,215 per tonne, 3M Bid Price is US$2,222.50...
On an operational development, ABI Becancour smelter at Quebec locked out 1,030 unionized employees at around 3 a.m. Thursday. The smelter plans to use non-unionized workers to maintain operations at one of three production lines. The smelter, located halfway between Montreal and Quebec City has the capacity to produce about 430,000 tonnes of aluminium annually. The smelter is 75 per cent owned by Alcoa and 25 per cent by Rio Tinto. The move came after members of United Steelworkers Local 9700 voted more than 80 per cent to reject the company’s final contract offer. The union disagreed to a company plan to introduce a new member-funded pension plan instead of a defined benefit plan and some issues regarding employee transfers and turnover. According to Jean Simard, the head of the...
According to a new figures released by the Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi (Scad) and published by Emirates news agency WAM, Abu Dhabi’s aluminium trade increased 58.6 per cent to $1.3 billion (AED4.6 billion) in the first ten months of 2017, from $790 million (AED2.9 billion) during the same period in 2016. Aluminium exports rose 82.4 per cent to $1.1 billion (AED3.96 billion) from $600 million (AED2.17 billion), while imports dropped to $152 million (AED560 million) from $196 million (AED720 million) in 2016. Abu Dhabi’s trade in aluminium and copper reached $3.5 billion (AED12.8 billion) from January to October, up 29.2 per cent from $2.7 billion (AED9.9 billion) during the corresponding period in 2016. Abu Dhabi’s trade in aluminium and copper accounted for 9.5 percent of the emirate’s...
LME aluminium registers another gain after continuous drop and according to Shanghai Metals Market; the light metal contract would test the effectiveness of the five-day moving average following a slump, trading at $2,170-2,190/t today. LME aluminium contract gained from US$ 2159 per tonne on January 10 to close at US$ 2179per tonne on January 11. As on January 11, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$ 2178per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is US$ 2179 per tonne, 3M Bid Price is US$ 2190 per tonne, 3M Offer Price is US$2191 per tonne, Dec1 Bid Price is US$ 2262 per tonne, and Dec1 Offer Price is US$2267 per tonne. LME aluminium opening stock stands at 1088325 tonnes, off from the stock on last closing. Total Live Warrants stands...
