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
Nonferrous metals trading on the SHFE was supported by bullish news yesterday and the upward momentum in the morning continued in the afternoon. After constantly falling since the winter cut started in November, A00 ingot prices in China started showing some upward movements in the first few days of December to fall again by the end of the first week. Average A00 ingot price remains unchanged today at RMB 13,920/t. As updated by Shanghai Metals Market, the primary ingot prices registered some increase in the domestic markets. The price is expected to range within RMB 13910 – 13950 per tonne. The positive movement in A00 Aluminum prices have continued in all other individual markets in China. The below table shows the price increase in major Chinese markets: The existing surplus market...
LME aluminium is resisting the downward trend trying to settle over USD 2000. After trending downwards for the last week, the light metal finally crossed USD 2000 level and closed at USD 2004 per tonne on Tuesday December 13. According to SMM, LME aluminium is expected to stay volatile at a low level between $2,000-2,300/t today. Technical analysis suggests that LME aluminium may break the five-day moving average and trade in the range of US$2,015-2,045 per tonne. As on December 12, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$ 2003per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is US$ 2004 per tonne, 3M Bid Price is US$2,026 per tonne, 3M Offer Price is US$2,026.50 per tonne, Dec1 Bid Price is US$2,073 per tonne, and Dec1 Offer Price is US$2,078 per...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), the Bahrain-based aluminium smelter, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with International Bechtel Co. (Bechtel) to explore further opportunities of growth with Line 6 Expansion Project, which will result in Alba becoming the world’s largest single-site aluminium smelter. His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister attended the MoU signing ceremony between Alba and Bechtel, which was held during the reception organised by the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) in collaboration with American Chamber of Commerce and the U.S.-Bahrain Business Council on 30 November 2017 in Washington DC. Other cross-sector trade agreements were also signed between Bahrain and...
LME aluminium has stopped declining. After trending downwards for the last four consecutive days, the light metal finally rose 0.5 per cent to touch US2,002 per tonne on Monday, December 11. However, after night trading, the contract dropped slightly to close at US$1,991.5 per tonne. Technical analysis suggests that LME aluminium may break the five-day moving average on Tuesday, December 12, to trade in the range of US$2,015-2,045 per tonne. As on December 11, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$1,990.50 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is US$1,991.50 per tonne, 3M Bid Price is US$2,005 per tonne, 3M Offer Price is US$2,006 per tonne, Dec1 Bid Price is US$2,055 per tonne, and Dec1 Offer Price is US$2,060 per tonne. LME...
Indonesia Asahan Aluminium, the country’s only aluminium producer, is undergoing a major transformation. The company aims to double its aluminium production capacity to 500,000 tonnes per annum by 2020, and to one million tonnes by 2025. It further intends to take control of its supply chain thereby reducing dependence on imports of alumina. The projects in pipeline may cost the around US$3.5 billion. Inalum, as the wholly-owned government sector company is known, has been keen on scaling its production as it is now capable of meeting only one third of domestic aluminium demand, estimated at 800,000 tonnes per year. The construction of a second smelter, with a projected production capacity of 200,000 tonnes, will cost US$700 million approximately. Inalum plans to erect a hydro power plant...
LME aluminium closed below US$2,000 per tonne mark last week indicating at an obvious stretch of short-term volatility. The light metal contract ended at US$1,992 per tonne on Friday, December 8, down from US$1,994 per tonne a day before. Shanghai Metals Market holds a slightly different outlook though. According to SMM, LME aluminium will stop dropping temporarily today and rise slightly. It is likely to trade in the range of US$2,000-2,030 per tonne on Monday, December 11. As on December 8, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$1,991.50 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is US$1,992 per tonne, 3M Bid Price is US$2,011.50 per tonne, 3M Offer Price is US$2,012 per tonne, Dec1 Bid Price is US$2,060 per tonne, and Dec1 Offer Price is...
Tajikistan Aluminium Company (TALCO), the largest state-owned company in Tajikistan with the designed capacity of 500,000 tonnes of aluminium per year, produced 85,600 tonnes of aluminium in the first ten months of 2017. The company reduced its production by 23 per cent during that period. TALCO’s total aluminium production stood at 76,000 tonnes during January-September. The company recorded a downward trend in aluminium production this year. Earlier reports stated that the company had planned to increase the volume of aluminium production to 300,000 tonnes by 2020. TALCO official representative Igor Sattarov said the production will be brought to 168,800 tonnes in 2018, to 188,800 tonnes in 2019, and to 300,000 tonnes in 2020. In November, TALCO announced that China’s Yunnan...
A00 ingot prices in China are constantly falling after the winter cut started in November. Experiencing few significant drops since the last week of November, average A00 ingot price today stands at RMB 13,920/t. As updated by Shanghai Metals Market, the primary ingot price registered a drop of about RMB 400/t in the first week of December. The price is expected to range within RMB 13,900 – 13,940 per tonne. The drop in aluminium A00 Aluminum prices have continued in all other individual markets in China. The below table shows the price drop in various markets: Liu Xiaolei, chief aluminium analyst of SMM discussed these downward trends in the domestic aluminium market during the Die-casting Industry Chain Supply-demand Communication Summit organized by SMM on Dec.8. The existing surplus...
It is quite apparent now that the global aluminium market ex-China is moving toward a surplus. The expectations of tighter supply because of smelter capacity cutbacks in China seem to have started fading now as the cuts have been less than expected. In China, on the other hand, primary aluminium output kept rising. All these factors have led LME aluminium prices to correct over the last weeks falling below US$2,000 per tonne mark. The light metal which closed at US$2,028.0 per tonne on Wednesday, December 6, dropped to US$1,994 per tonne on Thursday, December 7. The price is expected to fluctuate in the US$1,900-2,000 per tonne range in the short term. Source:www.lme.com As on December 7, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$1,993.50 per tonne, cash seller &...
Some Japanese aluminum buyers have agreed to pay some global producers a premium of $103 per tonne for shipments in January to March, reflecting higher spot premiums, two sources directly involved in the pricing talks said on Thursday. The new figure is higher than the $94-$95 per tonne premium in the current quarter, and the increase is the first in three quarters. Japan is Asia’s biggest importer of aluminum and the premiums for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay each quarter over the London Metal Exchange cash price set the benchmark for the region. One of the major buyers reached the deal with two producers while another buyer struck an agreement with a single seller, according to the sources. “We’ve done the deal at $103 a tonne with one of the sellers as we believed the figure...
The market's expectations of supply tightness of aluminium due to the capacity cut in China is slowly fading away as the winter production cuts have been less than expected and the Chinese aluminium output kept on increasing over the period. That led LME aluminium prices to correct over November coming down to a level of USD 2,030 to USD 2,060 per tonne currently. Despite the all-time-low LME inventories, the prices continue to move downward. LME prices have also been hit by lower aluminium prices in the domestic Chinese market due to increasing supply. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China, Shanxi Province in Northwest China produced 820,000 tonnes of refined aluminium in January-October, up 19.6% year on year. The LME cash contract closed further down from US$2,052 per...
The month of November was marked by lower LME aluminium prices and on the whole aluminum prices decreased by 5.6% during this month. Aluminum prices rallied since August 2017 and broke the resistance levels. However, despite the price declines in November, the early days of December is showing some improvement in price. After edging higher on Monday, November 4 closing at US$2,052.50 per tonne, the light metal contract closed at US$2,052 per tonne yesterday November 5. Analysts revised up their aluminium price forecast in Citi Annual Commodities Market Outlook 2018. Aluminium prices are expected to stay high due to skyrocketing oil prices as well as other raw materials like alumina. Analysts expect LME aluminium prices to remain well above US$2,000 per tonne range in the medium term. As...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), home-base of the Line 6 Expansion Project, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with General Electric (GE) to implement a fourth Combined Cycle Gas Turbine (GT) block using GE 9HA technology in the company’s Power Station (PS) 5. The fourth GT block will further increase the power efficiency and output of PS 5. This will strengthen Alba’s position as an environmentally responsible smelter. Alba’s CEO Tim Murray said: "We are proud that Alba is transforming power generation in the aluminium smelting industry by becoming the first smelter in the world to install the GE 9HA technology at PS 5. This cutting-edge technology will further align us with the goals of the Kingdom’s Economic Vision 2030.” The deal was signed by Alba's Chief Executive Officer,...
LME aluminium edged higher on Monday, November 4, after closing at US$2,046.50 per tonne on Friday, December 1. The light metal contract ended at US$2,052.50 per tonne yesterday. Analysts revised up their aluminium price forecast in Citi Annual Commodities Market Outlook 2018. They say LME aluminium prices will remain well above US$2,000 per tonne range in the medium term. Overall aluminium production cost will remain higher for longer supporting aluminium prices globally. As on December 4, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$2,052 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is US$2,052.50 per tonne, 3M Bid Price is US$2,070 per tonne, 3M Offer Price is US$2,070.50 per tonne, Dec1 Bid Price is US$2,118 per tonne, and Dec1 Offer Price is...
Russia’s En+ Group announced its financial and operational results for the three and nine months ended 30 September 2017. The group produced 2,762 thousand tonnes of aluminium in the first nine months of 2017. In 3Q 2017, aluminium production increased 1.2 per cent to 931 thousand tonnes, with Siberian smelters representing 94 per cent of total aluminium production. The Group’s net profit increased 43 per cent year-on-year to USD 350 million in Q32017. For the nine months of 2017, net profit increased 60 per cent to USD 898 million. In Q32017, revenue increased 17 per cent to USD 2,875 million. Revenue rose 21 per cent to USD 8,716 million in the first nine months of this year. Adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) grew 41 per cent to USD803...
Global leader in the mining and metals sector, Rio Tinto has appointed Simon Thomson as chairman. Thompson, who succeeds Jan du Plessis will assume office on March 5, 2018. Rio senior independent director Ann Godbehere welcomed Thompson saying “The Rio Tinto board would like to thank Jan for his significant contribution as chairman of Rio Tinto. He led the board during considerable transformation of the company. Source: Rio Tinto Thompson has over 20 years’ of experience working across the global mining and metals industry. He worked for the Anglo American group from 1995 to 2007, holding a number of senior positions. His experience as a non-executive director includes serving on the boards of AngloGold Ashanti, Rusal and Newmont Mining Corporation. He joined Rio Tinto board as a...
LME aluminium climbed higher on Friday, December 1, supported by the encouraging manufacturing data from most of Europe and Asia. The light metal which had closed at US$2,033 per tonne on Thursday, December 30, rose by about half a dollar to close at US$2,046.50 per tonne on Friday. It is unlikely that LME aluminium will be able to hold on to this gain. There are possibilities that aluminium price will again decline; and even if there is any rise, it will be limited within a narrow range. As on December 1, LME official cash buyer aluminium price (Bid Price) stands at US$2,046 per tonne, cash seller & settlement aluminium price (Offer price) is US$2,046.50 per tonne, 3M Bid Price is US$2,060 per tonne, 3M Offer Price is US$2,062 per tonne, Dec1 Bid Price is US$2,110 per tonne, and Dec1...
China’s winter production cuts to curb smog have sent commodity prices higher. That’s no solace for aluminium producers in India as fuel and raw material costs are rising faster than the prices of the base metal. Yet, Hindalco Ltd. is best placed among its peers to beat the winter chill, brokerage Axis Capital said. It’s insulated from the rising costs of alumina given that its plants are fully integrated and can source bauxite requirement internally, the brokerage said. The Aditya Birla Group company has also secured almost its entire coal requirement through captive mines and linkages, it said. Alumina prices rose 50 percent in the last one year compared to a 22 percent gain in aluminium on the London Metal Exchange, a Macquarie report said. China’s decision to shut illegal smelters on...
