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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Russian Aluminium major UC RUSAL announces its results for the 2nd Quarter and 1st Half ended 30 June 2016. Along with reporting the financial results, the company also reports global aluminium market trends for H12016 and its forecast for the rest of the year. Highlights for the first half of 2016 • Global aluminium demand grew by 5.4% YoY as a result of strong demand in China, Europe, other Asia, North America and India. • Global aluminium demand will increase by 5.4% YoY to 59.5 million tonnes in 2016, driven by ex-China growth of 3.5% to 28.5 million tonnes and China growth of 7.2% to 31.0 million tonnes. • World Primary aluminium production ex-China rose by 1.5% YoY to 13.3 million tonnes. Though there was production ramp up in India and Malaysia it was offset by capacity cuts in the...
Mining giant BHP Billiton spin-off South32 posted a net loss of $US1.62 billion ($A2.13 billion) in the full year ending July 31 vis-a-vis a $US28 million profit last financial year. The heavy write-downs in the miner's manganese, alumina and coal operations reflected the slump in commodities prices. According to an official release by South32, the diversified mining company's underlying earnings (excluding non-cash impairments) and the impact of foreign exchange movements dropped 76 per cent to US$138 million. The company said it was on track to achieve its objective to reduce unit cost of production (forecast) by 2016-17 end once it had completed restructuring its major operations. Chief executive Graham Kerr said, “Twelve months on, South32 is a much stronger company with significantly...
Russian Aluminium major UC RUSAL announces its results for the 2nd Quarter and 1st Half ended 30 June 2016. The aluminium industry remained under strong pressure throughout the 1st half of the year due to the volatility in the commodity market. There was a slight recovery of 3.7% in the LME prices to USD1,571 during the second quarter of 2016. The average sales price increased by 2.8% to USD1,712 but the average realized product premium for the same period decreased by 5.8%. RUSAL reports a revenue drop of 18.0% to USD 3,896 million YOY in the first half of 2016 in comparison to USD4,750 million in H1 2015 mostly due to lower LME aluminium price and 54.5% decrease YOY in average realised premiums to USD167 per tonne in H12016. This was slightly offset by the 5.0% growth in the physical...
According to the analysts at Shanghai Metals Market, the base metal industry expects that the US Fed Chairwoman, in likelihood, will deliver 'hawkish speech' at the upcoming conference scheduled Friday, which will strengthen the US dollar. The speculation drove EIA crude oil stocks up. The market expects, according to SMM, the impact from upcoming OPEC oil output freeze meeting will fade bringing crude oil prices down. Aluminium traded on LME will stand somewhere between USD 1,635-1,655/mt. Market expectations for the easing of monetary policies are cooling, which, analysts believe, will keep longs cautious. SHFE 1610 aluminium will hover in the range of RMB 12,240-12,450/mt. Aluminium spot premiums of RMB 80-120/mt in east China's market are expected over SHFE 1609 aluminium contract....
The government of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced its plans to offer stake in Aluminij d.d. Mostar aluminium smelter, which will be put up for sale by end of 2016, reported Goran Djukanovic on Aluminium Insider . The sale process forms a part of a privatisation initiative that was launched in 2007, involving five other companies. The Bosnian government had halted the drive despite a reasonably high level of interest shown by international companies. This is going to be the second attempt by the government to sell the aluminium assets at Aluminij. However, unlike previously, this is going to be a tad difficult task for them as the smelter condition has deteriorated over the years due to poor management and escalating electricity cost which has led to rising debt for the smelter owners and...
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Russian aluminium behemoth UC Rusal is expected to post a quarter-on-quarter eight per cent surge in core earnings in the second quarter of FY2016-2017, according to a survey conducted among analysts from six global banks. Analysts are of the opinion that Rusal's Q2 FY2016-17 earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) will see a rise from $312 million in the first quarter to $336 million. They attribute this increase in earnings to the recent recovery in global aluminium prices. Aluminium traded on the London Metal Exchange (LME) has improved 11 per cent since 2016 beginning when prices were at their months' lows. However, the weakness in the light metal market is still anticipated to be weighing on the aluminium major's year-on-year financial results....
China is simply not showing any signs of slowing down. The momentum at which the country has been churning out aluminium in the last several months is still continuing. Analysts at the Shanghai Metals Market (SMM) are of the opinion that aluminium production in the domestic market will grow further in August owing to the release of new and restarted aluminium smelting capacity. SMM estimates, China's total aluminium output will stand at 2.69 million tonnes in August, up from 2.68 million tonnes in July. Annualized operational aluminium capacity across China now totals 32.45 million tonnes, with overall utilization rate averaging 82.9 per cent in the industry, showed a recent SMM survey. China Aluminum International Trading Co. (Chalco Trading) further pared down aluminium prices it...
Metal and Mineral giant Rio Tinto is re-considering sale of its aluminium assets at three of its Australian smelters- Tasmania's Bell Bay, Queensland's Boyne and New South Wales' Tomago and is seeking buyers for the same. The dual-listed miner has engaged an investment bank to handle the entire selling operations. Rio Tinto had tried divesting its aluminium assets several times previously, but this time, the desire seems even greater under the leadership of new chief executive Jean-Sebastien Jacques. According to the company sources, the Australasian aluminium division of the miner has a book value of $US1.2 billion. While pinpointing logical buyers isn't easy - sources said Alcoa is unlikely to be interested. Aluminium prices globally have been hovering around their lows in recent years,...
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The Aluminum Association is known to be still not losing hopes on anti-dumping or countervailing duty cases on Chinese aluminium imports; but that largely depends on market conditions, which if deteriorate further will make it difficult for the U.S. aluminium trade body to defend them on a wider scale. It is also trying to make the U.S. reach a binding bilateral deal with China to reduce aluminium overcapacity, informed industry sources. According to the same sources, the U.S. primary aluminium industry is gearing up for the upcoming International Trade Commission hearing on September 29, which would serve as the first step toward any future international trade defense cases on aluminium. The industry is known to have taken a less aggressive approach than steel in not more pursuing...
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Aluminium contracs traded on London Metal Exhange (LME) will stop falling and find resistance at the 20-day and 40-day moving averages, with prices expected to range between USD1,650-1,670/mt today (August 23), observed analysts at Shanghai Metals Market (SMM). According to the market sources, most of the longs that entered last Thursday have exited, and both longs and shorts will be cautious in the short term. This will keep SHFE 1610 aluminium in check at RMB 12,320-12,460/mt. In east China’s spot aluminium market, spot premiums of RMB 50-90/mt are expected over SHFE 1609 aluminium contract, noted SMM. SMM surveyed 44 Chinese aluminium smelters about their opinions over aluminium price outlook. About half of them expect SHFE 1610 aluminium to fall below RMB 12,300/mt and LME aluminium...
Under increasing international pressure to make further cuts to capacity, China Hongqiao’s chief Zhang Bo defended his firm’s output, claiming that increasing demand will keep the potential of a further drop in prices in check. In an interview with Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, Zhang said that demand, plus the Chinese industry’s “self-discipline” in production and expansion have, despite the experts’ opinions, made the domestic aluminium industry healthier than popularly believed. On the subject of the price decline of aluminium due to oversupply, he remained steadfastly against the notion that oversupply is an issue. “Our view, and also the view of our industry’s association is that, given the industry’s overall plant utilisation exceeds 80 per cent, and over 80 per cent of the...
The Government of India is finally considering imposing a minimum import price (MIP) on aluminium to help address the issue of surging cheaper aluminium shipments from overseas markets, especially China and Middle East. The surge has been such that the even biggest names in the primary aluminium sector in India have been feeling the heat. The Ministry of Finance led Revenue Department is known to be studying the case presented to them by domestic manufacturers led by Vedanta, Nalco, Hindalco and Balco under the umbrella concern of Aluminium Association of India. The Chief executives of leading aluminium companies met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday last week, with the demand to protect the domestic aluminium industry from cheaper imports. They sought imposition of import...
Both LME and SHFE aluminium will consolidate at highs this week, SMM predicts. LME aluminium will remain firm between $1,650-1,720 per tonne, while SHFE 1610 aluminium will consolidate at 12,300-12,800 yuan per tonne, supported by low aluminium stocks in China. Aluminium stocks in China, though up, are still at low levels. More aluminium ingots will arrive in east China due to shrinking price spread between Shanghai and Guangdong. This will narrow spot premiums in east China to 50-100 yuan per tonne over SHFE 1609 aluminium.
China Aluminum International Trading Co. (Chalco Trading) raised aluminium prices it offered in major markets further today, it said on its WeChat. For details, please see the table below: Unit: yuan/tonne Note: Chalco Trading is a full subsidiary under Chalco responsible for alumina and aluminium sales. Aluminium stocks in China’s five major markets grew for the second consecutive week after continuous declines, SMM data showed. Large arrivals from northwest China and Shandong, and poor demand in the off-season led to higher inventories, SMM explained.
Indian aluminium industry giants have once again come forward to nudge the government to take some decisive steps against cheap aluminium imports that have been flooding the Indian market for a while now. After the Centre gifted the domestic steel industry some relief from the onslaughts of cheap imports by introducing minimum import price on select steel products, the aluminium industry has now upped the ante in their demand for a similar relief that would help protect the interest of several primary producers in the country. Industry body, Aluminium Association of India, met Mines Minister Piyush Goyal on Thursday, August 18, with a proposal seeking interim relief from cheap imports or imposition of minimum import price to protect the domestic aluminium industry. The association boasts...
After a dismissal performance last year, aluminium managed to gain around 9 percent in the first eight months. The increase in demand is attributed by two factors, demand in China and demand from automobile industry. Sharp fall in inventories has also been blessing for aluminium. Inventories in Shanghai Future Exchange are lowest since 2011 and in London Metal Exchange (LME), the inventories is down nearly 18 per cent. This is because last year to support the falling prices, many aluminium smelters in China were closed down. According to a leading website on metal industry, from January to June 2016, China’s total refined aluminium output was 15.11 million tonnes, virtually flat on the same period last year. With production restarts continuing and new capacity being added, refined...
India's National Aluminium Co. Ltd (Nalco) delivered an astounding performance with gross turnover amounting to INR7,157 crore and net profit INR731 crore in FY2015-16. The feat is all the more remarkable since it happened during a period when about 70 per cent of the world's aluminium producers have reported loss. Nalco CMD T K Chand said the company's effort to stay low-cost has helped it stay profitable amid market downturns. Nalco has set a capex target of INR870 crore during the current financial year and is targeting revenue of INR7,100 crore from operations. According to a recent InfraCircle report, the aluminium producer spend INR452 crore towards capital expenditure compared with a INR781-crore target last year due to commodity industry slowdown and shrinking domestic demand and...
The National Minerals Information Center (NMIC) launches the NMIC Seminars series, a collection of insightful presentations focusing on the trends and issues affecting global and domestic minerals, mining, and metallurgy and their respective processes and applications. From ore bodies to consumer products, the goal is to create a collection of knowledgeable resources for everyone, from the most studied expert to the youngest future miner. This month's seminar featuring China's Economic Rebalancing Act-Implications for the World Economy will be held on August 18 in the USGS National Center Auditorium (12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, VA 20192). The seminar will feature Scott Kennedy from the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He will share his analysis of China’s role in...
