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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Caution will dominate before the release of China May manufacturing PMI. SHFE 1607 aluminium will move narrowly between RMB 12,000-12,300/mt today. LME aluminum will fluctuate at USD 1,540-1,565/mt, with growing resistance. In China’s spot aluminium market, spot premiums of RMB 80-120/mt are expected over SHFE 1606 aluminium contract.
An interesting article in Reuters this week examines the Chinese aluminum market trends. It points out that the statistics coming out of China are even more unreliable than normal showing rises and falls of millions of metric tons from month to month. Specifically, Chinese output supposedly slumped by an annualized 6.6 million mt in the December-February period only to surge back by 5.2 mmt in March and April, almost certainly not the case when you consider the time it takes to idle and restart smelters. Shanghai Futures Up Taken over a longer time frame, though, run rates actually appear to have fallen slightly from Q4 to Q1 which would make sense when you look at the low Shanghai Futures Exchange (ShFE) price during that period. It fell below 10,000 yuan per metric ton ($1,525). But the...
The end of a decades-long power subsidy is threatening the future of Portland's smelter, putting at risk the Victorian coastal community's economy. The fixed 20-year subsidy between the Victorian Government and global aluminium producer Alcoa seems unlikely to continue after November, with Treasurer Tim Pallas ruling out "open-ended engagements" with the company. Enacted in the late 1980s by then-Labor premier John Cain, the subsidy was designed to provide electricity to both the Portland and now-defunct Point Henry smelters at a price linked to the world price of aluminium. Mr Pallas said the subsidy had come at a significant cost to successive Victorian budgets. "If you look back at the time the arrangements were struck, it would have been seen that the level of liability the state was...
With Coal India (CIL) planning to raise its revenue margin by an additional INR 3,234 crore by increasing the average coal prices by 6.29 per cent, power tariffs in plants across the country are set to rise. To push sales of higher-grade coal and to price them at par with international trends, CIL reduced prices between INR 50 and INR 1,420 for the G1-G5 grades and - to make up for the loss on account of this - it increased prices in the lower G6-G17 grades between INR 70 and INR 300. Although prices have been reduced for the higher grades, the power sector in the country mostly uses the lower G8-G13 band where prices have soared by 13.60-18.03 per cent. “If input costs go up as a result of the price increase in coal, a price rise in power might happen,” said an NTPC official, adding that...
Shares of Hindalco rallied 11 percent intraday Monday, riding high on its March quarter results. Boosted by strong aluminium business, the company's net profit zoomed 124 percent to Rs 356.3 crore in January-March quarter from Rs 159 crore in year-ago period. During the quarter, its total turnover slipped 8 percent at Rs 8667.9 crore compared to Rs 9371.6 crore year-on-year. Revenue in Q4 was lower due to a sharp decline in aluminium and copper realisations. However, a strong increase in aluminium volumes following increased production and value addition across businesses helped it to partially offset the impact of sharp fall in realisations. "The weaker rupee also enabled partially offset the impact of the drop in realisations. The lower cost of raw materials, especially energy inputs...
National Aluminium Company is currently trading at Rs 42.15, up by 0.30 points or 0.72% from its previous closing of Rs 41.85 on the BSE. The scrip opened at Rs. 41.85 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 42.75 and Rs. 41.75 respectively. So far 105486 shares were traded on the counter. The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 5 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 49.60 on 02-Jun-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 28.00 on 25-Aug-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 43.65 and Rs. 41.15 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 10850.17 crore. The promoters holding in the company stood at 80.93%, while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 12.15% and 6.92% respectively. National Aluminium Company has posted a fall of 41.40% in its net profit at Rs 207.94...
After the government helped the steel industry by imposing a minimum import price to keep imports at bay, aluminium manufacturers are lobbying with the commerce ministry for similar benefits. “The government is re-examining the provisions of imposing either a safeguard or an antidumping duty on various grades of aluminium,” commerce minister Nirmala Sitharaman told HT on Monday. Safeguard duty is a WTO-compatible temporary fiscal measure to protect a country’s domestic industry from cheap imports. The companies approached the commerce ministry after the finance ministry decided against a safeguard duty on aluminium, threated by cheaper imports from countries such as UAE, Malaysia, Russia, South Africa, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Thailand. In the last fortnight, the heads of aluminium majors...
On last Friday’s night trading, SHFE 1607 aluminum dropped to RMB 12,170/mt after opening at RMB 12,200/mt. But prices then rallied to RMB 12,295/mt before ending at RMB 12,230/mt. On Monday, SHFE 1607 aluminum briefly dipped to RMB 12,175/mt after starting at RMB 12,230/mt. The contract then moved higher to RMB 12,345/mt, and finally ended up RMB 150/mt at RMB 12,295/mt. Trading volumes were down 90,716 lots to 180,440 lots, and positions were down 396 to 210,776.
SMM surveyed 44 Chinese aluminum smelters about their opinions over aluminum price outlook. About 45% of them expect SHFE 1607 aluminum to break through RMB 12,350/mt and LME aluminum rise above USD 1,560/mt. First, new aluminum capacity is commissioned at a slow pace. Smelters with plans to resume production will put facility under maintenance in June. So, output contribution from new and restarted capacity will be limited in June. Second, aluminum stocks in China’s five major markets fell to near 457,000 mt last Thursday. Should stocks continue falling at 40,000 mt pace each week on average, as did in May, stocks will fall to around 300,000 mt at the end of June. Third, suppliers in spot market are holding offers firm due to tight supply, allowing spot premiums to expand to RMB 150/mt...
Hindalco Industries named Satish Pai, currently deputy managing director, as the managing director. Current Managing Director D Bhattacharya will continue as non-executive director and has also been appointed vice-chairman, Hindalco said in its statement. The aluminium major reported a 123% jump in net profit in the quarter ended March, helped by higher volumes and lower input costs. "D. Bhattacharya, will be demitting office as managing director with effect from 31 July 2016," Hindalco said on BSE on Saturday. Chief financial officer Praveen Kumar Maheshwari has been inducted as the whole-time director on the board of the company for a term of five years. Bhattacharya will play an active role at the Aditya Birla Group level, a person familiar with the matter said. He is likely becoming...
Aluminum stocks in China’s major markets fell at a much faster pace, and this will lend support to both SHFE and spot aluminum prices , SMM expects. Limited aluminum capacity restarts will support SHFE 1607 aluminum at the 60-day moving average, with price range at 11,950-12,300 yuan per tonne this coming week. Spot aluminum in east China will trade at premiums of 150 yuan per tonne over SHFE 1606 aluminum. Movement of LME aluminum will remain subject to crude oil and US dollar. Market will eye US non-farm payrolls for clues for the US Fed’s policy path and impact on US dollar. LME aluminum should move at $1,530-1,570 per tonne.
Aluminium maker Hindalco today said its standalone net profit more than doubled to Rs 356 crore for the quarter ended March 2016 helped by growth in sales of value-added products as well as cost efficiencies. The flagship firm of the Aditya Birla Group had clocked a net profit of Rs 160 crore in the year-ago period, it said in a regulatory filing. Standalone revenue of the company, however, declined by 7.5 per cent to Rs 8,668 crore in January-March quarter of last fiscal from Rs 9,372 crore during the same quarter of 2014-15 due to decline in realisations from aluminium and copper. The firm said aluminium production rose year-on-year (y-o-y) 27 per cent to 307 kilo tonnes (KT) as well as there were significant cost efficiencies achieved with supportive input costs and decline in coal and...
At a time when 70% aluminium companies world over have reported loss, as also reduced production, and the aluminium industry is reeling under heavy pressure due to sluggish international market, National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), a Navratna PSU under Ministry of Mines, Government of India, has remained profitable by successfully handling the market downturn by becoming the lowest cost producer of alumina in the world and focusing on increased bauxite mining and alumina refining, besides effecting several cost reduction measures, particularly in metal production. It may be noted that while the average London Metal Exchange (LME) price per tonne of aluminium in FY14-15 was 1889 USD per tonne, it slumped to an average of 1592 USD in FY 15-16 i.e a fall of 16%. According to the...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), the Bahrain-based international smelter, announced that the CAPEX associated with Line 6 Expansion Project was brought-down from US$ 3.5 billion to around US$ 3 billion. As per the initial Bankable Feasibility Study, the CAPEX for Line 6 Expansion Project - comprising the construction of a sixth pot line and Power Station 5 - was estimated at US$ 3.5 billion. However, following our on-going review in response to the lower oil prices and commodity market’s soft conditions, the CAPEX has significantly shrinked to approximately US$ 3 billion. Speaking about this development, Alba’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Murray said: “We are pleased to arrive at a lower CAPEX as that will reduce the debt burden when financing the construction of the sixth pot line and...
Another wave of layoffs was announced at the Alcoa Point Comfort plant this week after the company initially hit the brakes on production in November. Notices were given to employees this week at the Point Comfort plant that detailed when the latest round of layoffs will begin. An estimated 60 employees will be laid off and 18 will retire June 27, said Kari Fluegel, spokeswoman for the Point Comfort location of the alumina producer. About 137 employees will be let go July 23. "We will close down production on June 30, and then after that we enter what we call a maintenance and care mode, and that requires some staffing level," Fluegel said. The company initially announced late last year it would cut back locally by about 1.2 million metric tons to save money. In 2015, the aluminum price...
Exports of aluminium from the US and Canada, excluding cross-border trade, totalled 762 million lb through the first three months of 2016, up 9.3 per cent from the year-ago period, while aluminium imports totalled 1.685 billion lb, up 11.6 per cent, as per the latest figures from the Aluminum Association. US and Canadian aluminium demand, measured by domestic producer shipments plus imports, totalled 6.55 billion lb through March, up 0.7 per cent year on year. Over the same period, apparent consumption -- defined as demand less exports -- in domestic markets totaled 5.788 billion lb, down 0.4 per cent. Demand for semi-fabricated mill products totaled 4.552 billion lb through March, down 1.1 per cent from a year ago.
Tasmania’s Bell Bay Aluminium says that energy shortages have taken a significant toll on the firm’s profit margins and is calling for an investigation regarding the state’s operating procedures, specifically why it was so catastrophic to the island’s energy supply when one power cable to the mainland was severed. Although recent heavy rains have done much to alleviate power shortages, Bell Bay’s general manager Ray Mostogl says it could be up to nine weeks before the smelter is back up to full capacity. He estimated that the company has lost between 7,000 and 9,000 metric tons, which at current market prices is between US$10 million and US$13 million. “For us the saving was the fact that we weren’t buying the energy and the raw materials, so there is an offset. But in any business you...
SHFE 1607 aluminium will meet resistance at the 5-day and 40-day moving averages and move at RMB 11,950-12,200/mt on Friday on fading effect from falling aluminium stocks, SMM observed in an early morning forecast. LME aluminium will fluctuate at USD 1,540-1,560/mt, with resistance at the 60-day moving average. In China’s spot aluminium market, spot premiums of RMB 90-130/mt are expected over SHFE 1606 aluminium contract. Key macroeconomic indicators for base metal prices Base metals will lack ability to rise today. Value added at China’s large industrials is expected to grow in April as declines in profit at China’s SOEs narrowed further in April, but increase will slow compared with March. The figure due for release today should boost the market. US Q1 growth looks set to rise compared...
