Bell Bay Aluminium (BBA), Australia's oldest aluminium smelter, is reviewing its workforce and offering redundancies for a small number of positions, just over a month after receiving an AUD 200 million (USD 137.52 million) government support package aimed at securing the facility's future until at least 2031. Up to 10 roles are understood to have been affected by the review, although the smelter is expected to retain its existing workforce of approximately 550 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees. Some redeployment opportunities will also be available, while the positions identified are not understood to involve frontline services. The changes reportedly include some former participants in Bell Bay Aluminium's graduate programme. Rio Tinto, which operates the smelter near George Town in...
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...
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Aluminium hit a 4-1/2 month high on Monday after top metals consumer China cut its reserve ratio for banks in an effort to revive flagging growth. Investors welcomed the move by China's central bank to reduce the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves for the fifth time since February last year. "Any sense of proactive policymaking in China towards stabilising the economy and the exchange rate will be taken positively by commodity markets," said Nicholas Snowdon, metals analyst at Standard Chartered in London. Three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange gained 0.8 percent to close at $1,573 a tonne after touching $1,589, its highest since October 15. The premium for LME cash aluminium over the benchmark three-month contract CMAL0-3 jumped to $18 a tonne, the strongest...
Aluminium at London Metal Exchange (LME) will hover at highs this week after another step forward, according to the latest study by Shanghai Metals Market (SMM). SMM sees LME aluminium trading above $1,550 per tonne, with eyes on China PMI and US employment data. Demand recovery will push alumiinum stocks back down. This will drive SHFE aluminium up to near 1,500 yuan per tonne. Spot discounts in China will stay around 80 yuan per tonne, and trading will become brisk with return of processors. LME aluminium faces a resistance at $1,585 per tonne and may retrace to a support at $1,527. The resistance is provided by the 23.6 percent Fibonacci retracement on the fall from the November 6, 2014 high of $2,078.75 to the November 23, 2015 low of $1,432.50. The metal has been hovering below this...
Aluminium prices edged up 0.14 per cent to INR 108.34 per kg in futures trade today as participants enlarged positions, supported by strong demand in the spot markets and a better trend in the base metals pack at the London Metal Exchange (LME). Aluminium for delivery in March inched up 15 paise, or 0.14 per cent, to INR 108.35 per kg in a business turnover of 49 lots in futures trade at Multi Commodity Exchange. Likewise, the metal for delivery in February traded higher five paise, or 0.05 per cent, to INR 108.40 per kg in 64 lots. Marketmen said increased domestic demand and metals strength at the LME after data, helped aluminium futures trade higher. Globally, aluminium was up 0.3 per cent at USD 1,565 per tonne at the LME.
Some big aluminium producers are seeking a premium of $125-$130 per tonne from Japanese buyers for April-June primary metal shipments, up 14 per cent to 18 per cent from the previous quarter, four sources involved in pricing talks said on Monday. Japan is Asia's biggest importer of the metal and the premiums for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay each quarter over the London Metal Exchange (LME) cash price set the benchmark for the region. For the January-March quarter, Japanese buyers agreed to pay a premium of $110 per tonne PREM-ALUM-JP, up 22 per cent from the prior quarter. The latest quarterly pricing negotiations began late last week between Japanese buyers and miners including Rio Tinto Ltd , Alcoa Inc and South32 Ltd, and are expected to continue in March.
Aluminium manufacturer Xinren Aluminum Holdings on Thursday said it has received a S$780 million takeover offer from its major shareholder. The buyer, Merit Stand Inc, will offer to take over the company at S$0.60 per share, which is 25 per cent more than Xinren's last traded price of S$0.48. Merit intends to delist the company. Merit is owned by Zeng Chaoyi, who is also sole shareholder of Sunshine International Global Capital. Sunshine owns 33 per cent of the Xinren Aluminum. All in, the Zeng family controls 75 per cent of the company.
Chinese aluminium import interest remained lackluster despite a rise in domestic aluminium prices over recent weeks, as the spread between import and domestic metal prices has stayed wide, market participants said Wednesday, last week. The London Metal Exchange official cash price closed at $1,575.00-1,575.50/mt on February 23. At $1,575/mt, with the current $100-110/mt Asia premiums, and taking into consideration 17 per cent VAT and port charges, the delivered price to China would equate to Yuan 12,897-12,974/mt ($1,975-1,987/mt). The front-month aluminium contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange closed at Yuan 11,150/mt on Tuesday, up from Yuan 10,985/mt a week before, and also from Yuan 10,830/mt a month ago. “There’s still around a $300 spread between import and domestic prices, so...
LME aluminium faces a resistance at $1,585 per tonne and may hover below this level for one day or retrace to the February 24 low of $1,538.50. The resistance is provided by the 23.6 percent Fibonacci retracement on the fall from the November 6, 2014 high of $2,078.75 to the November 23, 2015 low of $1,432.50. A break above this barrier could open the way towards the next resistance at $1,641, the 38.2 percent Fibonacci retracement on the fall from the May 6, 2015 high of $1,977 to $1,432.50. The break could be confirmed when the metal climbs above $1,590.
The resolution on the European Commission’s 2015 Progress Report on Montenegro was adopted by the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on February 23. The vote was hailed by the Central European Aluminum Company (CEAC). In a press release, the CEAC said: “We are heartened by the overwhelming support of the Committee for a sustainable and negotiated solution to the KAP dispute and are particularly encouraged by its call for a full and independent audit into the dispute. The magnitude of that support [50 in favour, 3 against] is testament to how seriously the Committee takes the KAP dispute and the deep corruption within Montenegro, and we urge all members of the European Parliament to give their full support to this strong resolution in plenary session in March”. The dispute...
Goldman Sachs expects the outlook for global aluminium prices to deteriorate over the next 12 months as China exports more semi-manufactured metal. "(The) aluminium market continues to face the greatest bearish fundamental shock in a generation, and perhaps, in its history," it said in a research note. So far, however, China's daily average primary aluminium output fell to 80,000 tonnes in January, data from the International Aluminium Institute (IAI) showed. "This is the first production decrease on a year-on-year basis, reflecting Chinese smelters' collective efforts in reigning in oversupply," said Argonaut Securities in a note. It added that recent incentives should reinvigorate the country's construction industry. "Construction accounts for 35 per cent of production. And it also...
The preliminary statistics released by the Aluminium Association indicates marginal rise in aluminium demand in the US, Canada during 2015. The producer inventories in Dec ’15 were up slightly when matched with the previous month. Also, aluminium scrap purchases by the industry during Dec ’15 dropped marginally year-on-year. The aluminium demand in the US and Canada totaled 25.74 billion lb during entire year 2015, marginally higher by less than 1 per cent when compared with the demand in 2014. The above figure includes shipments by domestic producers and imports. The demand for semi-fabricated products was up by 3.7 per cent in 2015 over the previous year to 18.303 billion lb. Meanwhile, the demand totaled 1.343 billion lb during the month of Dec ’15 alone, dropping marginally by 2.2 per...
India’s top two aluminium manufacturers - Vedanta Ltd and Hindalco Industries Ltd - are planning further cost cuts in the face of rising cheap imports from China and drop in price realizations - a situation that the steel sector too has been facing. More than half of the domestic demand for aluminium is now being met through imports. And in response to this, India’s biggest producer of aluminium Vedanta Ltd has already gone in for job cuts. “Cost reduction drive will continue, job cuts have already been done. If the situation prevails, and if LME (London Metal Exchange prices) do not give us the support and if we do not get the intervention by the government, hard calls will need to be taken,” said Abhijit Pati, chief executive officer-aluminium, Vedanta Ltd in an interview over phone on...
The House Committee on Ways & Means has requested a formal investigation by the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) into the global competitiveness of the U.S. aluminum industry. The request initiates an inquiry by the U.S. government into the competitive conditions of the aluminum industry domestically and in major producing and exporting countries, such as China. The request was made in a letter from Ways & Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) to USITC Chairman Meredith Broadbent. The investigation will examine factors impacting the U.S. aluminum industry, such as excess capacity and trade practices that undercut the ability of U.S. producers to compete fairly in the global market. “An investigation by the USITC will help us address ongoing issues in the global aluminum...
Australian miner South32 said it plans to run its South African aluminium division at current reduced rates until at least mid-2016, as it wrestles with a sector-wide downturn. In September, South32 suspended the operation of 22 smelting pots, or electrolytic cells, equivalent to 3 percent of the unit's total aluminium-making capacity, in response to a deterioration in markets for the metal. The pots would remain offline for at least the remainder of fiscal 2016, ending June 30, the company said at a briefing after the release of its half-year results. "Any decision will be determined by where prices go," said Mike Fraser, S32's chief operating officer for the Africa region. The production loss is expected to amount to 18,000 tonnes of aluminium by the end of June. South32 produced...
Non-ferrous metal prices plummeted in 2015 due to global slowdown and massive overcapacity, especially in China. Tailing these global trends, aluminium prices in India are estimated to decline by 15-17 per cent in the current fiscal. Consequently, the operating margin of aluminium sector is expected to tumble by 1,000-1,200 basis points (bps). In the wake of deteriorating profitability and rising imports, the government imposed a minimum import price (MIP) on 173 steel products on February 5, 2016, for six months. This levy comes as a breather for the ailing industry, as it is expected to curb imports and also marginally improve pricing flexibility of producers in the short term. No MIP/similar measures have been announced to help the Indian aluminium industry. Hence, it is expected...
Aluminium offloading at the Rio Tinto Alcan aluminium smelter has finally come to a halt after workers went on strike at midnight last night. Rio management is hoping to do the jobs of the employees, but who may work where is being disputed. The workers involved in the strike all belong to the trade union Hlíf, who oversee the export division of Rio Tinto Alcan in Iceland. With the start of these stoppages, no aluminium produced at the smelter will be offloaded, distributed, or shipped out to other countries, effectively rendering any aluminium production superfluous. Workers at the aluminium smelter have been in negotiations with management since at least 2014, where they have been fighting for wage increases. It was forecast that the smelter would be shut down altogether last December,...
Meridian Energy is considering a retail offer of up to $150 million of unsecured, unsubordinated fixed rate bonds to institutional and retail investors in early March, which is shaping as a crucial month for decisions on the future of its largest customer, the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter. No funds are being sought for the bond offer yet and ANZ has been appointed as lead manager, co-managed by First NZ Capital and Forsyth Barr, but Meridian chief executive Mark Binns urged institutional analysts at a briefing to take up the offer, which was "better than putting money in the bank" at current low interest rates. Binns told the briefing that a key event for both Meridian and New Zealand Aluminium Smelters, the Rio Tinto-controlled operator of the Tiwai Point smelter, would be next month's...
LME aluminium is expected to test a support at $1,563 per tonne, a break below which could cause a loss to the next support at $1,549. These supports are identified respectively as the 86.4 per cent and the 76.4 percent Fibonacci projection levels of an upward wave C, the third wave of a three-wave cycle from the January 7 low of $1,451.50. This wave has stopped around a key resistance at $1,581, the 100 per cent level. Chances are it may have completed. Only a rise above $1,581 could signal its extension towards $1,600, the 114.6 per cent level.
The inverted duty structure in the aluminium sector has compounded the woes of the domestic industry, which is reeling under the impact of increased import of the metal from China and West Asia. As a result of this structure, manufacturers face a price disadvantage in the domestic market vis-à-vis imports, as they pay a higher price for raw material in terms of duty, while finished products land at lower duty. “Import duty on some raw materials used for aluminium production is either equal to or more than the duty on primary metal. This has put domestic producers at a disadvantage," says Satish Pai, deputy managing director, Hindalco. Currently, basic Customs duty is five per cent, whereas duty on some critical raw materials and alumina is equal to or above five per cent. The Aluminium...
