The most-traded SHFE aluminium contract did not trade during the night session of September 24 and the daytime session of September 25. On September 24, the daytime session opened at RMB 24,230 per tonne, reached a high of RMB 24,265 per tonne and a low of RMB 24,175 per tonne, and closed at RMB 24,200 per tonne, down RMB 30 per tonne or 0.12 per cent from the previous close. Futures consolidated at highs before pulling back, with prices falling below the 5-day moving average while remaining above the 20/40/60-period moving averages. Medium and long-term moving averages maintained an upward pattern. Trading volume during the session was 98,900 lots, and open interest stood at 281,000 lots, down 8,300 lots, driven mainly by bulls closing positions. On the technical front, a death cross...
LME aluminium prices moved higher across cash and forward contracts on September 25, while the Asian Reference Price and alumina Platts price also increased. Opening stocks remained unchanged, while cancelled warrants rose sharply. The LME aluminium cash bid price rose 0.80 per cent to USD 3,253 per tonne on September 25 from USD 3,227 per tonne on September 24 . The cash offer price showed a similar trend. It also increased 0.80 per cent to USD 3,254 per tonne from USD 3,228 per tonne. Explore the production, demand and consumption forecasts of bauxite and alumina in our report: " Global Bauxite & Alumina Market Forecast to 2036: Supply–Demand, Trade Flows & Price Outlook " The three-month aluminium bid price rose 0.40 per cent to USD 3,265 per tonne from USD 3,252 per tonne, while the...
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<p>LME aluminium kept logging higher till the end of last week as dollar index was at its low. The contract closed at US$1,839 per tonne after Friday's night trading, edging higher by 0.32 per cent from the previous day. Shanghai Metals Market forecast says LME aluminium will keep firm and scale at US$1,830-1,870 per tonne range on Monday, January 23.</p> <p>As on January 20, LME official cash buyer price of aluminium stands at US$1,838.5 per tonne, cash seller & settlement price is US$1,839 per tonne, 3M buyer price is US$1,832 per tonne, 3M seller price is US$1,833 per tonne, Dec1 buyer price is US$1,860 per tonne, and Dec1 seller price is US$1,865 per tonne. The current LME official Opening Stock of aluminium is estimated at 2300375 tonnes, total Live Warrants is 1654875 tonnes,...
<p>The Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO), owned by the government of Ghana, will be resurrected by the government in order to attain ideal capacity. In recent years, the Volta Aluminium Company (VALCO) has faced challenges in energy supply and huge debts.<br /><br /><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/PrimaryJan21.jpg" alt="News" width="517" height="226" /><br />Mr Yaw Osafo Maafo, Senior Minister Designate said that the government will implement measures to restore production capacity at the VALCO. He said the country needs VALCO because “we need to push the aluminium integrated project concept.”<br /><br />He told the Appointments Committee on Friday, VALCO’s...
<p>The Roundtable Conference on<strong> Aluminium and New Materials: The Investment in Technology</strong> held yesterday at ITC Sonar Bangla Hotel, Kolkata, West Bengal, was a resounding success. Held as a part of the <strong>Bengal Global Business Summit 2017</strong>, the event saw AlCircle joining in as an esteemed co-organizer along with leading Italian industrial bodies Metef, VeronaFiere and ArtValley. The LIVE-streaming of the event on AlCircle Facebook page generated an overwhelming response. A large number of stakeholders from within the industry logged in to listen to the experts LIVE, and participated virtually by commenting, ‘liking’, and sharing the event within their circles.</p> <p>Here’s your chance to catch up with all the discussions if you have missed...
<p>According to the data published by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) in their Metals Balances Report for the first eleven months of 2016, the global primary aluminium market recorded marginal deficit during January-November 2016. There was a deficit of 970,000 tonnes compared to the full-year deficit of 551,000 tonnes in 2015. <br /><br />Primary aluminium production dropped by 221,000 tonnes during the period under review and the total stock of metal reported shrunk by 27,000 tonnes in November 2016. The total stock of aluminium at the end of the first eleven months of 2016 stood at 2,644 kt against the corresponding previous year’s stock of 3,787 kt. The combined aluminium stock held in London, Shanghai, USA and Tokyo exchanges totalled 2,242.5 kt at the end of...
<p>AlCircle, the trusted information and business portal for the global aluminium industry, is going to co-host a roundtable conference on <strong>Aluminium and New Materials: The Investment in Technology</strong> today, January 20, at 4 p.m. at ITC Sonar Bangla Hotel in Kolkata, West Bengal. Leading Italian industrial bodies namely, Metef, Verona Fiere, and Art Valley are co-organizing the event. <br /><br /><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/LivestreamingJan20.png" alt="News" width="517" height="226" /><br />Aluminium has made an impactful foray into a large number of industries over the last one decade. From aerospace and automotive engineering to electricals, building and construction,...
<p>Last week the US filed a World Trade Organization (WTO) case on Chinese aluminium subsidies. European Aluminium through a press release has confirmed that as firm proponents of free and fair trade, the association will closely follow the case as it develops and expects the European Commission to do the same.<br /><br />The US complaint filed at the WTO against Chinese subsidies alleges that cheap state-directed loans and subsidised energy enable Chinese companies to sell primary aluminium at artificially low prices. The case is a step towards addressing imbalanced market conditions explaining global aluminium overcapacity. Today Chinese overcapacity in primary aluminium is five times the size of EU production.<br /><br /><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left:...
<p>Alcoa announced on Friday morning that its Portland aluminium smelter will resume production of the lost capacity after the federal and Victorian governments offered rescue packages for the smelter worth A$30 million ($23 million) and promises to keep the smelter open till 2021.<br /><br />The company also secured electricity supply agreement with the energy company AGL for the Portland smelter. Alcoa said the smelter will return to 85 per cent capacity that it was functioning at before December 2016.<br /><br /><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/PriAluJan20.jpg" alt="News" width="517" height="226" /><br />Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told the smelter's workers, "This is...
<p>It's a near trade-war situation, when the President-elect of the world's most powerful economy tells his people that the currency value of the country is way "too strong" to compete with the Asian power called China. Just one more day to go, and then Donald Trump takes charge of the White House in the United States of America - before that, he calls out to China and its weakening currency, saying that for the U.S. companies to stand upright in the face of Chinese competition, the U.S. dollar value has to come down. His words send the U.S. dollar index down by one per cent to the lowest level in last one month, thereby lifting LME aluminium prices up by 1.78 per cent from Wednesday to US$1,832 per tonne after Thursday's night trading. <br /><br />According to Shanghai Metals Market...
<p>Rio Tinto today announced that the company will slash aluminium production worth more than $110 million and 30 jobs due to high power prices in the state at its Boyne aluminium smelter. The company will reduce up to 45,000 tonnes of aluminium production in 2017.<br /><br />Rio Tinto’s decision comes after Alcoa’s Portland smelter in Victoria struck a deal for subsidised power and that the Australian Energy Regulator conducts a report into spikes in Queensland’s wholesale power price.<br /><br />Commenting on the move Queensland’s state owned power supplier, Stanwell said it was Rio only who was to blame for such production downsizing. Richard Van Breda, Chief Executive of Stanwell said, “If Boyne had accepted one of the many offers presented to it,...
<p>Italy is the world’s largest consumer of aluminium after USA, Japan, People’s Republic of China and Germany. The aluminium market is concentrated almost exclusively in the north of the country. The large part of aluminium is used by extrusion plants and foundries to supply to the automobile industry. In addition to extrusion, Italy is also a leader in metal casting. Together with Germany and France, Italy is one of the largest producers of foundry products. Major carmakers like Ducati in Modena, Alfa Romeo in Milan and Fiat in Turin drive the demand for aluminium extruded products and foundry products in Italy. Italy’s largest shipbuilding company, Fincantieri - Cantieri Navali Italiani S.p.A., is also based in the northern region and account for significant...
<p>LME aluminium touched record highs since the beginning of 2016 during Wednesday's night trading only to come down a little (-2.7 per cent from the previous closing at US$1,805 per tonne) and close at US$1,800 per tonne. According to Shanghai Metals Market forecast, the contract will move within the range of US$1,810-1,835 per tonne on Thursday, January 19. The faltering oil prices and the looming uncertainty on the U.S. Federal Reserve before Donald Trump assumes his office in another 48 hours are seemingly impacting the base metals market. <br /><br />As on January 18, LME official cash buyer price of aluminium stands at US$1,800 per tonne, cash seller & settlement price is US$1,800.5 per tonne, 3M buyer price is US$1,798 per tonne, 3M seller price is US$1,798.5 per tonne, Dec1...
<p>The Aluminum Association commended remarks today by Secretary of Commerce nominee Wilbur Ross on the continued impact of Chinese overcapacity on the domestic steel and aluminium industries.<br /><br /><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/Wilbur%20Ross.jpg" alt="News" width="517" height="226" /><br />In response to a question from Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Ross argued that the “fundamental problem” in the market today is in China’s overproduction of metal. Wilbur Ross made the comment while testifying before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on his nomination to serve as secretary of commerce in the Donald Trump administration.<br /><br...
<p>Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) announced Monday that it has awarded GE Power, a division of GE, an order for a turnkey combined-cycle power plant, including three HA gas turbines that it will install to power the world’s largest single-site smelter. With this order GE Power gains first ever entry to the Gulf with its H-Class turbines. In fact, this project will mark the first ever use of H-Class turbines in aluminium smelting in the entire world.<br /><br />For GE, winning of this order from Alba carries further significance as the multi-year agreement (MYA) it has entered with the Gulf company through it represents the first MYA for HA gas turbines in the Gulf region. <br /><br /><img style="vertical-align: middle;"...
<p>Collectively the five Aluminium primary producers (EGA (UAE), Alba (Bahrain), Ma’aden Aluminium (KSA), Qatalum (Qatar) and Sohar Aluminium (Oman) have produced 5,229,115 tons of primary Aluminium in 2016.<br /><br />“During 2016 GCC Aluminium smelter and downstream have been going through disciplined productivity improvement and cost cutting initiatives, while maintaining key competitive advantage of having most sophisticated facilities to produce a variety of value added products for local and international market. At the same time preserving its leadership position of high environmental standards, compared to the rest of the world”, Said Mr. Daylami, Secretary General, Gulf Aluminium Council.</p> <p><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left:...
<p>LME aluminium price rise met resistance on Tuesday as the contract slid marginally by 0.38 per cent to close at US$1,805 per tonne after night trading yesterday. Prior to this LME aluminium has been rising for 6 days at a stretch. The marginal drop which is indicative of a short-term range-bound trading is in correlation with Monday's falling oil futures after exports from Iraq reached record highs and US drilling activity rose sowing doubts over the effectiveness of a proposed output cut by the OPEC. <br /><br />Shanghai Metals Market says LME aluminium will leave its rising momentum behind and hover in the range of US$1,788-1,810 per tonne on Wednesday, January 18. <br /><br />As on January 17, LME official cash buyer price of aluminium stands at US$1,575 per tonne, cash seller &...
<p>Leading mining and minerals development company Rio Tinto released its fourth quarter production results today. Aluminium production logged a ten per cent year-over-year growth, with record per annum metal production at ten of its smelters. The recently modernised and expanded Kitimat smelter, which has been producing at its nameplate capacity since April 2016, yielded significant production results in the period under review.</p> <p>The quarterly production results at seven of its smelters accounted for a seven per cent rise in production vis-à-vis the production reached in the corresponding period previous year.</p> <p><img style="display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/RIO.jpg" alt="News" width="517" height="344"...
<p>South Korea is today one of the key aluminium markets in Asia with consumption of 21,5 kg per capita compared to 15+kg per capita for developed countries, mostly driven by growing end user demand in the automotive, construction and electronics and communication sector. Studies indicate that the industrial production in South Korea will grow by 5.9% per year until 2025, driving the growth of aluminium consumption in the country.<br /><br />As one of the world's fastest growing exporters of industrial products, South Korea imports significant amount of primary aluminium ingots to supply their local demand and export the processed aluminium products globally. Let us analyse the trading patterns for primary aluminium in South Korea to understand the market demand and...
<p>LME aluminium is continuing its rise. The contract rose for the fifth straight day to close at US$1,812 per tonne after Monday's night trading, up 1.2 per cent from the previous day. Shanghai Metals Market predicts LME aluminium will test the 5-day moving average and move in US$1,775-1,800 per tonne range on Tuesday, January 17. The contract, SMM says, has surrendered its previous gains as traders seem to be getting worried about the effect of Brexit on the UK market. <br /><br />As on January 16, LME official cash buyer price of aluminium stands at US$1,811.5 per tonne, cash seller & settlement price is US$1,812 per tonne, 3M buyer price is US$1,811.5 per tonne, 3M seller price is US$1,1812 pe tonne, Dec1 buyer price is US$1,848 per tonne, and Dec1 seller price is US$1,853 per...
