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>Norsk Hydro has reported its third quarter 2016 results. Hydro's underlying EBIT declined to NOK 1,477 million in Q3 from NOK 1,618 million in Q2 2016. The decline was due to lower metal sales and negative currency effects, slightly offset by higher realized aluminium prices.<br /><br />Commenting on the results, Svein Richard Brandtzæg, President and CEO of Hydro said, "Demand growth for aluminium remains healthy. We are sticking to our forecast for global aluminium demand growth of 4-5 percent for 2016 and expect to land in the higher range of this estimate for the full year…This comes on the back of higher-than-expected demand in China and slower restarts of curtailed capacity." <br /><br /><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto;...
<p>Operators of a Rio Tinto smelter in western Scotland confirmed late last week that they were in talks to sell it to a “preferred bidder.”<br /><br />The Lochaber Smelter in Fort William, which is one of the region’s largest employers, is Rio’s last operational smelter in the United Kingdom. It has been in operation for almost nine decades and employs 150 workers plus another 400 via supply chains, but Rio announced in January that its operations were under strategic review. At the time the Scottish government said Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), which is the government’s economic and community development agency for the region, was “engaging with the company” to understand the potential impacts of the announcement.<br /><br />Although a...
<p>India's primary aluminium producers have hired state-run engineering consultant Mecon Ltd to prepare a report exploring the possibility of introducing minimum import price (MIP) on aluminium products and approach the government with the same. <br /><br />The move was directed shortly after the ministry of commerce and industry ruled out the proposition to impose MIP on aluminium citing the cause that the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) non-compliant measure will mar the country’s image globally. India's ministry of mines too favoured the move and insisted that the pending investigations of safeguard duty and anti-dumping investigations on unwrought aluminium is completed first.<br /><br />Mecon, hired by Aluminium Association of India, Vedanta Ltd, Hindalco Industries Ltd...
<p>The 34th International Conference and Exhibition of ICSOBA was held in the period October 3 - 6 in the capital of the Quebec province in Canada and took place in the Palace Royal hotel. The Conference obtained support from Rio Tinto and REGAL (Regroupement Aluminium) and attracted more than 350 delegates from 29 countries. REGAL is an organization which regroups professors and students from Quebec universities doing research on aluminium related projects and their annual meeting (JER) was a part of the conference. As many as 130 REGAL delegates participated in the event. <br /><br />The ICSOBA 2016 conference featured a number of international industry and academia speakers who covered topics including bauxite and bauxite resources, alumina production and residue solutions, primary...
<p>Aluminium traded on London Metal Exchange is expected to move between US$1,625-1,650/mt on Tuesday with positive technical indicators. SHFE 1612 aluminum should range between RMB 12,780-13,050/mt, said analysts at Shanghai Metals Market in an early morning forecast.<br /><br />LME aluminium moved between US$1,610-1,630/mt through Monday to close at US$1626.50/mt. SHFE aluminium, as expected, broke through the 5 and 10-day moving averages with positive technical indicators moving at RMB 12,680-12,880/mt due to returning of longs.<br /><br />LME aluminium has been ranging between US$1650-US$1680 over the past one month peaking only at $1686 approximately on October 14. Since then, the price of the metal has been falling. It touched a two-month low of $1612.50 on October 20, before...
<p>The 20th Arab International Aluminium Conference (Arabal) has brought together more than 2,000 participants from 20 countries, and is highlighting key topics in the region's aluminium industry such as value creation through energy efficiency, job creation, and economic output.<br /><br />This year's Arabal event is being hosted by Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) for the sixth time and will be held under the patronage of Shaikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance. As a rapidly growing hub in the global aluminium industry, the Middle East region and its dynamics are of keen interest to players from across the world.<br /><br />In 2015, the Middle East primary aluminium industry's combined production was 5.59 million tonnes - almost 10 per cent...
<p>Aluminum stocks in China’s five major markets fell for two consecutive weeks and will remain near multi-year low for the foreseeable future, SMM predicts.<br /><br />SMM attributes the recent decline to low shipments from northwest China, especially Xinjiang. It is estimated that over 150,000 tonnes of aluminum ingots are now being piled up at Urumqi and Wucaiwan railway stations.<br /><br /><br /><br />SMM learned aluminum smelters in Xinjiang are negotiating with local railway bureau over aluminum ingot shipments with exclusive trains so as to ease severe inventory backlogs. Hence, shipments from Xinjiang are expected to grow gradually this coming week, but it may take at least six weeks to digest inventory backlogs in northwest China.<br /><br />On the other hand, some...
<p>With China zooming ahead in world aluminium, spurring fierce competition amongst dominant players, prices of the light metal are unlikely to rise in the next couple of years, said Emirates Global Aluminium chief executive Abdulla Kalban. <br /><br />EGA, one of the world's top ten aluminium producers, is already feeling the heat as it is heavily reliant of the exports market which also has five of the world' top producers from in it China and they altogether account for almost 60 per cent of the world's total aluminium production. <br /><br />"The oversupply position is mainly because of the Chinese [and for] primary aluminium production there is concern from our consumers because of severe competition from the Chinese, including into our local markets in the UAE. I don’t...
<p>Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee is facing stern criticism in US for using steel and aluminium from China for the construction of his namesake towers.<br /><br />Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on October 19 criticised her GOP (Grand Old Party) counterpart, Donald Trump for using materials that are traded into US using unfair means.<br /><br />Clinton referred to a Newsweek report that said that Trump used steel and aluminium "dumped" on the U.S. in his buildings in Chicago and Las Vegas. According to Newsweek, Trump hired Permasteelisa Cladding Technologies, a Connecticut-based company that imports steel and aluminium from China to construct to supply metal for his Chicago building.<br /><br /><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block;...
<p>New Day Aluminium has edged out ARG International AG in competitive bidding for the remaining upstream assets of US-based producer Noranda Aluminum, according to a court filing Thursday. ARG International has recently bought Noranda's idled, 263,000 mt/year New Madrid primary aluminium smelter in south-eastern Missouri.<br /><br />New Day was the stalking horse bidder in the auction that began on Tuesday at Noranda's lead attorneys' offices in New York. The firm made a final offer of US$24.3 million, up $2.93 million from its previous proposal of $21.5 million, and won the auction. New Day's offer was $430,000 above the final bid of $24 million made by Stockholm-based ARG. <br /><br /><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"...
<p>Aluminium prices declined by 0.96 per cent to INR108.40 per kg in futures trade today as traders booked profits at prevailing levels, driven by easing demand in the spot market amid weak trend overseas. <br /><br />At the Multi Commodity Exchange, aluminium for delivery in far-month November fell by INR1.05, or 0.96 per cent to INR108.40 per kg in business turnover of 353 lots.<br /><br /><br /><br />Similarly, the metal for delivery in October contracts traded lower by 0.78 per cent to INR107.60 per kg in 2,920 lots. <br /><br />Market analysts said besides profit-booking by participants, fall in demand from consuming industries in the spot market and a weak trend overseas, led to decline in aluminium prices at futures trade. <br /><br />Meanwhile, aluminium for delivery in three...
<p>China's state-owned Aluminum Corporation of China Ltd (Chalco) swung back to profitability in the first nine months, buoyed by higher metal prices and continued cost-cutting efforts, the company said on Thursday.<br /><br />Chalco posted a net profit of 107.9 million yuan ($16.02 million) in the January-September period, compared with a net loss of 974.6 million yuan a year earlier, it said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange. The gains came as the company, one of the world's top producers, benefited from the continued rise in aluminium prices . <br /><br />Prices rose 1.5 percent for their third straight quarterly rise, hitting one-year highs of $1,710 a tonne in August, as global capacity cuts helped erode excess output. The improvement was also partly attributable to the...
<p>Average global primary aluminium output has risen 1.2 per cent year-over-year in September, driven by enhanced production by Chinese smelters, showed data released by the International Aluminium Institute (IAI) on Thursday. The growth reflected a clear reversal of trend that has prevailed through the current financial year, with China topping the list of aluminium producing countries globally. Output of the white metal in the World ex China has dropped 2 per cent month-on-month, with declines recorded in almost all aluminium producing regions. <br /><br />The global daily average output of aluminium surged at 164,600 tonnes from 159,800 in August. In China, September output stood at 2.75 million, the highest in the past 15 months. <br /><br />"The rally in Shanghai aluminium prices so...
<p>China is showing no signs of slowing down in metal production. At a time when the economy is stabilising, instead of returning to the commodities super-cycle, the country is busy churning out more and more industrial metals. A recent Bloomberg report suggests, ‘the gains in aluminium production this year may be more akin to a high-wire act that is only delaying another crash in prices.’ Aluminium smelters in China increased output to their highest in the past one year. The sector is basically responding to improved margins as pricing scenario improved in China before the current dip, the report noted. <br /><br />The risk for markets is palpable though since demand is receding because of the nascent weakness in the property sector. Moreover, the possibility of a policy...
<p>Rio Tinto has released production results for Q3 2016 reporting improved production in bauxite, alumina and aluminium segments.<br /><br />Commenting on the results, Rio Tinto chief executive J-S Jacques said “We have delivered strong quarterly production, underpinned by improving operational performance across our Tier 1 portfolio. Output from our iron ore and bauxite assets reflects the drive for productivity and operational excellence. With a continued focus on value, we will seek further productivity improvements across the business. Our rigorous attention to cash generation, coupled with a disciplined allocation of capital remains our key focus in delivering shareholder value.”<br /><br /><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto;...
<p>The Government of Canada has granted $60,000 in financial assistance to the Aluminium Valley Society (AVS), in the form of a non-repayable contribution, under the Quebec Economic Development Program (QEDP). Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED) announced the grant on October 19. The financial aid will help the AVS to organize the 6th Aluminium Valley in Business Trade Show in Saguenay on May 23 and 24, 2017.<br /><br />It is a part of the government’s effort to support innovation in order to create new technologies and new management models.</p> <p><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"...
<p>Revolution Aluminum Propco, a subsidiary of Revolution Aluminium LLC, filed a motion in the court requesting permission for borrowing $5.7 million to pay off its outstanding debts before starting their planned aluminium plant in Pineville. They also claimed that they secured the promise of financing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court filings.<br /><br />Revolution Aluminium LLC, which announced plans to build a $1.5 billion production complex in 2015 and promised jobs to 1,000 people, faced multiple legal actions seeking to recover millions of outstanding payment due from loans or services rendered.<br /><br />According to the motion, Thomas Tucker and Bayou Engineering LLC would lend $5.7 million to Revolution Aluminum Propco to pay back the loan. Tucker is the president of Bayou...
<p>According to a Reuter’s report, China’s aluminium production surged in September after a drop in July/August. This is the highest stock reported in last fifteen months as the producers restarted new and idled capacities after seeing a rise in LME and SME prices. Experts fear that this might again disrupt the stability in prices.<br /><br />China accounts for more than half of world aluminium output and it produced 2.75 million metric tons of aluminium in September which is 1.2 per cent higher than a year ago and a third monthly increase. It was confirmed by the statistics bureau on Wednesday.<br /><br />According to International Aluminium Institute data, it would also be the biggest volume since June 2015. A number of smelters closed shutters at the end of 2015 as...
