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...
Grow with
AL Circle
Mining and metal stocks led the London market lower on September 24, Thursday, as the commodities market saw another tumultuous trading session. The FTSE 100 fell below 6,000-level closing 1.17% or 70.75 points lower at 5,961.49, while the FTSE 250 closed down 0.87% or 145.32 points at 16,514.53. Selected base metal futures fell further on the London Metal Exchange extending Wednesday’s declines. Past the midway point of trading, LME’s three-month delivery contracts of most non-ferrous and base metals were down; primary aluminium was down 0.6%. Glencore took a hammering with its share price breaching the 100p-level to close at 98.61p, down 9.62% as the biggest blue chip faller.
CME Group, the world's leading and most diverse derivatives marketplace, announced the first Aluminium European Premium Duty-Unpaid futures contracts were traded on Tuesday, 22 September 2015 by Crunch Risk, LLC. A total of 10 futures contracts traded at a price of $72.50 per metric tonne. "We're pleased to see early support for our new Aluminium European Premium futures, which are an outgrowth of our existing suite of aluminium risk management tools," said Young-Jin Chang, CME Group Senior Director of Metals Products. "Based on the success of our Midwest premium futures, we worked closely with the aluminium industry to develop these contracts that enable our customers to hedge their exposure to European premium volatility." "This new contract from CME Group comes at a time when we've...
Hindalco Industries is currently trading at INR 73.35, up by 0.20 points or 0.27% from its previous closing of INR 73.15 on the BSE. The scrip opened at INR 72.50 and has touched a high and low of INR 73.65 and Rs. 71.70 respectively. So far 365860 shares were traded on the counter. The BSE group 'A' stock of face value INR 1 has touched a 52 week high of INR 176.40 on 27-Nov-2014 and a 52 week low of INR 71.30 on 07-Sep-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at INR 78.95 and INR 71.70 respectively. The current market cap of the company is INR 14991.80 crore. The promoters holding in the company stood at 36.99% while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 41.16% and 14.18% respectively. Hindalco Industries’ subsidiary Aditya Birla Minerals has signed a binding agreement with...
The London Metal Exchange (LME) is launching an electronic system to better track material stored outside its exchange warehouses in response to a financing fraud in China that roiled banks and trading. The new system, called LME Shield, will launch in December this year, and will allow the exchange to provide electronic receipts for metal stored outside its system, LME head of business development Matt Chamberlain said during a presentation at Metal Bulletin's International Aluminum Conference in Vancouver. Chamberlain had previously told Reuters that the world's oldest and biggest metals market was considering expanding its electronic LMESword system, which proves the origin and title to LME-warranted metal, beyond exchange stock after receiving requests from several banks that finance...
Noranda Aluminum Holding Corporation was one of the biggest decliners in trade yesterday September 23. The stock plummeted by close to 14 percent on the back of 3 times the daily average volumes which is a bearish signal. The sell off on the back of above average volumes is a clear indication of the shift of momentum towards the sell side. The sell off in the stock was on the back of the sell off seen in the commodity markets as the company shares a direct relationship with aluminium prices and therefore any weakness in the commodity markets is seen as a huge negative for the stock in the near term. Traders on the street believe the stock could head to levels of $1.80 in the near term. The total market capitalization for the company is at $22.82 million. Noranda Aluminum Holding has been...
China’s aluminum stocks will grow further in October after 320,000 tonne year-on-year surge in September, SMM predicts. New capacity will come online at faster pace heading into October, the major contributor to inventory growth, SMM’s aluminum research team said. Poor downstream consumption will be another driver. The surge in September was because new capacity overshadowed production cuts.
Global demand for aluminum will rise by 24 million tonnes to 78 million tonnes annually by 2025, said Alfredo Barrios, Rio Tinto's Chief Executive for aluminum, at an industry conference in Vancouver on September 22, Tuesday, though market fundamentals will continue to force further capacity closures. "Demand for our products is clearly healthy. The issue we face is excessive supply," said Barrios adding that the aluminum market should return to balance in the next five years.
Players from the non-regulated sectors in India including cement, iron and steel, sponge iron, aluminium and fertiilisers have objected to the Centre's move to introduce auction for coal linkages. They have appealed to the Centre not to shift in haste to Supplier Controlled Ascending Market Clearing Auction methodology from the present system of coal allocation through Standing Linkage Committee. As per the Supplier Controlled Ascending Market Clearing Auction methodology, the prices are increased till demand-supply equilibrium is established. Coal India Ltd (CIL) is expected to open a separate e-auction window exclusively for non-regulated power sectors with a quantity of 4 million tonne. An inter-ministerial committee has sought suggestions and objections on the new method as it...
According to a USGS report, Domestic primary aluminum production in July 2015 was 134,000 metric tons. The average daily production was 4,320 tons, 3% less than the daily production during the preceding month and 6% less than that in July 2014. The monthly average U.S. market price of primary aluminum ingot decreased to $0.832 per pound in July from $0.854 per pound in June. The monthly average price decreased to $0.784 per pound in August. Inventories of primary aluminum in London Metal Exchange Ltd. approved warehouses in the United States continued their downward trend, decreasing to 658,000 tons at the end of August, their lowest level since October 2008.
Iran increased its primary aluminium shipment volumes to the world’s top consumer China after global premiums for the white metal along with the prices declined sharply hitting demand from its long time buyers Turkey and Middle East. Iran left behind Russia and other exporting nations in the race to become China’s top overseas supplier of primary aluminium in August. As per China trade data, Iran shipped 13,925 tonnes of primary aluminium last month becoming the largest seller of the metal to China in the first eight months period of 2015. The escalation in shipment volume is quite unusual given the fact the Chinese market is flooded with excess primary aluminium which the country is selling out to the global markets in the form of disguised aluminium products leading to a mammoth surplus...
Aluminium on London Metal Exchange (LME) is expected to test a support at $1,612 per tonne, a break below which could cause a fall to $1,590. The support is provided by the 14.6 percent Fibonacci projection level of an upward wave c, the third wave of a presumed three-wave cycle that developed from the Aug. 24 low of $1,506. This wave failed to extend above a resistance at $1,647, the 38.2 percent level, signalling it may have completed its first leg. The current second leg could extend to $1,590. Resistance is at $1,625, the 23.6 percent level, a break above which could open the way towards $1,647.
Aluminium prices were down 0.38% to INR 106.15 per kg in futures trade today as investors offloaded positions amid weak global cues and muted demand at spot markets. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, aluminium for delivery in current month eased by 40 paise, or 0.38%, to INR 106.15 per kg in a business turnover of 62 lots. Similarly, the metal for delivery in October was trading lower by 30 paise, or 0.28%, at INR 106.70 per kg in seven lots. Marketmen said the fall in aluminium prices at futures trade was mostly in tune with a weak trend at London Metal Exchange (LME) as industrial metals retreated on investor concern about demand prospects amid the economic slowdown in China.
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C (Alba), one of leading national companies in Bahrain received on September 17, 2015 a delegation comprising key members of ESSEC Business School and French Arabian Business School (FABS), Bahrain. The occasion was to honour Alba employees who recently graduated from the Alba sponsored 18-month MBA programme - offered by FABS, Bahrain in partnership with the ESSEC Business School, one of Europe’s leading business schools. ESSEC Business School was represented by its Dean, ESSEC Executive Education, Prof. Thomas Jean Jean, and Professor, Management Department, Dr. Cédomir Nestorovic, while FABS was represented by its Director Dr. Karim Said along with Samia Abdel Khalek, Coordinator for FABS. HE the Ambassador of France, M. Bernard Régnauld-Fabre and French Cultural...
Distinguished members of the Aluminium Federation (ALFED), the trade association representing the UK aluminium industry recently paid a visit to the London Metal Exchange (LME). The visit was hosted by Oscar Wehtje, LME's Head of Product Development, and guests were able to see the trading ring - the only such physical ring still active - in action for kerb trading at the end of the trading day. Oscar's presentation about the LME’s aluminium contract and the changes that have been, and are being made at the LME to create more liquidity and transparency in the aluminium market may be found here. ALFED is planning a second members’ visit to the LME in early 2016. A date for the visit will be announced soon.
The biggest aluminum producers are discussing the introduction of a “green” trademark for the lightweight metal that could be sold at a premium and encourage carbon footprint reductions among rivals, United Co. Rusal’s deputy chief executive officer said. “Since many of consumers, such as the car industry, are working on becoming more nature-friendly, the issue of clean aluminum output becomes important," Oleg Mukhamedshin said in an interview last week. As an example, "even if a car with an aluminum body enables lower CO2 emissions, more pollution could have been caused by the company producing that metal, which damages the idea of clean vehicles." Energy comprises most of the aluminum industry’s costs, and carbon dioxide generated by fossil fuels such as coal makes up almost 60 percent...
Sinking aluminum prices and a ballooning surplus of the metal have deepened the industry's worst crisis in years, intensifying pressure on high-cost smelters to embark on another round of production cuts to revive prices from their malaise. The 25 percent drop since last September has pushed benchmark London Metal Exchange (LME) prices to six-year lows, and the unprecedented plunge this year in premiums, surcharges paid for physical delivery, to their lowest in 3-1/2 years are the biggest test for producers' margins since the 2008 financial crisis. More than 10 percent of smelting capacity outside of China, or 3.5 million tonnes of production, is running in the red with a combined LME and U.S. premium of $1,800 per tonne, according to Wood Mackenzie data from second-quarter results. On...
Aluminium settled up 0.28% at 107.75 rebounded as LME Aluminium gained to settled at USD 1,636/mt later as the US dollar index fell after the US Fed announced no rate hike in September. Adopting a relatively dovish stance, Fed chair Janet Yellen said the U.S. central bank will begin monetary policy normalization when it has seen "further improvement in the labor market," and it is "reasonably confident" that inflation is moving toward its targeted goal of 2%. Yellen also noted that large drags from falling energy and import prices should dissipate in the near future allowing long-term inflation to move back toward its long-term target. Still, the Fed downgraded its median inflation forecasts at the meeting to 0.3% for the end of 2015, while lowering inflation expectations for the end of...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C (Alba), one of the world’s leading aluminium smelters, held a special workshop - ‘Market Downturn’ for its Executives, Directors and Managers on Wednesday, September 16, 2015 at the Oasis Hall. The ‘Market Downturn’ workshop, led by Alba’s Chief Executive Officer, Tim Murray, aimed to discuss the challenges on the back of the significant drop in LME prices and physical premiums. This workshop has also focused on fast-action cost reduction roadmaps. Mr. Murray stressed on the importance of safety, cost control and productivity improvements. Throughout the workshop, individual departmental goals and roadmaps were reviewed by the CEO, who later opened the floor for discussion. Adding further on the ‘Market Downturn’, Mr. Murray said: “Alba is facing difficult LME...
