LME aluminium prices eased on September 28 after rising in the previous session, with cash and forward contracts moving lower. The Asian Reference Price also declined, while a sharp rise in cancelled warrants pushed live warrants lower. The cash bid slipped 0.15 per cent to USD 3,248 per tonne from USD 3,253 per tonne , while the cash offer fell 0.17 per cent to USD 3,248.50 per tonne from USD 3,254 per tonne. Three-month aluminium prices followed the weaker trend. The bid dropped 0.41 per cent to USD 3,251.50 per tonne from USD 3,265 per tonne, while the offer was down 0.46 per cent to USD 3,252 per tonne compared with USD 3,267 per tonne. Explore the production, demand and consumption forecasts of bauxite and alumina in our report: " Global Bauxite & Alumina Market Forecast to 2036:...
Futures: The most-traded SHFE aluminium contract opened at RMB 24,000 per tonne in the night session on September 28, reached a high of RMB 24,055 per tonne and a low of RMB 23,950 per tonne, and closed at RMB 24,000 per tonne, up RMB 50 per tonne or 0.21 per cent from the previous close. Futures stabilised after a sharp decline, with prices falling below the 5/10/20/40/60 moving averages across all timeframes, turning these averages from support into resistance. Trading volume during the session was 53,872 lots, with open interest at 271,000 lots, down 3,240 lots, driven mainly by bear position reductions. On the technical front, the 4-hour MACD death cross continued, with DIFF trading well below DEA and green bars expanding significantly, indicating strong short-term bearish momentum....
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Indian aluminium industry is on a strong growth trajectory. Piggybacking buoyancy in the power and automotive sectors, the light metal used in appliances to aerospace, grew at a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of eight per cent during 2011-16. The same uptrend is expected to continue till 2020. The ‘Make in India’ drive will provide a further boost to the demand catapulting it to a level of five million tonnes (mt) by 2020 and eight mt by 2025 from the current 3.2 mt. According to the Aluminium Association of India (AAI) and Crisil Research data, aluminium usage in India would scale higher on the back of increased power demand from 290 Giga watt (Gw) currently to 360 Gw by 2020-21. Auto industry demand too is projected to reach 38 million units by 2020-2021, up from 25 million units...
The European Commission is considering a deal for the steel sector in exchange for granting China the coveted Market Economy Status (MES). This approach, likely to be debated by the College of Commissioners on 20 July, ignores the enormous Chinese overcapacities in industries like aluminium and creates unfair distortions on the EU market. Gerd Götz, Director General of European Aluminium stated, “The European Commission is playing a dangerous game. If this deal comes to pass the EU would essentially be sacrificing its remaining manufacturing industry to save one sector.” The EU steel crisis has distracted the debate on China’s MES from the reality that other European industries such as the aluminium sector could face the same fate. If the EU grants China MES, it would put 80,000 European...
Aluminium prices on London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange are likely to extend their gains this week as major stocks in China aluminium industry have recently hit nearly seven-year low, observed analysts at the Shanghai Metals Market. SMM predicts, LME aluminium will hover in the range of $1,650-1,710 per tonne and SHFE 1609 aluminium at 12,500-12,800 yuan per tonne this week. Slowdown in inventory declines and the nearing off-season will narrow spot premiums to 0-50 yuan per tonne over SHFE 1608 aluminium, SMM Observes. Prior to this, China Aluminium International Trading Co. (Chalco Trading), a full subsidiary under Chalco responsible for alumina and aluminum sales, cut aluminium prices in major markets on June 15th further after two consecutive days of cuts.
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), the leading Bahrain-based Aluminium producer, continued its commitment towards the development of its employees by holding a tailored-made training workshop on “Teamwork and Alignment – Getting ready for Line 6” for its Middle Management team on Thursday July 14, 2016 at the Alba club. Designed and delivered by Alba Chief Finance Officer Ali Al Baqali, the workshop focused on the importance of achieving cross-functional synergy as well as horizontal alignment between the various departments towards the fulfillment of Alba's common goals and objectives. The workshop was inaugurated by Alba Chief Executive Officer Tim Murray and featured a number of case studies, group exercises and the real-life story of Apollo 13 moon landing mission back in 1970s.
The Manufacturers for Trade Enforcement, a coalition representing more than one million workers in the aluminium, steel, chemical, textile and other manufacturing industries, supports the U.S. government in its contention that China continues to operate as a non-market economy. According to multiple news reports, U.S. trade officials stated during a recent World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting that China will not be automatically granted market economy status (MES) later this year. While the Chinese government has argued that China should automatically be treated as a market economy on the 15th anniversary of joining the WTO, U.S. trade officials noted that each WTO member country must judge China’s status based on its own domestic law. “We’re pleased to see that the U.S. government is...
Yunnan Aluminum Co. expects itself to return to profit territory in the first half of this year, it said in a statement filed to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange today. The company sees a net profit of 50 million yuan attributable to shareholders of its listed company in H1 2016, a reversal from the loss of 84.03 million yuan in the same period last year. The company attributes the expected profit to market-based power mechanism, optimization in product portfolio, cost control in production and raw material purchases. Looking ahead at H2 2016, the company will focus on hydropower-aluminium-processing integrated business.
Aluminium stocks in China’s five major markets have been falling steadily for months, but a turning point is on the horizon, SMM predicts. In fact, the inventory decline has been slowing down in recent weeks, and stocks were down a mere 9,000 tonnes as of July 14, SMM data showed. The table below shows details of aluminium stocks at China’s five major markets: Unit: 1,000 tonne
AEGIS Europe, a consortium of about 30 European manufacturing associations said at a recent meet that it is looking ahead to receiving enhanced support from the European leaders in guarding domestic industries and workers against Chinese dumping onslaughts. This follows the discussions held at the EU-China Summit in Beijing on 12 – 13 July. "The European Commission must not fail in its duty of care to European industry. There are many, many other EU industries at risk of disappearing, aside from steel, if the EU grants China MES. China does not meet the EU criteria for a market economy, and therefore it is entirely inappropriate to even consider this question until they do. Furthermore, there is no legal obligation to do so," stressed Milan Nitzschke, spokesman for AEGIS Europe. "To state...
UC RUSAL, the world’s largest aluminium producer, is eyeing the domestic market for supplying all the metal produced in the long run, Sales Director for Russia and CIS Roman Andryushin updated on Thursday, July 14. RUSAL expects consumption of aluminium in Russia will grow from the present 1.4 million tonnes per annum to 2.5 million tonnes by 2024, said the manager. The company plans to inject in $800 million initially to prepare the groundwork for the programme. The investments are to be made in a phased manner through 2021. "Financial resources are needed to launch this program. We made an estimate; the first phase will cost about $800 mln. We mean lending resources. These resources are need for infrastructure and production capacities of our consumers. In other words, there are no...
AMETEK Land has developed a new pyrometer that provides high accuracy and a three-in-one capability specifically for aluminium applications, including extrusion press exit, extrusion press quench zone, and aluminium strip mills. The SPOT AL EQS (SPOT Aluminium Extrusion, Quench and Strip) pyrometer is an extremely flexible instrument with pre-configured algorithms that make it especially suitable for use at the extruder press exit and quench position as well as at mill entry and exit positions in hot rolling mills. In addition, the pyrometer’s algorithms can be customised and tuned for bespoke applications and specific aluminium grades. This latest addition to the LAND range of SPOT pyrometers was specifically designed to work in low emissivity environments where regular pyrometers might...
Aluminium prices are likely to hover between $1,500 and $1,700 per tonne for the later half of this year as oversupply will cap further gains, Akio Hamaji, the new chairman of the Japan Aluminium Association said on Thursday. "With uncertainty over the European economy after Brexit, it is unlikely to see a strong pickup in global economy," Hamaji told a small group of reporters. "So I don't expect sharp gains in the metal prices," he said, adding aluminium supply is expected to exceed demand in the global market this year which will weigh on the market. Benchmark aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) have gained 11 percent this year, confounding some analysts who had expected the market to be hit by overproduction and high levels of inventories. The benchmark stood at around...
The slow death that the US primary aluminium industry has been dying cannot be attributed only to China’s somewhat overambitious aluminium trade policies, said leading consultancy UNO International Trade Strategy. The consulting body warned that the ‘onerous and misplaced barriers will only damage America’s thriving downstream sector.’ The US primary aluminium industry has turned globally uncompetitive. From 23 thriving smelters in the country in 2011, the number now stands at only five. Many of the big names in the upstream aluminium sector have filed for bankruptcy. UNO attributes the outcome to the following causes: Higher cash cost of smelting US is essentially a high-cost country. “The upstream producers are hamstrung by high electricity costs, strict environmental regulations and a...
SHFE 1609 aluminium will move at RMB 12,550-12,750/mt today, with strong wait-and-see sentiment. LME aluminium will hold above the 5-day moving average, with price range at USD 1,665-1,690/mt. In China’s spot aluminium market, spot discounts of RMB 0-10/mt and premiums of RMB 0-30/mt are expected over SHFE 1607 aluminium contract. Key macroeconomic indicators for base metal prices Market will eye US June PPI and last week’s initial jobless claims today, as well as policy decision for the BOE’s July meeting. US import & export price index was mild in June, meaning low possibility of improvement for US inflation in June. Annual rate of US PPI remained low in June. US initial jobless claims remained below 300,000 last week. The US Fed’s Beige Book showed positive outlook for overall US...
Aluminium is currently moving in the range of USD 1,620-1,650 per tonne range. In the first quarter of the current fiscal, aluminium price was average around USD 1,514 per tonne. In the second quarter, it climbed up to USD 1,576 per tonne average during that quarter. Right now in July, last 12 days, average is moving out to USD 1,623 per tonne. So, there is a little forming of the price of London Metal Exchange (LME) during this time. While talking about the current aluminium and alumina price scenario in an recent interview with a leading television channel, TK Chand, CMD of Nalco, said, this price movement is mainly because in second quarter, the consumption of aluminium metal was around 15.39 million tonnes and production was around 14.58 million tonnes, leaving a deficit of 0.8...
Kjetil Ebbesberg, Hydro, yesterday took on the position of Chairman of European Aluminium until the next General Assembly, replacing Pierre Vareille. “Under Pierre’s chairmanship, European Aluminium demonstrated leadership on climate change, trade and innovation to ensure our industry’s long-term future in Europe,” said Gerd Götz, European Aluminium Director General. “In particular, the Sustainability Roadmap launched in 2015 guides our industry’s endeavour to produce and deliver aluminium in a more sustainable manner. In this respect, integrating the recycling division into European Aluminium was the decisive step that completed the full representation of the whole value chain and strengthened our work on the circular economy.” Mr Vareille, CEO of Constellium since 2012, spent two years...
A big consignment of equipment that reached Alcoa Davenport Works recently is expected to enhance the facility's aluminium production, informed John Riches, Spokeman for Alcoa. "These two big parts today are actually coming from South Korea so they came across the Pacific, went through the [Panama Canal], came up to New Orleans on an ocean-going ship, then they off loaded it onto a barge which you see here today," said Riches. It took a barge more than a to get the equipment from the ports of New Orleans up to an unloading spot at Alcoa Works on the shores of the Mississippi. "It's just a huge piece of equipment and again it positions us to provide material competitors can't necessarily provide," said Riches, standing near a huge, slow-moving trailer hauling one of two so-called, 'pull...
Spot aluminium prices on the European market traded slightly lower last week as worries over Brexit and its impact on future demand influenced buyers. Wrote Donald Levit of Economic Calendar: “While there is not expected to be a huge shift in aluminium demand as the U.K. slowly decouples itself from the European Union, a general air of uncertainty is pressuring the sentiment around aluminium demand and prices are responding by dropping slightly.” Levit added that Brexit is not expected to have a sudden impact on demand for aluminium but prices for the metal could fluctuate as the result of currency valuations. Forecasts currently call for a depreciation of the pound, but other factors stemming from Brexit — including slow economic growth and lagging U.K. vehicle sales — could team up to...
Shares of Hindalco and Nalco surged in Tuesday's (July 12) trade after the world's third-largest aluminium producer reported a beat in its Q2 earnings. Alcoa's earnings per share (EPS) grew 66 per cent for the quarter, its second quarterly earnings beat for the year. The aluminium giant has guided for a 6 per cent growth in September quarter. A good earnings show historically reflects well on domestic aluminium giants such as Hindalco and Nalco much like Cognizant does for Indian IT firms. Reacting to the development, Nalco zoomed 13.33 per cent to INR 50.15. Hindalco climbed 4.81 per cent to INR 135.30. The BSE metal index rose 2.87 per cent to 9,116.51.
