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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Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), the Bahrain-based international aluminium smelter, is proud to have received a Certificate of Excellence from R&D Carbon-Switzerland (RDC), one of the leading providers of Carbon Electrodes Technologies, on the occasion of completing 10 years of outstanding performance in Carbon sampling and analysis. Alba’s Chief Marketing Officer, Khalid A. Latif and Manager Customer Technical Services (CTS) Hussain Al Malali congratulated the Laboratory team during a ceremony that was held to mark this occasion. Speaking at the occasion, CMO Khalid Al. Latif said: “We are proud that our processes and facilities adhere, if not exceed, the highest international standards and best practices in the industry. Being recognised by a renowned establishment like RDC is a...
Aluminium prices hovered near one-month high this week with the metal benefiting from an overall increase in risk appetite on the sentiment that the UK will remain in the EU. Prior this week, the sentiment leaned toward the expectation that the UK would exit and concerns over that it would send investors on a flight to safety. Base metals like aluminium are perceived as riskier investments. While the market’s recent focus has been on Brexit, and this has controlled the metal’s price, overall, aluminium’s fundamentals are weak with the biggest challenge remaining the market’s oversupply, but demand has been a bit of a bright spot. Aluminium saw some upside earlier in the year after China increased its infrastructure spending. However, there are concerns over how sustainable China’s demand...
Aluminium stocks in China’s five major markets have been falling steadily, though the pace has slowed down significantly. Market is now most concerned with when stocks will begin growing. Aluminium capacity is being restarted, albeit slowly. Aluminium ingot shipments from northwest China will keep growing. Downstream producers will reduce stocks in the fourth week of June against falling orders, which will significantly hurt demand for both aluminium ingot and aluminium liquid. Based on current pace of aluminium ingot shipments from northwest China, SMM sees a good chance for stocks to begin increasing after the second week of July. Aluminium stocks in China’s five major markets, which were 406,000 tonnes as of June 16, will continue falling slightly before the first half of July, SMM...
Excess aluminium production in China is damaging the prospects of aluminium producers in the rest of the world, purely because of the size of China’s massive aluminium industry, observed analysts at MetalMiner. As prices on the Shanghai Futures Exchange have risen this year, idled smelters have restarted and new capacity has continued to come on-stream. Annualized run rates increased by almost 650,000 mt over the course of April and May, Reuters reports, with May’s average daily output of 86,290 mt the highest since November 2015 before prices fell below $1,518 (10,000 yuan). The other factor apparently effecting Beijing’s attitude is the rapid rise in capacity is coming from new state of the art low cost aluminium smelters in China’s Northwestern provinces. Aluminium is not seen as an...
SHFE 1608 aluminium will consolidate at highs of RMB 12,250-12,400/mt today, with eyes on UK referendum. LME aluminium will move at highs of USD 1,625-1,645/mt. In China’s spot aluminium market, spot premiums of RMB 90-130/mt are expected over SHFE 1607 aluminium contract. Key macroeconomic indicators for base metal prices Market will eye June manufacturing PMIs from the euro zone and US and US new home sales today. With UK referendum just around the corner, market caution will intensify. France’s manufacturing PMI might remain below 50 in June, which will be a drag on manufacturing in the euro zone. Manufacturing PMIs in Germany and the euro zone are expected to continue rising. New York and Philadelphia Fed manufacturing indexes for June were positive. US manufacturing PMI pointed to...
LME aluminium still targets $1,648 per tonne, as it has been hovering above a resistance at $1,624 after breaking it. The resistance was provided by the 86.4 percent Fibonacci projection level of an upward wave C, the third wave of a three-wave cycle from the Nov. 23, 2015 low of $1,432.50. The next resistance will be at $1,648, the 100 percent level, a break above which could lead to a gain to the 114.6 percent level at $1,673. A break below $1,624, now a support, could cause a loss to the 76.4 percent level at $1,607.
Aluminium Bahrain has approached banks for a $750 million loan towards the financing of its Line 6 expansion project, reported industry sources on Tuesday, June 21. Alba will become the world's largest single aluminium smelter complex, boosting its annual output by 540,000 tonnes to 1.5 million tonnes per year by adding the sixth "potline", used in producing the metal from raw materials such as bauxite. Production from the facility is expected to start in early 2019 and Alba is raising around $3 billion to help finance the scheme, through a mixture of loans from banks and export credit agencies and an international bond or sukuk issue. Alba had initially targeted $3.5 billion, but this was cut back due to lower oil and commodity prices, it said last month. The first stage of this...
A potential short squeeze is in sight, and this will bolster SHFE near month aluminium contract prices, most market players contacted by SMM predict. Positions of SHFE 1607 aluminium are 111,144 lots yesterday, which require 277,860 tonnes of aluminium for delivery. However, inventories of deliverable SHFE aluminium were just 57,399 tonnes, which is far from enough. Such high positions will expose investors to potential short squeeze. So, shorts will either have to simply close out positions, which will boost SHFE 1607 aluminium prices , or roll positions to distant month aluminium contracts on the SHFE, which will support SHFE 1607 aluminium prices while driving down SHFE distant month aluminium contract prices. Continuous declines in domestic aluminium stocks serve as another support to...
A recovery in demand is a key factor supporting aluminium prices this year. China unleashed a renewed government stimulus in the form of credit expansion and infrastructure building in December, which has — at least momentarily — improved the demand side of the equation for industrial metals. Trade figures this year showed China’s relatively strong appetite for aluminium. Higher demand means exporting less as Chinese companies are consuming more aluminium domestically. China’s exports of unwrought aluminium and aluminium semis were 420,000 metric tons in May. From January to May, exports are down 7.9 per cent compared to the same period last year. Overcapacity Still an Issue China and the U.S. failed to reach an agreement on how to address excess global aluminium capacity in early June....
Coal-electricity-aluminium industry has been booming in Holingola city, Inner Mongolia, one of China’s major aluminium producing regions, in recent years thanks to rich coal resources there, reported industry sources. The city hosted 148 coal-electricity-aluminium projects during the 2011-2015, with coal capacity at 33.4 million tonnes, thermal power installed capacity at 4.12 million kilowatts and primary aluminium capacity at 1.68 million tonnes. The local government will extend coal-electricity-aluminium value chain this year. To this end, Inner Mongolia Jinlian Aluminum Co. will finish construction of 2 sets of 660,000-kw power generating units and add primary aluminium capacity by 430,000 tonnes. Inner Mongolia Chuangyuan Metal Co. will add primary aluminium capacity by 150,000...
Rio Tinto will strengthen its organizational structure to continue to drive performance under its new chief executive Jean-Sébastien Jacques. From 2 July 2016, Rio Tinto’s product group structure will be adjusted to better align the Group’s assets with the business strategy to help drive further efficiencies and optimize performance. The Group’s world-class assets will be firmly at the centre of the business and will be supported by efficient and agile global functions. Jean-Sébastien Jacques said “In the face of testing times for the industry, Rio Tinto is performing remarkably well. Our ambition is to deliver superior performance day-in and day-out so that we create value for our shareholders and communities now and over the long term. “Our strategy, commitment to balance sheet strength...
The International Committee for Study of Bauxite, Alumina & Aluminium is organizing their 2016 edition of the international event in the period 3 - 6 October, 2016 in the Palace Royal hotel, Quebec, Canada. Since 1963 ICSOBA has organized 33 international events in different places of the world. The selection of Quebec, Canada for the 34th International Conference and Exhibition, follows ICSOBA’s practice of rotating the venue of International Meetings to countries that play an important role in the global aluminium industry. The Conference is supported by Rio Tinto and REGAL (Quebec Aluminium R&D centers associations). Numerous abstracts from Quebec and international researchers have already reached the organizers. On Monday morning, 3 October, six keynote speakers will make...
Russian aluminium giant Rusal Plc may reduce its output capacity by 200,000 tonnes if aluminium prices fall below $1,500 per tonne, Chief Executive Vladislav Soloviev was quoted as saying in a recent press meet. Overtaken last year by China's Hongqiao as the world's top aluminium producer, Rusal has long considered a plan to reduce capacity but has never pegged it to a certain price for the metal. The output cut could be carried out at its Kandalaksha smelter in northwestern Russia and its Novokuznetsk smelter in Siberia, Soloviev told RIA, adding that Rusal planned to keep its 2017 capital expenditure at $600 million. Aluminium prices on the London Metal Exchange (LME) are up about 8 percent this year at $1,622 per tonne.
Top executives from the GCC's primary aluminium smelters will participate at the 20th Arab International Aluminium Conference ("ARABAL 2016") in Dubai, UAE, from 22 to 24 November 2016 as part of an industry keynote panel discussion - covering topics such as the various factors relating to the regional downstream aluminium industry. Emirates Global Aluminium ("EGA") - the largest primary aluminium producer in the Gulf - is host of the two-day ARABAL 2016 conference, which has adopted the theme "Global Challenges - Seeking Solutions", this year marking the sixth time that EGA will have hosted the event. Commenting on his own participation in the industry keynote panel discussion at ARABAL 2016, Abdulla Kalban (MD & CEO: EGA) said, "It is always a pleasure to share the stage with industry...
Aluminium stocks in China’s major markets remain in the downward track, but this could not be seen as evidence of stronger demand, SMM noted. In fact, stocks have dropped at a slower pace, as a result of growing shipments from northwest China and weakening consumption, SMM explained. SMM learned smelters in northwest China stepped up shipments of ingots, which traded higher than SHFE front-month aluminium contract and aluminium liquid. Besides, falling demand for aluminium liquid from nearby aluminium billet producers also pushed smelters in northwest China to increase ingot shipments. Aluminium ingot stocks in China’s five major markets totaled 406,000 tonne as of June 17, down 22,000 tonnes from June 8, SMM statistics showed.
The World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) has published the Metals Balances Report for the first four months of the current year. The global primary aluminium recorded marginal deficit during Jan-Apr ’16. The latest report published by the World Bureau of Metal Statistics (WBMS) indicates that global primary aluminium market has recorded a marginal deficit during the initial four months of the year. As per the report, the market reported a deficit of 298,000 tons when matched with the deficit of 308,000 reported for the entire year 2015. The production of primary aluminium has dropped by 61,000 tonnes during the four-month period from January to April this year. The total reported stock of metal dropped by 183,000 tonnes during the month of April. The stocks at the end of the initial...
SMM surveyed 44 Chinese aluminium smelters about their opinions over aluminium price outlook. About 45 per cent of them expect SHFE 1608 aluminium to rise above RMB 12,100/mt and LME aluminium break through USD 1,620/mt. First, aluminium stocks in China’s five major markets fell 25,000 mt to 381,000 mt as of Monday. Second, limited supply of aluminium ingots with invoice dated June will allow suppliers to hold offers firm. Another 37 per cent expect SHFE 1608 aluminium to stabilize at RMB 11,900-12,100/mt and LME aluminium hold stable at USD 1,590-1,620/mt. First, latest poll results show the number of British people in favor of staying in the EU is almost equal to those who are against. Commodity will face selloffs and the US dollar will gain favor if the UK leaves the EU. The US dollar...
Import of aluminium will likely get tougher in India soon. According to the industry sources, Government of India is mulling over the proposition to further raise trade barriers on import of a number of industrial metals including aluminium. As per reports, investigations are going on to impose safeguard duty on aluminium and anti-dumping duty on steel. Several industry bodies have been demanding the government to start investigations in this line for quite some time now. Despite promises against resorting to protectionist measures, almost all countries are reacting to slow growth by trying to protect their domestic industries by raising trade barriers. During the height of financial crisis, the G20 nations had pledged to refrain from erecting any new trade barriers. However, due to...
