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. On...
The conclusion of negotiations on the EU–India Free Trade Agreement creates a new context for Indian manufacturers considering the European market, but future opportunities will increasingly depend on regulatory preparedness as well as commercial competitiveness. Negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement were concluded in January 2026. Earlier this month, the European Commission submitted proposals to the EU Council for its signature and conclusion. The Agreement is not yet in force and remains subject to the required European and Indian procedures. For the Indian aluminium industry, the development comes at a time when access to Europe is increasingly shaped by environmental, product and supply-chain regulation. One of the most immediate examples is the European Union’s Carbon Border...
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About 43 per cent of the 42 Chinese aluminium smelters surveyed by SMM expect aluminium prices to rise this week. Those optimists see SHFE 1605 aluminium rising above RMB 11,800/mt and LME aluminium advancing above USD 1,500/mt, citing positive factors. First, many Chinese aluminium smelters have no plans to restart idled capacity or put new capacity online, so supply will remain tight for the foreseeable future. Second, aluminium stocks in China’s five major markets kept falling, allowing spot discounts to narrow to less than RMB 50/mt. Third, downstream consumption recovered and operating rates at processors are better than the same period last year. Fourth, technical side is positive for SHFE aluminium . Another 52 per cent see SHFE 1605 aluminium stabilizing at RMB 11,600-11,750/mt...
National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO) had been allotted Utkal-D & E coal blocks, near the company's Captive Power Plant in Angul district of Odisha. The allotment agreement for these blocks having a reserve of more than 200 million tonnes of coal was signed between the Centre and NALCO in New Delhi on Tuesday, last week. Terming it as a Holi gift, NALCO CMD T K Chand thanked the Union Government and congratulated all the employees as well as the stakeholders. "The company's smooth operation and expansion plans hinged on the allocation of these blocks. With this, NALCO s captive resources have been enriched, which will see the company through the next three decades and more," said Chand. Vivek Bharadwaj, Nominated Authority, on behalf of Government of India and D Manjit, GM (Coal...
Aluminium prices at Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) Mumbai, advanced by INR 2 per kg at the non-ferrous market on March 26, Saturday, largely due to pick-up in demand from consuming industries. However, other base metals held steady in thin trade. Traders said increased demand from consuming industries and reports of a firm trend in its prices in Asian region kept aluminium prices higher. In the national capital, aluminium ingots, sheet cutting, wire scrap and utensil scrap added another INR 2 each to INR 150, INR 146, INR 146 and INR 144 per kg respectively. Following were the rates of aluminium and aluminium products (in INR per kg) on March 26: • Aluminium ingots INR 150 • Aluminium sheet cutting INR 146 • Aluminium wire scrap INR 146 • Aluminium utensils scrap INR 144
Aluminium increased for a third day to the highest level in six months as metals advanced in Shanghai after a report that industrial profits increased in China, ending a seven-month losing streak. The London Metal Exchange was closed for a public holiday. The metal used in everything from beverage cans to window frames added as much as 1.1 per cent to 11,830 yuan ($1,818) a metric ton, the highest since September 25, before trading at 11,810 by 11:29 a.m. local time. Futures in Shanghai have rallied about 22 per cent from their record low on November 24 as China’s biggest smelters vowed to curb capacity and output fell 7.7 per cent from a year earlier in the first two months of 2016. Other non-ferrous metals declined last week, as commodities were hurt by a stronger dollar. Industrial...
Aditya Birla Group’s Odisha based Aditya Aluminium at Lapanga in Sambalpur district has announced having achieved its full capacity utilisation. Start up of the 360th Pot of Potline was done on Friday, thereby completing the commissioning phase, a company statement said on Saturday. Aditya Aluminium is a smelter-power plant complex at Lapanga with 360,000 tonnes smelter supported by a 6 x 150 MW coal based captive power. On this occasion a function was held in the plant premises where senior officials from the company’s management and a large number of employees were present. The MoU with Odisha government for Aditya Aluminium was signed in 2005 and the MoEF clearance was obtained in 2006. The first concrete was laid in February, 2011 after getting 2nd stage forest clearance from MoEF...
India's state-owned aluminium producer National Aluminium Co (Nalco) has zeroed in on three locations in the Arabian Gulf - Iran, Oman and Qatar - to set up a nearly US$2bn smelter unit. Iran is the frontrunner to host the new facility. Nalco has been on the look out for a location abroad to build the 500,000 metric tonnes-per-year aluminium smelter. The company also considered potential sites in South East Asia and the UAE, in addition to Iran and Oman. According to latest available reports, Nalco is in advanced stages of discussions to explore the possibility of setting up the smelter in Iran. The company will also visit Oman and Qatar to work out the best place to set up the project. Low power and infrastructure costs are among the key considerations of Bhubaneswar, Odisha-based Nalco,...
The total consumption of aluminium in India is going to experience a major leap in the foreseeable future reaching 20 million tonnes (mt) from the present 2mt, claims Vedanta Resources Chairman Anil Agarwal. According to Mr. Agarwal, “It (India’s aluminium consumption) is going to be 20 mt. Large industries will move to aluminium products. Railways, construction, aerospace, automobiles will contribute to higher growth of the metal.” At a recently held CII event in New Delhi, he said aluminium as a light metal has immense potential of becoming the mainstay of industries in future and setting up a small and medium enterprise (SME) in the sector would require an investment between INR 25-500 crore. On being asked about credit related issues SMEs face in India, Mr. Agarwal said: “It is a myth...
LME aluminium is expected to test a support at $1,470 per tonne, with a good chance of breaking below this level and falling more towards $1,449. The support is identified as the 86.4 per cent Fibonacci retracement on the rise from the January 12 low of $1,449 to the March 7 high of $1,605, blocking the way towards $1,449. Labelled B, the third wave of a three-wave cycle from the November 23, 2015 low of $1,432.50 has ended at $1,449. Wave theory suggests that this low may be approached. Resistance is at $1,486, the 76.4 per cent level, a break above which may open the way towards the 61.8 per cent level at $1,509.
Aluminium in China traded at the highest level in five months after China Premier Li Keqiang said the world’s second-largest economy is showing signs of stabilizing, bolstering the outlook for demand for metals. Aluminium rose as much as 1.3 per cent to 11,670 yuan ($1,789.71) a metric ton on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, the highest intraday level since October 12, and traded at 11,645 yuan at 9:51 a.m. • The London Metal Exchange is closed for a public holiday. • China’s economy has gotten off to a “good and stable” start this year and the government’s low debt levels give policy makers the tools to ensure growth in the range of 6.5 per cent to 7 per cent, Li said at the Boao Forum on Thursday.
JPMorgan Chase has quietly reduced its multibillion-dollar stockpile of aluminium as the London Metal Exchange moves to introduce new rules on the reporting of outsized positions. Until last week, one party - identified as JPMorgan by traders, brokers and warehouse owners - was holding more than half of the 2.8 million tonnes of aluminium in the LME system. The size of that position has now fallen to between 30 and 40 per cent as of March 23, according to exchange data. The bank’s holding, which at its height could have covered 40 years of Coca-Cola’s UK drinks can demand, has been the source of much disquiet in London’s tight-knit metal market. The position, which is not against LME rules, has been blamed by some brokers for pushing up the price of near-term contracts, even though the...
Aluminium prices were down 0.10 per cent to INR 101.95 per kg in futures trade as investors reduced exposure amid weak global cues. Besides, sluggish demand in the domestic spot markets weighed on the metal's prices. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, aluminium for delivery in April eased 0.10 per cent to INR 100.95 per kg in a business turnover of seven lots. Similarly, the metal for delivery this month traded lower by 0.05 per cent, to INR 99.20 per kg in 113 lots. Marketmen said the weakness in aluminium in futures trade was mostly in step with a weak trend at London Metal Exchange ( LME) due to a steady dollar and lackluster demand in China, the world's biggest user.
Aluminium rebounded from the lowest level in two months as China’s Premier Li Keqiang said that the world’s second-largest economy saw positive signs of change this year, bolstering the outlook for demand. The lightweight metal rose as much as 0.4 per cent to $1,486 a metric ton on the London Metal Exchange and traded at $1,485.50 at 11:41 a.m. in Shanghai after closing at $1,479.50 on Wednesday, the lowest since January 25. Aluminium had dropped for the past few days as a strengthening dollar hurt demand. Speaking in a keynote speech at the Boao forum in Hainan, southern China, Li said China was confident of maintaining more than 6.5 per cent growth rate over the next five years. The job market was steady in the first two months and the quality of economic growth is improving, he said....
China's persistent metals glut has lately been putting pressure on shares of Alcoa (AA), as dismal forecasts Wednesday contributed to the New York-based aluminium manufacturer's decline in share price of more than 5 per cent. "China's campaign to cut industrial overcapacity could be derailed by mounting debts," Deutsche Bank analyst Jorge Beristain said in a Wednesday report. For Huaibei Mining alone, one of China's largest coal-producing mining corporations, "debt in steel, coal, cement, and non-ferrous metal sectors totals 10 trillion Chinese yuan (about $1.6 trillion)," Beristain said in the report. "Although the Chinese government is providing more than 100 billion Chinese yuan ($15 billion) aid to handle layoffs in steel/coal industries, the funds will be made available only after...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), the Bahrain-based leading international aluminium producer, announced the launch of Phase II of its company-wide, cost reduction programme Project Titan with the aim to reduce cash cost by US$ 100 per metric tonne of aluminium and step-up its production capacity to 1,000,000 metric tonnes per annum by end of 2017. Project Titan Phase II, focused on optimizing operational costs and boosting the Company’s production, is an integral part of Alba’s strategy for value creation and reflects the current and expected market conditions in the aluminium industry. Explaining further, Alba’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Murray said: “Given the tough market conditions, we believe that we can do more than necessary and push ourselves in order to maintain our position as...
Hydro is donating up to NOK 10 million to create a five year professorship at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The professorship will support the creation of the NTNU Aluminium Product Innovation Center (NAPIC). The vision of the center is to find new product areas for aluminium, and to establish NTNU as a world leader in the application of aluminium products. Through a unique collaboration between NTNU faculties in Trondheim, Ålesund and Gjøvik, NAPIC will research the application of aluminium in architecture, product design, materials technology and product development. Vanguard research. "Aluminium is energy and knowledge in solid form, and Norway is already a world leader in research and innovation within our industry. This center will be in the vanguard of...
Some Japanese aluminium buyers have agreed to pay a premium of $115 per tonne for primary metal to be shipped in the April-June quarter, three sources directly involved in the quarterly pricing talks said. The deal, reached with one global metal producer, marks a 4.5 percent rise from a $110 per tonne premium PREM-ALUM-JP in the previous quarter, a second straight quarter-on-quarter increase, reflecting lower inventories at home. Japan is Asia's biggest importer of aluminium and the premiums for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay each quarter over the London Metal Exchange (LME) cash price set the benchmark for the region. The latest quarterly pricing negotiations began last month between Japanese buyers and global producers, including Alcoa Inc, Rio Tinto and South32 Ltd, with...
The aluminium price outlook still looks bright in the first half of this year, not dimmed by growing aluminium capacity in China, SMM predicted at the recent 2016 Copper & Aluminium Summit in Shanghai. China’s aluminium capacity will expand to 42 million-tpy in 2016 from 39 million-tpy in 2015, SMM aluminium analyst Liu Xiaolei said at the summit. The first half of the year will see no more than one million-tpy enter operations, though, with much of the additional capacity to come on stream in the second half of the year, Liu added. Financial tightness at most smelters will be the one of the reasons behind slow capacity release, Liu explained. Banks are now very cautious towards lending to companies in aluminium-related industry against bad loans caused by a large number of aluminium...
China’s Hongqiao Group remains on top of the aluminium production industry following a risky-but-logical declaration last week regarding an increase of the company’s production capacity. On March 14, Hongqiao chief executive Zhang Bo announced their plan to increase production capacity of aluminium by the end of 2016 to 6 million tonnes or about 16 percent higher from their 5.19-million-tonne produce in 2015, as per a report from the Financial Times. Understandably, the company will continue with this course depending on the market conditions. "If demand is good, we will stick with the plan. If not, we can slow down new capacity expansion or even suspend it," Zhang said. Fortunately, the market did do good as Forbes reported how Hongqiao "devoured" the international aluminium industry....
