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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Adopting innovative technological solutions - currently in early research phase - instead of following a conservative technology development path could slash the direct greenhouse gasses (GHG) emissions of aluminium production by 66% in 2050 and reduce the associated energy consumption by 21%, according to a JRC report. The reductions between 2010 and 2050 for primary aluminium production are even higher, amounting to 72% and 23% respectively. The findings stem from an analysis of the current status of the aluminium industry in EU28 and Iceland, which quantifies the potential for GHG emission reduction and energy efficiency. The current EU target for 2030 of reducing GHG emissions by at least 40% below 1990 levels will help the long-term objective of emissions cut by 80-95% by 2050 in the...
Aluminum production in Venezuela continued to drop in 2015, the Ministry of Industry said in its annual report, after a year of labor conflicts, timid investment and a deep recession. Venalum, Latin America's largest aluminum factory, had output of 90,795 metric tons of the metal last year, a 15 percent drop from 2014. The ministry cited "low inventories of raw materials, supplies and spare parts, (and) intermittent availability of machinery and equipment." In March last year, Venalum said it had been forced to reduce the purity of its products owing to financial difficulties. Last year also saw an increase in production costs. Venalum has a capacity to produce 430,000 metric tons of aluminum annually and is 80 percent controlled by the Venezuelan state. The remainder is owned by a...
The Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) announced March 1 that it has approved ten warehouses from eight companies for aluminium delivery. This move will expand capacity of SHFE aluminium delivery warehouses by 175,000 tonnes, according to the SHFE website. These newly approved delivery warehouses will be allowed to generate aluminium warrants for futures delivery from February 16, 2017. These newly approved warehouses are located in Henan, Shandong, Chongqing and Tianjin, the SHFE said in a statement. The move is aimed at better serving transfer of aluminium industry, a SHFE official said. At present, China’s aluminium producing regions are concentrated in northwest, southwest and central parts of the country, while aluminium consumption is shifting from Guangdong, Zhejiang to Chongqing,...
Aluminium prices pared its gains to settle in negative zone due to oversupply and a massive inventory overhang. Aluminium price has risen over the past month, supported by a tightening of the ex-China balance, higher oil prices, and a weaker dollar. Chinese output and semi-fabricated export growth to accelerate at current prices, eventually driving ex-China prices down by about 15 percent to $1,350/t on a 12-month view. U.S. consumer spending rose solidly in January while fourth-quarter economic growth was revised up to 1 percent, higher than expected. G20 policymakers meeting in Shanghai sought common ground on how to reboot a struggling global economy in the face of renewed financial and political risks. Setting the tone for the Shanghai meeting of the Group of 20, China's central bank...
LME Aluminium prices averaged at $ 1535 per tonne by the end of February 2016, up 3.7 per cent from month ending January 2016. The release of the Union Budget in India at the end of February brought a hike in the custom duty to support the ailing industry. Considering the plea from the Aluminium manufacturers due to rising imports the Finance Minister proposed increase in custom duties of Aluminium to 7.5 per cent from 5 per cent currently. In global markets, International Aluminium Institute (IAI) that measures the production trend in the world came out with its latest numbers. IAI has mentioned that the trend of Aluminium production declined during the month of January 2016 away from the record highs that were registered in August 2015. Data estimates from International Aluminium...
India government's move to protect domestic aluminium producers by raising import duty on the metal has been neutralised by doubling of cess on coal, mining baron Anil Agarwal said today. Budget 2016-17 raised customs duty on primary aluminum to 7.5 per cent from 5 per cent, while the levy on other aluminium products was hiked to 10 per cent from 7.5 per cent. The move was to counter China flooding world markets with cheap metals especially aluminium as its economy slows down. But the safeguard duty hike has been neutralised by the doubling of clean-energy cess on coal to INR 400 per tonne made the fuel costlier for metal producers, said Vedanta Resources Chairman. "They have increased cess on coal. It has no benefit to us. Industry is in such a bad shape that 60 per cent aluminium is...
With the government proposing to hike the customs duty on primary aluminium products, Indian aluminium majors like Aditya Birla Group company Hindalco Industries, state-owned National Aluminium Company (Nalco) and Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta are planning to raise product prices in coming months. “Since pricing happens on import parity, we certainly have the room now to raise product prices by about INR 2,500 per tonne,” a Nalco official said. “This hike will happen in phases in coming months.” In the Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has proposed to increase the customs duty on primary aluminium to 7.5 per cent from five per cent at present. Global prices of aluminium and movement of rupee will also be taken into consideration at the time of price revision. Global aluminium prices are...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), the Bahrain-based leading international aluminium smelter, announced the completion of Project Titan – Phase I with a final actual figure of $148 per metric tonne against the set target of $150 per metric tonne. The results of Project Titan – Phase I was measured against baseline of 2013 actuals and focused mainly on creating a competitive and sustainable cost structure. Commenting on this milestone, CEO Tim Murray said: “We are pleased with the overall success of the first Phase of Project Titan, having nearly achieved the set target of $150 per metric tonne. Through this Project, we were able to leverage the use of our operational excellence as well as train and develop the next generation of leaders from within the Company. Given the current LME market...
Richard Goodmanson, non-executive director of Rio Tinto, who joined the board in December 2004, will be retiring from the board this year. Richard will not seek re-election as a non-executive director of Rio Tinto plc and Rio Tinto Limited and will retire from the board at the conclusion of the Rio Tinto Limited annual general meeting in Brisbane on 5 May 2016. Megan Clark will be appointed as chairman of the Sustainability Committee upon Richard Goodmanson’s retirement on 5 May 2016, and will also become a member of the Remuneration Committee with effect from 1 May 2016. Rio Tinto chairman Jan du Plessis said “I am very grateful to Richard for his considerable contribution to Rio Tinto over many years. He provided tremendous support during his tenure, notably as chairman of the...
The Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises has appointed PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminium (Inalum) as the holding company for state mining companies. This makes Inalum be in charge of PT Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk (PTBA), PT Timah (Persero) Tbk (TINS), and PT Aneka Tambang (Persero) Tbk (ANTM). Fajar Harry Sampurno, the SOE Ministry's deputy for Mining, Strategic Industry and Media Department, said Inalum was appointed because it is wholly owned by the government. This way, the state will have full control over its subsidiaries. Despite the full-control status of the government, Harry ensured that the subsidiaries with a public company status will their status. "We promise that we will not interfere with investors," he said yesterday. The discourse to form a mining holding emerged when the...
The commitment of Emirates Global Aluminium (“EGA”) to continual improvement and standardisation has led to the accreditation of the organisation’s Laboratories to ISO/IEC 17025:2005 (General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories), in the field of Metallurgical Testing. The certificates were presented to Abdulla Kalban (MD & CEO: EGA) by the Director of Dubai Accreditation Centre, Amina Ahmed Mohammed, on 18 February 2016, in the presence of EGA senior management and core implementation team members. Commenting on the accreditation, Kalban said “Currently, the standardisation of best practices is one of the key elements that bring measurable value to EGA’s operations. It reflects EGA as a strong brand by delivering consistency in quality of the products...
About 64% of the 33 Chinese aluminium smelters surveyed by SMM expect aluminium prices to stabilize this week. Those neutral smelters see SHFE 1605 aluminium at RMB 11,250-11,380/mt and LME aluminium at USD 1,550-1,575/mt. Aluminium consumption in east China is strong, but demand recovery is tepid in other markets. The divergence will keep market players cautious. Caution will also prevail before the upcoming NPC & CPPCC sessions. KDJ indicates that SHFE aluminium will have little upward momentum, while support at the 5-day moving average is strong. Another 27 per cent are bullish that SHFE 1605 aluminium will climb to RMB 11,400-11,500/mt and that LME aluminium will rise above USD 1,580/mt, citing positive factors: 1. Trading in domestic spot market has become active, allowing spot...
Emirates Global Aluminium ("EGA"), jointly owned by Mubadala Development Company ("Mubadala") and the Investment Corporation of Dubai ("ICD"), has concluded its second year of operations. EGA's results were announced at its 2015 Annual General Meeting, held on Thursday 25 February 2016. On this occasion, Abdulla Kalban (EGA Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer) stated, "I am proud of the company's results in 2015. Last year was challenging for the aluminium industry, largely due to global macro-economic uncertainty, growth slowdown in China, a stronger US Dollar and falling oil prices. In this climate, EGA's strong results reflect the high quality of our planning, a focus on our customers and strength in operations. I want to take this opportunity to thank our employees, suppliers...
Shares of Vedanta Ltd. and National Aluminium Company gained on Monday after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley increased imports duty on aluminium to 7.5 per cent from 5 per cent effective April 1, in a bid to save the industry from imports that have captured more than half the domestic market. Aluminium industry in India is facing tough competition from cheap imports into the country while global aluminium prices have fallen 44 per cent to $1500 a tonne in January this year from $2662 per tonne in April 2011. Plant shutdown and job cuts are underway as capacity utilisation of domestic aluminium industry has fallen drastically in the last one and a half years as global prices declined. CEOs of aluminium producing companies like Vedanta and Hindalco had sought an urgent intervention from...
Dr. Tapan Kumar Chand, CMD of Navratna CPSE National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco) has been unanimously elected as the President of Aluminium Association of India (AAI) in its National Governing Council Meeting, held in Bhubaneswar yesterday. AAI is the apex body representing the entire spectrum of Indian aluminium industry and is a part of world association. Earlier, the post of President was held by Mr. S.K. Roongta, former Chairman of SAIL and Vedanta Group. On assuming the post of President, Dr. Tapan Kumar Chand has welcomed the Union Budget 2016-17, presented in the Parliament today, describing it as a balanced budget with focus on growth. “On behalf of all the primary, secondary and downstream aluminium producers, I thank Govt of India for its proposal to increase the Basic...
Aluminium hit a 4-1/2 month high on Monday after top metals consumer China cut its reserve ratio for banks in an effort to revive flagging growth. Investors welcomed the move by China's central bank to reduce the amount of cash that banks must hold as reserves for the fifth time since February last year. "Any sense of proactive policymaking in China towards stabilising the economy and the exchange rate will be taken positively by commodity markets," said Nicholas Snowdon, metals analyst at Standard Chartered in London. Three-month aluminium on the London Metal Exchange gained 0.8 percent to close at $1,573 a tonne after touching $1,589, its highest since October 15. The premium for LME cash aluminium over the benchmark three-month contract CMAL0-3 jumped to $18 a tonne, the strongest...
Aluminium at London Metal Exchange (LME) will hover at highs this week after another step forward, according to the latest study by Shanghai Metals Market (SMM). SMM sees LME aluminium trading above $1,550 per tonne, with eyes on China PMI and US employment data. Demand recovery will push alumiinum stocks back down. This will drive SHFE aluminium up to near 1,500 yuan per tonne. Spot discounts in China will stay around 80 yuan per tonne, and trading will become brisk with return of processors. LME aluminium faces a resistance at $1,585 per tonne and may retrace to a support at $1,527. The resistance is provided by the 23.6 percent Fibonacci retracement on the fall from the November 6, 2014 high of $2,078.75 to the November 23, 2015 low of $1,432.50. The metal has been hovering below this...
Aluminium prices edged up 0.14 per cent to INR 108.34 per kg in futures trade today as participants enlarged positions, supported by strong demand in the spot markets and a better trend in the base metals pack at the London Metal Exchange (LME). Aluminium for delivery in March inched up 15 paise, or 0.14 per cent, to INR 108.35 per kg in a business turnover of 49 lots in futures trade at Multi Commodity Exchange. Likewise, the metal for delivery in February traded higher five paise, or 0.05 per cent, to INR 108.40 per kg in 64 lots. Marketmen said increased domestic demand and metals strength at the LME after data, helped aluminium futures trade higher. Globally, aluminium was up 0.3 per cent at USD 1,565 per tonne at the LME.
