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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Japan's aluminium premiums for January-March shipments were set at $110 per tonne, up 22 percent from the previous quarter, on higher overseas rates, six sources directly involved in the talks said. The deal, which marks the first increase in four quarters and a rise from a $90 per tonne premium PREM-ALUM-JP in the previous quarter, is in line with a climb in U.S. and European surcharges for physical aluminium amid tighter availability. Japan is Asia's biggest importer of the metal 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. Three end-user sources and two buyers at trading houses said all deals were done at $110, while a source at a producer said all shipments were booked at...
With the sudden rise in aluminium prices just last week, miners across the world are rejoicing, including in Australia where the outlook is expected to improve. According to a report from the International Business Times, an increase in US consumer spending has boosted investors’ hopes of a stronger economic projection for the year ahead. The immediate, short-term result has led to stocks of Australian mining conglomerates rising this past week with an extended rally in raw material prices, helping put an end to the recent commodity retreat. “Mining and metals shares advanced with some expectations of rising investment in underweight commodities stocks in early 2016,” Helen Lau, analyst at Argonaut Securities (Asia) Ltd. in Hong Kong, told Bloomberg. “Signs of improving fundamentals have...
Aluminium settled up 0.2% at 100.35 despite of concern about market surpluses. Japanese aluminium buyers have agreed to pay producers a premium of $110 per tonne for metal to be shipped in the January-March quarter. 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. China looked set for a soggy start to 2016 after activity in the manufacturing sector contracted for a fifth straight month in December, suggesting the government may have to step up policy support to avert a sharper slowdown. While China's services sector ended 2015 on a strong note, the economy still looked set to grow at its slowest pace in a quarter of a century despite a...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C (Alba), one of the leading employers in the Kingdom of Bahrain, met with a delegation from the Arabian Gulf University (AGU), comprising professors and students on December 27, 2015. Alba’s Chief Operations Officer, Isa Al Ansari, Chief Marketing Officer, Khalid A. Latif, Director Administration Abdul Rahman Janahi and Manager Training Rawdha Al Aradhi and other officials welcomed the AGU delegation. This visit reaffirmed Alba’s commitment to support the Kingdom's educational development by sharing information about the Company’s processes and its contribution towards the development of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Commenting about this visit, Alba’s Chief Operations Officer, Isa Al-Ansari said: "Alba is happy to welcome the members from AGU and share with them the role...
About 29% of the 34 Chinese aluminium smelters surveyed by SMM are bearish toward this week’s aluminium prices. Those pessimists fear that LME aluminium will fall below USD 1,480/mt and that SHFE 1603 aluminium will drop below RMB 10,600/mt, citing a series of negative factors: 1. Downstream consumption will cool as the off-season sets in, which will widen spot discounts; 2. Alumina prices kept falling, weakening cost support for aluminium ; 3. Power tariff subsidies in Xinjiang, Gansu, Yunnan and Sichuan will reduce power costs for aluminium smelters; 4. The price spread between SHFE 1601 and 1602 aluminium contracts widened to near RMB 300/mt due to nearing delivery date. This will force cargo holders to sell at larger discount. Another 29% are optimistic that LME aluminium will rise...
The growth of China’s primary aluminium output slowed for three years in a row in 2015, SMM expects. SMM attributes the slowdown to partly due to the Chinese government’s control over investment in energy-intensive industries, including aluminium. In addition, low-cost aluminium capacity replaced high-cost capacity at a slower pace as falling aluminium prices left producers in losses and gave no incentive to put new capacity online. The country’s production of the light metal is expected to grow 10.5% from 2014 to 30.64 million tonnes in 2015, SMM estimates.
The global commodity free fall and aluminium price slump played havoc with Indian metal companies in 2015, pushing many to the brink of operational losses and capacity shutdowns. The new year will be crucial to see which way the prices move. Metal manufacturers including those comprising the aluminium maket will also be banking on a pick-up in the domestic economy and some support from the government to fend off cheaper global imports. Upcoming Trends Debt restructuring In 2015, banks invoked strategic debt restructuring for a number of stressed metal manufacturers. Over the next 18 months, banks will look for buyers for these assets. The availability of assets at potentially reasonable valuations may give larger firms the option to buy assets and consolidate their hold on the markets....
Empire State Development approved $101.1 million in economic development funding that is expected to create 634 jobs across the state, but St. Lawrence County’s share of the money will go largely to Alcoa in an effort to retain jobs. Statewide the funding supports projects that are creating 634 new jobs and retaining more than 1,500. Of the $101.1 million, St. Lawrence County will receive about one-third of the total, but no new jobs are expected as part of the plan. About $20.6 million will go to Alcoa, while the remaining $8.6 million will go toward the Newton Falls Railroad project. Alcoa Inc. will use working capital grants of up to $20.6 million to subsidize the Alcoa Massena plant to continue operations and retain hundreds of jobs. In November 2015, Alcoa announced its intention to...
The London Metal Exchange (LME) aluminium price has risen from the low $1,400s per metric ton in October to the mid $1,550s last week. At the same time, the Japanese have started settling first quarter 2016 physical delivery premiums at $110 per mt, 22% higher than the previous quarter, the first time they have risen in a year. Meanwhile, probably not unconnected, Japanese port stocks have fallen at the country’s three major ports. Stockpiles fell in November by 7.5% to 401,000 mt according to Reuters. Over the in US, the Midwest transaction price, which includes the LME price and premium that buyers pay to take delivery of the metal, has risen steadily this month to $1,736 per metric ton by December 24, up from $1,599/mt on 28 October, which was its lowest point since May 2009. Perhaps...
Aluminium futures eased by 0.20 per cent to INR 99.95 per kg on the first session of the 2016 today as speculators reduced positions amid weak demand at spot market and weakness in base metals overseas. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, aluminium for delivery in January traded lower by 20 paise, or 0.20 per cent, to INR 99.95 per kg, in a business turnover of 124 lots. Analysts said offloading of positions by speculators due to sluggish demand at spot market and a weak trend in industrial metals, mainly weighed on aluminium prices.
Aluminium in London Metal Exchange (LME) may move in range of 100-103 in the month of December. This week's trading is expected to be volatile in what will be a shortened week as the LME's electronic trading platform will close today and will remain closed until January 4 for New Year holidays. Prices are hovering around the top of their current ranges despite current dollar strength, with the exception of a few base metals which continue to trade sideways. Aluminium fell 0.5 percent to $1,528 a tonne and shows little signs of recovery in the short term.
An agreement has been signed between NALCO, a Government of India enterprise and Chalieco of China, for R&D cooperation in the fields of mutual interest. Projects to be taken up by these two companies include separation of iron concentrate from Red Mud and Extraction of Gallium from Bayer Liquor, according to an official release issued here. “Extraction of marketable iron concentrate from Red Mud will be our first R&D project with Chalieco. This will be a major step in extracting value out of Red Mud, which is otherwise treated as an industrial waste,” said Tapan Kumar Chand, CMD of NALCO. “On successful completion of the project, efforts will be commercialized through a demonstration plant,” Chand added. The agreement was signed on Tuesday at Bhubaneswar by B.K. Satpathy, Executive...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba)’s, one of the world’s leading smelters and a well-known environmental champion, is the proud winner of the Gold category in the prestigious International Green Apple Awards 2015 for its project ‘Aluminium Smelter to Green Oasis’. The Green Apple Environment Awards - one of the world’s foremost environment award campaigns - recognises, rewards and promotes environmental best practices around the world. Commenting on this occasion, Alba’s Chief Executive Officer, Tim Murray said, “Recognised as an environmentally-friendly smelter, Alba, over the years, has made considerable investments in eco-friendly measures that have enhanced sustainability as well as aided the preservation of a healthy environment for generations to come. Winning the Gold at the...
Aluminium settled up 0.15% at 100.70 as other metals rallied also support seen after the update that China's aluminium smelters have pledged to shut more production this month and not to add any new capacity in 2016, but market participants say this would do little to dent global overcapacity that has ballooned as the world's No.2 economy slows after decades of breakneck growth. Demand in China that alone accounts for a major portion of the industrial metal demand has slowed down due to the country's tepid property market and weaker infrastructure investment growth. China's economic growth has cast a shadow on investors' view of commodities demand and, as a result, brought down demand for metals, leading to price weakness. China's GDP in the third quarter slowed down to a six-year low to...
London aluminium edged lower on Wednesday, December 30th, giving up some of their gains from the previous session as concerns over slowing demand in top consumer China and weakness in crude oil weighed on prices. LME aluminium slid 0.3 percent to $1,530 a tonne. "LME aluminium price is under pressure, the slow demand growth in China is a major concern," said Jackie Wang, a consultant at CRU in Beijing. "The Chinese aluminium market was down at the beginning of this week, which is getting reflected in LME prices." A weakness in crude oil prices also demonstrated concerns over economic growth and ample commodity supplies. Crude oil futures fell more than 1 percent as the market remained under pressure from slowing demand and high supplies, while forecasts that a cold snap in Europe and the...
The board of directors of Santee Cooper authorized management to execute a new power supply contract for Century Aluminum's Mt. Holly plant. The three-year contract, which takes effect on Friday, January 1st, specifies Santee Cooper will deliver 100 percent of the plant's electric needs, according to a release from the company. “This new contract essentially continues terms Mt. Holly has had since 2012, utilizing a combination of Santee Cooper and third-party generation, which already has saved Mt. Holly $130 million,” Santee Cooper president and CEO Lonnie Carter said in a statement. Santee Cooper announced on December 18 Century Aluminum had accepted in principle an agreement for the utility to power the plant, thereby reducing by half the estimated 600 layoffs that had been scheduled...
Aluminium producers across the United States have eased plans to cut primary aluminium smelting capacity, helping to slightly soften the blow to US anode-grade petroleum coke markets. The cuts still shrink the US aluminium industry's demand for coke by nearly one-third from 2014 levels. Early fourth quarter plans by US aluminium producers Alcoa and Century Aluminum to slash domestic smelting capacity would have cut the US industry's demand for petroleum coke by about 37 percent compared with 2014. But recent announcements to keep some of that capacity operating have lowered that figure to about 32 percent. Pittsburgh-based Alcoa on November 24 scrapped plans to idle its 130,000t/yr Massena West smelter in New York. And Chicago-based Century on 17 December retracted its plans to cut...
Already hit by more than 1,000 job cuts at Vedanta Group company Balco's Chhattisgarh unit, the company's trade unions have approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help bail out local aluminium makers from cheaper imports from China. After Balco shut its rolling mill in Chhattisgarh leading to 1,000 job cuts citing economic unviability, its major trade bodies including those affiliated with INTUC, AITUC, CITU and HMS have submitted a memorandum to the Prime Minister seeking protection under 'Make in India' drive to revive the sector. The unions have demanded hike in import duty on aluminium apart from bauxite and coal linkages to aluminium makers. Government holds 49 per cent stake in Balco, which in August shut its rolling mill citing slump in global price of aluminium and rise in...
