Aluminium prices came under renewed pressure on October 1 as expectations of improving supply, stronger Chinese exports and a firmer USD weighed on the market. Aluminium settled 0.73 per cent lower at INR 340.65, while expectations of tighter US monetary policy added to the broader macroeconomic pressure. The decline comes as several aluminium smelters prepare to restart previously idled capacity, while others move ahead with expansion plans. These developments are raising expectations that global aluminium availability could improve in the coming months. China exports add to supply pressure China is emerging as another important factor for the aluminium market. Rising exports are partly offsetting supply disruptions in the Gulf, with August aluminium exports increasing 17.2 per cent...
According to SMM statistics, on September 30, aluminium billet inventory in major consuming regions in China stood at 149,500 tonnes, up 500 tonnes WoW from last Thursday and down 5,000 tonnes from this Monday, with inventory consolidating at highs and basically flat overall. On a year-over-year basis, inventory was about 35,000 tonnes higher than the same period in 2025 and about 41,000 tonnes higher than the same period in 2024, with total inventory still at the highest level for the same period in the past four years. From the perspective of warehouse withdrawals, aluminium billet withdrawals from September 21 to September 28 totalled 44,800 tonnes, holding near 45,000 tonnes for two consecutive weeks. By region, Foshan inventory stood at 69,500 tonnes, down 3,000 tonnes from last...
Grow with
AL Circle
Aluminium settled down -0.47% at INR 105.65 on the possibility of a Grexit increased, allowing market panic to grow. Also pressure seen after China imported 6,738 mt of primary aluminum in May, down 71.98% YoY, customs data showed. Also pressure seen after last ditch Greek debt negotiations broke down over the weekend, bringing the country a step closer to a debt default ahead of a looming deadline for a repayment to the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday. Despite the deposit reserve ratio and interest rate cut by the PBOC, CSI 500, IH 50 and IF 300 indexes plummeted as a large number of financiers closed positions, though clawed back some losses at the end of trading. This depressed market confidence. The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) expects to ease market panic. The...
Chinese imports of primary aluminium ingot are likely to rise in coming months after the price of the metal fell on the global market, prompting end-users to buy, industry and trading sources said on Thursday. The weak London Metal Exchange (LME) price is opening a rare arbitrage opportunity for Chinese investors to sell aluminium futures in Shanghai and buy on the LME, which may result in some imports, the sources said. Imports of primary aluminium fell 79 per cent in the first four months of 2015 compared with a year before. Spot primary aluminium ingots have been offered at premiums of about US$105-$130 per tonne to Chinese buyers, down nearly two-third from January
Rio Tinto's aluminium smelter in New Zealand, which has suffered losses in two of the last three years, faces a July 1 deadline to decide whether to extend its power supply contract with utility Meridian Energy. The decision could determine the future of the 350,000-tonne-per-year smelter, which is the country's single biggest energy consumer, beyond 2017 following a battle by the plant's owners to slash its power costs. The smelter has struggled with weak aluminium prices and a high New Zealand dollar for several years, and has been seeking cheaper power, even though it returned to an underlying profit of NZ$56 million in 2014 after two years of losses. The plant was given a NZ$30 million subsidy in 2013 by the government to bridge the price gap between Meridian and the plant's owners,...
Lightweight metals leader Alcoa today announced that it will permanently close its Poços de Caldas primary aluminum smelter in Brazil on June 30, 2015. The smelter has been curtailed since May 2014 and the underlying market conditions that led to the curtailment have not improved. “The closure of the Poços smelter permanently removes a high-cost smelting facility from the Alcoa system and is another step in creating a more profitable Primary Metals business,” said Alcoa Global Primary Products President Bob Wilt. Once the Poços smelter is closed, Alcoa’s total global smelting capacity will be reduced by 96,000 metric tons, to 3.4 million metric tons. The Poços mine, refinery, aluminum powder plant and casthouse will continue normal operations. As a result of the closure, Alcoa expects to...
China imported 6,738 mt of primary aluminum in May, down 71.98% YoY, customs data showed. Imports totaled 46,723 mt January-May, plunging 78.01% YoY. The SHFE/LME aluminum price ratio slid from 7.5 in early April to 7.0 in early May, unfavorable for imports. However, imports might rebound in June as the SHFE/LME aluminum price ratio has been rising since May and overseas aluminum premiums fell sharply.
The Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (BALCO) honoured as many as 118 employees with the “Excellent Production Award” for the fourth quarter of the financial year 2014-15. The employees of Human Resources Management (HRM)-3, Customer Relations Management (CRM)-2 and FLA-5 were honoured in the presence of their family members. BALCO’s Aluminium Business Head Deepak Prasad, Fabrication and Services Head PS Tur, Process Control (FLA) head Sanjay Agrawal and SRS head Ajay Sharma wished a very bright future to all the winners of the award. The officers asked the employees to have solidarity to reduce the production cost and to maintain high quality Aluminium production. The programme was organised in Alumina canteen. Rajesh Kumar Sahu, AS Sidar, Prateek Saraswat, KK Soni, RS Khar, BL Maitri, SK...
Global aluminium production continued its upward trend since the end of last year, according to statistics of the International Aluminium Institute (IAI). Even though the production slightly decreased in April, the output still grew since May. China and GCC are still the largest contributors to total global production, and they have an important role on the monthly and the annual world production of aluminium. The primary aluminium production in China almost accounts of the half of the global aluminium production, according to IAI.
Global aluminium producer RUSAL, headquartered in Moscow, has opened a new office in Istanbul, according to a press release issued by the company. The office will be led by Ihsan Kösoglu, who joins RUSAL from the Turkish aluminum producer Assan Alüminyum, and brings more than 19 years of experience in the Turkish aluminum industry in various commercial roles. According to RUSAL, its metal now accounts for close to 50 percent of Turkey's aluminum imports. Steve Hodgson, RUSAL director for sales and marketing, comments, “Turkey has always been an important market for us and we are logistically ideally situated to service this region via our Black Sea ports. In 2014 approximately 500,000 metric tons of our total sales were consumed in Turkey where more than 25 percent of these sales were in...
Noranda Aluminum Holding Corporation announced today the hiring of Julio Costa as President of the Company's Bauxite and Alumina business. Noranda also announced that Mike Griffin, the Company's Vice President of Manufacturing, has been named President of the Primary Aluminum business. Costa and Griffin join Scott Croft, who continues as President of the Flat-Rolled Products business, and who has also been named Noranda's Chief Commercial Officer, as the core of Noranda's senior operations management team. "Julio is an excellent operational leader with deep experience in bauxite mining and alumina refining. We are proud to add his talents to our team," said Layle K. "Kip" Smith, Noranda's President and Chief Executive Officer. "The appointment of Julio and Mike to their respective senior...
China is unlikely to relax its tariff policy on the export of raw aluminum, according to United Company Rusal Plc. Rusal chief executive Vladislav Soloviev said China wants to discourage the export of raw aluminum but has reduced tariffs on value-added downstream products of the metal, the Hong Kong Economic Journal reported Monday. He said such a policy, which is aimed at encouraging the export of value-added aluminum products, remains strong and sustainable. China currently charges a 15 percent tariff on raw aluminum exports but provides waivers for value-added products. About 40 percent of Chinese aluminum enterprises are operating inefficiently, while the sector is struggling with an oversupply, Soloviev said. Still, Soloviev sees rising demand for metal amid a rising trend among...
The latest figures from the International Aluminium Institute (IAI) showed daily average output in May falling marginally from April's 158,100 tones to 157,800 tones. But that shouldn't distract from the underlying trend, which is rising and at an accelerating pace. The world's smelters produced 4.892 million tons of aluminium in May, up almost 12 per cent year-on-year. That was the fastest growth rate since 2011. May's output of 2.67 million tons represented a year-on-year growth of 22.3 per cent while showing a cumulative output of 12.46 million tons over the first five months of 2015 that shows a growth of 13.5 per cent. China's soaring production and its massive exports of semi-manufactured products are attracting ever more negative scrutiny from non-Chinese producers. But production...
BHP Billiton spinoff company South32 closed at R17.24 on Friday, dropping by 2.49%, down 10.3% on the week, and about 14.82% since it listed on the JSE over a month ago. Currently sitting a R17.20 per share, Troy Brady from NOAH Capital Markets says South32 has simply become a victim of the general negative sentiment towards resource stocks in recent times. Citing ArcelorMittal and African Rainbow Minerals as examples, both of which were down on Friday, Brady says it’s been a bad couple of months for everybody in the mining space, with the two stocks having lost 24% and 16% respectively in the last month. “It’s important to keep in mind that the resources sector as a whole is in trouble because of the slowdown in China,” says Brady. “It also doesn’t help that some South32 commodities –...
Québec Premier Philippe Couillard, accompanied by Minister of the Economy, Innovation and Exports Jacques Daoust and the Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier for the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region and Member for Dubuc Serge Simard, has announced the launch of the Québec Aluminium Development Strategy to foster the industry’s growth and global reach. The Strategy’s objectives are to double aluminium processing in Québec by 2025, to support equipment manufacturers and specialized suppliers in export markets, and to consolidate Québec’s position as one of the world’s largest primary aluminium producers. “We owe Québec’s reputation for excellence in large part to the aluminium sector’s businesses and employees. No other state has developed a complete strategy to promote industry growth....
Guinea Alumina Corporation SA, a mining development company wholly owned by Emirates Global Aluminum PJSC, signed a series of four agreements in Paris, France, with the Government of the Republic of Guinea - the latter represented by the Ministry of Mines and Geology and the National Agency for Development of Mining Infrastructures. Also present and party to the agreements were Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée and Compagnie de Bauxite et Alumina de Dian-Dian. The four agreements comprised: • A Multi-User Operations Agreement covering the access conditions and joint investment in the railway; • A Port Operations Agreement covering the modalities of operation and investment in the Port of Kamsar; • An Infrastructures Agreement covering GAC’s access rights to the existing infrastructures;...
The management of the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) says it spends $500,000 (about N10 million) monthly to maintain facilities and equipment at its factory located in Ikot Abasi local government area of Akwa Ibom State since it took over the plant in 2007. It adds that more than $130 million has been invested in the smelter to modernise facilities beginning from 2007 when the company began operations. In an exclusive interview with Businessday in this office at Ikot Abasi, the company’s Managing Director, Zaviyalov Dmitry said while the plant was in operation, it suffered many disruptions in gas supply which he said resulted in partial and later full suspension of operations adding that the company incurred huge losses running into millions of US Dollars on remedial works...
Aluminium settled up 1.27% at 107.55 rallied after improved manufacturing data from top consumer China bolstered sentiment, though gains are expected to be capped by seasonal demand weakness ahead and the strength of the dollar. But still sentiments remain weak as concern prevails in the market in regards with the prices outlook as Global aluminium production growth is on a surge again as the latest figures from the International Aluminium Institute showed daily average output in May falling marginally from April’s 158,100 tonnes to 157,800 tonnes. Aluminium market is unlikely to see enough producer cutbacks to reduce oversupply in coming months as currency benefits and cheaper inputs have allowed most smelters to stay out of the red. That means the price of the lightweight metal used in...
Aluminum prices in China’s spot market will take a hit next week as demand is unlikely to turn around amid strong pessimism, Shanghai Metals Market foresees. Spot aluminum should trade at discounts of 70-120 yuan per tonne over SHFE front-month contract. Selling pressure at highs will keep SHFE 1509 aluminum contract in check within 12,650-12,800 yuan per tonne. The rise in LME aluminum this past week was accompanies with an increase in positions, a sign of improved market sentiment. As such, LME aluminum might rise to challenge resistance at the 2-day moving average and move between $1,700-1,740 per tonne.
Outotec to deliver anode rodshop technology to China Xinfa Group's aluminum smelter in China. Outotec has received an order for rodshop technology from Chiping Xinyuan Aluminium Co. Ltd, a subsidiary of China Xinfa Group, a leading aluminum producer in China, for their new aluminum smelter in Shandong province. The order value exceeds EUR 12 million and it has been booked in Outotec's 2015 second quarter order intake. Outotec's delivery includes process engineering and proprietary process equipment as well as services for the commissioning and operational support for a new anode rodding shop, which is part of the new aluminum smelter. The new smelter is expected to produce annually one million tonnes aluminum. The deliveries will take place in 2016 and include both local and offshore...
