Four days to go, and the aluminium world is getting ready to move to Düsseldorf. From October 6-8, the city will host ALUMINIUM 2026 , with more than 800 exhibitors and partners and over 21,000 trade visitors expected at Messe Düsseldorf. The event will bring together producers, recyclers, downstream manufacturers, technology providers, equipment suppliers, policymakers and end users from across the global aluminium value chain. The 2026 edition comes at an important point for the aluminium industry. European producers are facing pressure from energy costs, international competition and tighter climate requirements, while concerns around raw material security and resilient supply chains continue to grow. At the same time, demand for aluminium is expanding across electric mobility,...
The Aluminum Association launched “America Needs Aluminum,” a new public awareness and advocacy campaign highlighting aluminum’s essential role in the US economy and calling for policies that help America make, recycle and build more with this critical material. The campaign centers on a straightforward message: America needs aluminum - let’s make more of it here. It builds on the association’s broader “all-of-the-above” strategy for aluminum supply, which calls for expanding both recycled and primary aluminum production, strengthening domestic manufacturing, improving energy availability and aggressively confronting unfair trade. “Aluminum is essential to nearly every part of modern American life - from our cars, homes and packaging to the power grid, fighter jets and advanced...
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After aggressive bidding, Vedanta Group’s co-owned Bharat Aluminium Co won the Chotia mine in Chhattisgarh at the auctions held on Tuesday by the Indian Minstry of Coals, offering the highest bid of INR 3,025 per ton beating competitors like Hindalco and Ultratech Cement. The mine that boasts of good quality coal reserves with a capacity of providing one million tons per annum was previously owned by Prakash Industries before it was de-allocated and put up for auction. Imported coal of a similar grade would cost about INR 4,500 per tonne. On Wednesday, two more coal blocks will go on auction Tokisud North coal mine which was earlier allocated to GVK Power and up for auction for the power sector while the other is for the unregulated sector Gare Palma IV/5 in Chhattisgarh. Balco is...
Prime Minister Tony Abbott is under pressure from his backbench to introduce legislation making aluminium smelting exempt from the Renewable Energy Target (RET). The aluminium industry has successfully lobbied the Coalition to grant its smelters an exemption from the RET. Labor agreed to support it several months ago but the Government is yet to introduce legislation making the change. Queensland Nationals backbencher Ken O'Dowd said he asked Mr Abbott why on Friday night. "We want to save jobs in Queensland, jobs in Gladstone, and I think it's essential," Mr O'Dowd said. He said Mr Abbott took the question on board and he expected an answer soon. Mr O'Dowd also said he was assured the legislation will be backdated once it is introduced. "I've also inquired [whether it will] be backdated...
Cathodic Anodes Australasia, a manufacturing company at Kunda Park has recently installed a 320-panel solar power plant saving the business 25% on energy bills, says general manager Ross Gorfine. The company manufactures products made up of aluminium and zinc for rust and corrosion protection which requires melting of the metals – an energy intensive task. Ever since the company installed the solar power system six months ago, they have seen a significant savings on their energy bills. Sunshine Coast being true to its name gets an average of seven hours of sunshine a day making it an ideal location for the set up of the system. Gorfine says that they had been looking for a greener route for quite some time that would reduce their dependence on fossil fuels and decrease their carbon...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), a leading aluminium producer in the world, is pleased to announce that it has signed a Service Level Agreement with APM Terminals Bahrain, a subsidiary of one of the world’s leaders in port infrastructure - APM Terminals, and operator of Khalifa Bin Salman Port, Kingdom of Bahrain. The Agreement was signed between Alba’s Adviser to the CEO, Jean-Baptiste Lucas and Marco Neelsen, Chief Executive Officer of APM Terminals Bahrain. The meeting was attended by Mark Hardiman, Bryan Webster and Yusif Sanad from APM Terminals Bahrain and Alba’s Manager Sales Europe, Boris Santosi and Head of Sales, Europe Hassan Habib. The milestone agreement will boost Alba’s strategy to enlarge its presence in the global markets as well as enhance its overall service levels to...
According to latest trade statistics, the primary aluminum production by Brazil during the entire year 2014 declined sharply. The country’s primary aluminum output dropped 26.2% during the year to 962,000 tonnes. This is when compared with the output of 1.3 million tonnes during 2013. During the month of Dec ’14 alone, the primary aluminum output has declined by 32% year-on-year. The country has been witnessing steady fall in outputs since the beginning of 2014. The output in Dec ’14 reduced to 70,900 tonnes when compared with the output of 104,300 tonnes in December 2013. Brazilian primary aluminum export volumes had declined sharply by 23.5% over the previous year in 2014, following closing down of smelting capacities by several producers in the country. The figures released by the...
Romanian aluminum producer Alro ended 2014 with adjusted net losses of RON 141 million (EUR 31.7 million). The losses were 64% higher compared to 2013, according to the company’s preliminary results. The company’s turnover registered a slight year-on-year increase in 2014, to RON 2 billion (EUR 450 million). In 2013, the company posted a turnover of RON 1.95 billion (EUR 442 million) and adjusted losses of RON 86 million (EUR 19.5 million). “The energy taxes, the low aluminum prices on the international markets and the significant appreciation of the US dollar, during a very short period, in December, influenced our results. Thus we continued to report losses this year,” said Marian Nastase, president of Alro’s board. “We are confident however that the recent measures to decrease by up to...
Aluminium stocks held at three major Japanese ports climbed for a tenth month to hit a record high at the end of January, as robust imports met tepid domestic demand. Aluminium stocks held at Yokohama, Nagoya and Osaka grew 8.8 percent in January from a month earlier to 449,800 tonnes, Marubeni Corp said on Tuesday. The trading house collects data from those key ports. That broke the previous record set in December, the highest level in data going back nearly 15 years. "A high level of imports kept coming to Japan to look for buyers as demand elsewhere in Asia stayed slack and China is exporting cheaper aluminium products to neighbouring countries," said a Tokyo-based trader, who declined to be named. Chinese exports of aluminium products grew about 19 percent last year, a trend analysts...
The Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing (CCAM) today announced that Alcoa, the global leader in lightweight metals technology, engineering and manufacturing, will join the research consortium that brings together world-class businesses, Virginia's top universities, and the NASA Langley Research Center. As an Organizing Industry Member, Alcoa will conduct proprietary research at CCAM's state-of-the-art facility in Prince George County, Va., and retain IP ownership of its developments as well as collaborate with member companies on research for new manufacturing techniques and processes. "Alcoa is driven by innovation – not only from our own scientists and engineers but also through collaboration and ideas shared by those outside our company," said Director of Technology Leighton...
Alcoa announced today that Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Klaus Kleinfeld will present at the BMO Capital Markets 24th Global Metals & Mining Conference in Hollywood, Florida, on Monday, February 23, at 9:30 a.m. EST. Mr. Kleinfeld will discuss Alcoa's transformation strategy which encompasses growing the Company's innovative, value-add businesses to capture profitable growth, while simultaneously creating a globally competitive commodity business. The presentation and live video webcast will be available at Alcoa's website at 9:30 a.m. on February 23. Following the conference, the archived webcast will be available for replay on the same website.
China’s Ministry of Industry & Information Technology (MIIT) is mulling over plans to tackle chronic overcapacity in the country’s aluminum industry, Shanghai Metals Market has learned. Measures under consideration include: greater scrutiny of projects under construction; strict control over capacity expansions; encouraging vertical integration of regional power plants and aluminum smelters; pushing for fair pricing among on-grid power, captive power and local on-grid power networks; enhancing cooperation between upstream smelters and downstream processors; widening the field of possible applications for aluminum in construction, power, transportation and aerospace sectors; and encouraging domestic smelters to build aluminum smelting and processing facilities overseas.
Hindalco Industries and Vedanta Resources, India's two largest aluminium producers, have stepped up exports amid increasing capacity and poor domestic demand. Exports of primary aluminium from the country surged 65% in the first half of the current fiscal, according to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, as demand slowed down at home due to a sluggish Economy, while overseas markets offered a better opportunity to Indian producers. Hindalco has exported as much as half of its produce during this financial year, compared to less than a fifth last year, while Vedanta Resources exported about 40% of its output in India against about 30% in 2013-14. "If we find it is better, economical and makes sense to export, we will-...better than holding onto the stock," said Hindalco's managing...
Hindalco Industries secured a coal mine in Jharkhand on the second day of the auction, boosting the shares of the company significantly. Six other contenders were in competition to secure the coveted Kathautia mine in Jharkhard including Monnet Ispat & Energy, Rungta Mines, UltraTech Cement and the prior allottee Usha Martin. Hindalco finally won the auction offering INR 2,680 per ton for the good quality coal and has the access to the 26 million tons available in the Kathautia mine. The company has shown rise in its net profit this year, rising from INR 334 crore reported last year to a net profit of INR 350 crore reported in the last quarter of the present fiscal year.
Aluminium Association of India, the apex body representing the entire spectrum of Indian Aluminium Industry, at its Governing Council Meeting held on 27th January 2015 at New Delhi elected Mr. S.K. Roongta, Chairman, Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (BALCO) as Hon. President and Mr. Satish Pal, Deputy Managing Director, Hindalco Industries Limited as Hon. Vice President. Mr. S.K. Roongta is Chairman – Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd. (BALCO) & Talwandi Sabo Power Limited (TSPL) both Vedanta Group Companies and Heads Aluminium & Power Business of the Vedanta Group comprising of 2.5 million tonnes of fully integrated aluminium and 8000 MW of Power. Earlier he served as Chairman of Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) from August 2006 to May 2010. An Electrical Engineering Graduate from BITS...
UC RUSAL, a leading global aluminium producer, notes that official LME aluminium stocks fell below 4 million tonnes on 11 February for the first time since May 2009. RUSAL notes that LME aluminium stocks keep declining and maintain a steady decrease of around 7 thousand tonnes per day. This drawdown reflects the Company’s view of the supply and demand balance on the global market excluding China which is currently in deficit. The fundamental demand for aluminium remains strong and RUSAL expects to see the stocks at LME warehouses to continue to decrease throughout 2015. Premiums fill in the gap between the LME pricing mechanism and physical market. RUSAL’s expectation is that stocks (reported/unreported) are being delivered to the consumer market to address the supply deficit so up until...
Goa Carbon Ltd is in expansion mode, looking for opportunities overseas even though their last attempt to set up a greenfield calcined petroleum coke (CPS) project in China to produce 300,000 mt per annum could not be commissioned. With clients like Hindalco and Vedanta looking to expand, Goa Carbon is also hoping to spread its wings and had bought land in China for the purpose but for reasons unknown the land had to be returned thwarting their overseas attempts. Chairman Shrinivas Dempo says that at the management level they are still exploring and evaluating options to invest in China and other places although the company does export to overseas countries like France, Greece, Cameroon, Dubai and other countries. The second largest manufacturer of CPC in India, the company has a total...
Rick Dillon, the executive vice president and chief financial officer of Chicago-based Century Aluminum Co., is taking a temporary medical leave of absence and that will delay an earnings report for the company that owns a smelter in Mount Holly, Century announced Thursday. Dillon is expected to return to the company by the end of March. The company provided no further details about the leave of absence. Michael Bless, Century’s president and CEO, will assume Dillon’s duties in his absence. Century said it will reschedule its earnings announcement to Feb. 24. The earnings announcement had been scheduled for Feb. 19 after the markets’ close. The company announced on Dec. 1 that it had completed its $67.5 million acquisition from Alcoa of the Mount Holly smelter, one of Berkeley County’s...
City-based Jawaharlal Nehru Aluminum Research Development and Design Centre (JNARDDC) on Thursday signed an MoU with the Maharashtra Institute of Technology (MIT), Aurangabad to promote scientific and technological education, and research and development in the region. The MoU was signed by the JNARDDC director Anupam Agnihotri. He said now even his centre would be following international standards where research institutions work in collaboration with the industry and academic institutions. The MoU will help in creating a dynamic aluminium R&D cluster in the state and the country. MIT Aurangabad, established by the Gramudyyogik Shikshan Mandal, offers a number of technology, management, architecture and science studies. It is also part of the Centre's national knowledge network. It is...
Press Metal Bhd, which is on track to become the largest aluminium smelter in the region by the end of the year, recorded a profit of RM42mil on the back of a record turnover of RM1.1bil in the final quarter of its operations in 2014. With its smelting plants in Mukah and Bintulu in Sarawak running at full capacity, Press Metal registered a record turnover of RM4.1bil for the financial year ended Dec 31, 2014 and a profit of RM212.7mil. Last year, Press Metal, which had been hit by the shutdown of its aluminium smelting plant in Mukah due to an electricity outage, posted a loss of RM28.7mil on a turnover of RM807.6mil in the fourth quarter, while for the whole year, its net profit was RM15mil on a turnover of RM3.1bil. The Mukah plant resumed operations in April last year after having...
