In the final three trading days before the National Day holiday, the South China spot market stayed soft: aluminium prices continued to edge lower, the SHFE aluminium backwardation structure strengthened, and premiums over the next-month and far-month contracts were actually elevated. Ahead of the holiday, the willingness to cash out at the high basis was strong, and amid ongoing destocking, discount-priced cargoes still dominated spot circulation; demand was largely subdued, with only localized bargain-hunting replenishment and quite limited buying interest. On the whole, however, the high spot premium for aluminium ingots in South China remained largely intact. As of September 30, the SMM A00 aluminium (Foshan) spot premium over the 2610 contract stood at RMB 260 per tonne, still within...
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,...
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In the first ten months of the current Iranian calendar year, that is from March 21, 2014 to January 20, 2015, the country produced 293,595 tons of ingots, adding 30,595 tons in the month of December, 2014. These figures show a rise of 893 tons when compared to the production output seen last year says the Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO). Of the total aluminium produced, 51.4% was produced by Iranian Aluminium Company with 151,163 tons, Almahdi Aluminium Company came second with 80,147 tons while Hormozal contributed 62,285 tons to the total production. Iran being one of the top ten mineral-rich countries of the world produced a healthy amount of alumina with 209,558 tons exceeding last year’s amount of 205,532 tons although none of it...
The aluminium market faces the prospect of a growing surge of supply from China this year that could disrupt expectations of a global deficit. A divergence in prices between China and the rest of the world could spur exports and limit aluminium’s price gains this year, analysts say. A falling rouble that has improved the competitiveness of Russian smelters could also prompt more supply. At $1,765 a tonne, the London Metal Exchange price for three-month delivery of aluminium has risen 1.4 per cent this year, the best performing base metal on the exchange. Consultancy CRU forecasts a global deficit of 600,000 tonnes this year but a 1m tonne surplus for China. The difference in prices has driven exports of fabricated forms of the metal, as companies lobby the government for a lifting of...
Japan's aluminium premiums are likely to stay at a record high level of $425 per tonne throughout this year, supported by higher U.S. spot premiums and tight global supply, outside of China, Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp said. Japan is Asia's top aluminium importer 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. "I don't think Japan's premiums will fall sharply this year as U.S. premiums are about $100 above Japan's level and global supply excluding China is fairly tight," Shingi Yamagiwa, manager of Sumitomo's light metals trading team, told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. Japanese premiums have risen for five quarters, hitting a record high of $425 per tonne for...
Alcoa seeks tax break extensions for the last two Alcoa plants remaining in Washington, one in Ferndale and Wenatchee, which employ a total number of 1,100 people. The number of aluminium smelters and the number of people employed in them have dropped drastically since 1980 when there were 10 smelters at one point employing roughly 10,000 people. Members of the Alcoa plants including managers and workers along with representatives from the Chambers of Commerce of Ferndale and Wenatchee regions approached the House Technology & Economic Development Committee on Tuesday to plead the tax break extension bill. The Bill is fairly standard with a few inclusions. Since the Legislature has become stricter about putting job-related targets, a provision has been added which states that the company...
United Co. Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum producer, will keep 700,000 metric tons of output it idled in 2013 and 2014 permanently shut, helping to buoy prices of the metal. “We cut production to 3.6 million tons last year and we are not planning to reopen the mothballed capacity, regardless of the price,” Chief Executive Officer Vladislav Soloviev said in an interview in Moscow this week. “Those plants were the least effective among our assets, so we are dismantling them now.” Aluminum prices rose about 13 percent in the last year, and the market, excluding China, expanded by 7 percent. Rusal sees similar growth this year, with a deficit outside the Asian nation of about 1.1 million tons. The company, which had annual capacity of 4.5 million tons before idling plants, doesn’t expect...
Press Metal Bhd is looking at a 10-15 increase in aluminium production by year-end as phase two of its smelting facility in Samalaju Industrial Park, Sarawak, is running at full capacity. Group Chief Executive Officer Datuk Paul Koon Poh Keong said the higher production was due to the expansion of its Samalaju smelter plant which was currently producing about 320,000 tonnes of aluminium. "Higher production was boosted by Samalaju's plant which is now operating at full capacity and we are also in the middle of expanding into phase three, which is expected to be operational by the last quarter of 2015," Koon told reporters after the company's extraordinary general meeting here Wednesday. He said a capital expenditure (capex) of RM2 billion has been allocated for phase three and two-thirds...
Hydro and SGL Group have launched a three-year project aiming to tap further energy saving potentials in the primary aluminum production process. Building on each other’s technological strengths and know-how, the companies are joining forces to develop a new cathodic solution for this purpose. • Launch of three-year project, funded by The Research Council of Norway’s ENERGIX program • Hydro and SGL partnering in the development of cathode technology • Potential for significant energy savings in future primary aluminium production Using novel materials and a new electrolysis cell design, the solution will enable a significant reduction of the anode-cathode distance, one of the main drivers of energy consumption. If proven successful, the new cathode technology may lead to substantial...
The environmental guardians of Victoria are up for a challenge with a massive rehabilitation project for the defunct Point Henry smelter looming close which will test their ability to deal with the daunting task. The Environment Protection Authority has faced a lot of flack lately as the current laws are not upgraded to deal with modern-day issues and a review is necessary to assess their power and legislation, said Lisa Neville, Victorian Environment Minister. The Point Henry aluminium smelter, which closed down last year, has left a vast area of abandonment and waste in its wake. The total area owned by Alcoa in the premises is 575 hectare of which 500 hectares lie outside the plant perimeter. Ms Neville believes that Alcoa would be footing the expensive clean-up bill saying "At the...
The International Aluminium Institute has declared that they would no longer report the global inventory stocks making it even more difficult to estimate the actual aluminium stocks available across the world. It is already accused that the price of aluminium is manipulated by banks and traders who hoard the metal in both LME-registered warehouses as well as offsite warehouses to hike up the prices and making it difficult to pinpoint exactly how much metal is actually available in the market. Rental revenues are another way the hoarders generate earnings boosting the aluminium premiums, the amount paid above the LME price to attain the physical metal. The premiums are still high despite the various regulatory scrutiny and reforms in the LME warehouse rules. IAI said in a statement that...
Aluminium prices traded marginally down by 0.39% to INR114.90 per kg in futures trading today as speculators reduced exposure amid a weak trend overseas and sluggish demand from consuming industries in the spot market. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, aluminium for delivery in February shed 45 paise, or 0.39% to INR 114.90 per kg in business turnover of 131 lots. Analysts said off-loading of positions by speculators, tracking a weak trend at the London Metal Exchange (LME) after data showed China's factory activity unexpectedly contracted impacted the demand. It fuelled speculation that demand may weaken in the world's biggest metals user, bringing down aluminium prices at futures trade. Further, low demand in the spot markets from consuming industries put pressure on metal prices, they...
The ICRA declared that to ensure healthy capacity utilization of the newly commissioned greenfield projects, primary producers will need to focus on the export markets. The energy costs remain a key factor in the primary aluminium production and since the Supreme Court de-allocated some of the coal blocks that were earlier assigned to the greenfield projects, the concern has become more potent. The energy-intensive smelters need to look for viable alternate sources to ensure economic aluminium production, said ICRA. In the period between April and September, 2014, India’s primary aluminium production jumped by 5.6% as realizations improved and the price of some key consumables softened. However, if the producers are not able to secure feasible coal blocks, the cost of production will...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), one of the leading employers in Bahrain, is pleased to announce the appointment of Talib Hussain Al Ansari as Manager Workshop and Maintenance Services and Khalil Ebrahim Mohammed as Manager Reduction Line 4. Taleb Al Ansari joined Alba 1996 as a Trainee Supervisor, Casthouse and grew up the ladder in various departments including Casthouse and Workshop & Maintenance Services. He was made Superintendent Vehicle Maintenance in 2006 and consequently promoted to Senior Superintendent in 2014. A BSc graduate in Electric Engineering from the University of Bahrain, Taleb is currently pursuing Executive MBA from Ecole supérieure des sciences économiques et commerciales (ESSEC). Khalil Ebrahim Mohammed started his career in Alba as a Process Control Shift Operator...
One of Tasmania's biggest electricity consumers has warned the State Government that rising electricity costs are threatening its viability. In a submission to a Senate committee looking at electricity companies, Bell Bay Aluminium noted there had been a 200% increase in transmission charges over five years. The Launceston-based company said the price rises had "crippled investment" from the small number of big industrial users in the state and was "undermining and threatening" its own viability. The submission said although the merger of Aurora's distribution arm and Transend Networks, to form TasNetworks, had created $8 million in savings for the company, the gain was "insignificant" compared to the spike in transmission charges. Bell Bay Aluminium said it had exhausted all cost-saving...
China’s state-owned aluminium producer, Aluminium Corp of China (Chalco), is expecting a loss of 16.4 billion yuan ($2.6 billion) for 2014 due to low aluminium prices and impairment charges. Impairment charges are seen in many areas like a 5.5 billion yuan impairment charge in Chalco’s earnings where 3.3 billion yuan in attributed to the 800,000-tpy Chongqing alumina project that has been suffering losses owing to the low alumina prices. Impairments worth almost 1.4 billion yuan are found in the four subsidiaries of the Chalco Ningxia Energy Group related to the silicon industry according to Chalco’s filing in the Hong Kong Exchange. In 2013, Chalco had swung towards profits of 948 million yuan as a result of some cost cuts and selling of assets and spurred by the global aluminium...
Brazil is staggering from the lack of rain in the country as it is drying up water sources and putting hydroelectricity generation at risk. Now with the growing risk of power rationing, the country’s current aluminium industry is destined to suffer even more. Electricity is an absolute necessity for aluminium production, in fact, large amounts of it is required. The scarcity in electric power has already resulted in major production cutbacks in the country, leading them from being a key exporter to being an importer of the metal. On Thursday, January 29, the premiums for P1020A to be delivered to São Paolo were $600-650 per ton. Precipitation levels in the south-east region of the country are one-third of what it should be considering this is the middle of their rainy season. Reservoir...
Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (Chalco), the country's biggest producer of primary aluminium, expects to swing to a loss in 2014 due to sluggish market prices and provisions, it said on Friday. Chalco, which is also China's biggest producer of alumina, the raw material needed to produce aluminium, expects to post a net loss of 16.3 billion yuan ($2.61 billion) for 2014, compared with a profit of 948 million yuan a year earlier, it said in a filing on the Hong Kong stock exchange. The last time it posted a loss was in 2012. Chalco, which sells its products mainly in China, the world's largest aluminium market, attributed the loss mainly to substantial provisions made for some long-term assets and lower aluminium prices. The company's board approved substantial provisions for impairment of...
The decision is a result of the major changes Hydro has gone through over the last 10-15 years, going from a conglomerate operating in several business sectors to a pure aluminium company with its own significant electric power production. Fertilizer production, which played such an important role in Hydro's history, went over to Yara when it was spun off from Hydro in 2004. The petrochemical business was sold to Ineos in 2008, while magnesium production was wound down in 2001 in the face of severe competition from China. "For many years Hydro has made a major effort to develop the industrial park and encourage the creation of new businesses in Grenland. As a result, there are now around 80 companies here at Herøya with a total of 2500 employees," says executive vice president Eivind...
Tajikistan’s Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Sharif Rakhimzoda declared that the country plans to increase its aluminium output to 190 thousand tons from the 121 thousand tons produced the previous year. The ministry had declared an estimated production of 150 thousand tons of aluminium last year but the target could not be fulfilled as the aluminium prices started falling globally in 2014, with an average price of $1,870 per ton. The minister said, Tajikistan Aluminium Company (TALCO) has joined hands with the Norwegian aluminium producer Hydro and together they will be able to improve TALCO’s production and sale of the metal. TALCO is the largest state-owned aluminium producer in Tajikistan with the overall capacity of producing 500,000 tons of aluminium per year. The...
