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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Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), a leading aluminium producer in the world, provided sponsorship support for the well-known event Aluminium Symposium 2015, thus demonstrating the Company’s continuing commitment to engage with industry peers on global platforms in expanding aluminium’s reach across diverse territories. Aluminium Symposium 2015, which took place from January 18 – 20, 2015 at Arizona, USA, was organised by Platts - a leading global provider of energy, petrochemicals and metals information. It was attended by Chief Marketing Officer, Jean-Baptiste Lucas, Manager Sales & Marketing Europe & Americas, Boris Santosi, and Manager Strategy & Business Development, Zachary Jungers. The event covered a wide range of subjects including: The Automotive Game Changer; Extrusions – New...
Francisco Rangel Gómez, the state governor of Venezuelan south east state Bolivar, is hopeful that the state owned smelter Venalum will be able to produce 436,000 tons of aluminium, while the official was on a plant visit inspecting the asphalt paving of several areas of the factory. The official informed that when Venezuela was suffering a severe drought, causing the river to dry making electrical power scarce, Venalum had stepped up with workers switching off almost half of their cells to provide electricity for the country. Recovery from that point is difficult and workers are still working hard towards achieving that goal, he said. He points out the resilience of the workers by stating that when there was an oil strike in 2002-2003, Venalum still managed to break a production record,...
BHP’s aluminium production has seen a 16% dip in the second half of 2014 dropping to 517,000 tonnes while its alumina and manganese ore productions have risen. In the December quarter, a drop of 15% year-on-year and a 1.9% quarter-on-quarter was noticed with the company producing 256,000 tonnes of aluminium. The low production numbers are directly related to the number of suspensions and cut-backs of aluminium capacities in the second half of 2014 in many BHP smelters including Alumar in Brazil and Bayside in South Africa while Mozal in Mozambique had a record production in the same period. The Bayside smelter, which has ceased production, had made a contribution of 48,000 tonnes of aluminium in the second half of 2013 and zero contribution in the same period of 2014. Alumar’s production...
VHE‘s enhanced ohmmeter is able to measure the electrical resistance between points of different voltage potential. Conventional ohmmeters do not have this capability. Much of the equipment installed in aluminium smelter potroom has significant electrical potential to earth (or ground). The series connection of the pot busbar systems means that pots frequently have a potential to earth of 1500 volts dc, and in the the most recent systems this can exceed 2.000 volts dc. Alumina dust and metallic objects can compromise the installed electrical insulation and it is necessary to monitor insulation performance on a regular basis. Traditional instruments for this purpose have been large and cumbersome. VHE‘s enhanced ohmmeter is portable, lightweight and fitted with comfortable shoulder straps,...
Donetta Ambrose, the U.S. District Judge has approved settlement for the shareholder lawsuit filed against Alcoa by Alba accusing of a bribery scandal. In 2008, Aluminium Bahrain or Alba had sued Alcoa on the charge that the affiliates of the latter had bribed Alba executives and Bahraini officials so that they could make Alba overpay more than $400 million since 1997. In 2013, another lawsuit was charged at Alcoa by a group of shareholders for the company’s failure at limiting the company’s liability after Alba filed its lawsuit. Alcoa has agreed to implement several reforms which include paying $3.75 million in terms if attorneys’ fees as well as creating a new position of chief ethics and compliance officer. The allegations caused Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange...
Qatalum, led by a precision culture, has a casthouse which produces more than 60% of its alloys for the automotive industry. This is a direct result of the manufacturing proficiency within one of the world’s most efficient aluminium smelters. Over three years into full production and Qatalum’s products have gained a global customer base. What makes Qatalum’s Casthouse unique is that over 60% of its products are destined for the automotive industry. On its own, such an achievement stands as a testament to stringent manufacturing standards and robust marketing strategies. The only other industries that place higher demands on a casthouse product are electronics and aerospace, which however, require smaller volumes and specialised processes, respectively. The reason for Qatalum achievement...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba)’s commitment to international standards of excellence and workplace efficiency resulted in major achievements at MEET ICT Bahrain 2014 Awards by winning the ‘Business & Commerce Application Category’ Award for Implementation of BI Solution using Microsoft BI; ‘On the Cloud Project Category’ Award for its Private Cloud Solution based on Windows Server 2012 and the MEET ICT Personality of the Year of 2014. The awards were accepted by Alba’s Chief Operations Officer, Isa Al Ansari and Senior Manager IT, Esam Hadi. Isa Al Ansari expressed pride at being honoured by the GCC region’s IT industry experts and said: “I would like to congratulate Alba’s IT Department for their hard work in developing processes and promoting efficient operations throughout the...
Consecutive years of below five per cent economic growth and 0.7 per cent contraction of the manufacturing sector last year ensured a 6.2 per cent fall in the country's primary aluminium use to 1.58 million tonnes (mt) during 2013-14. Even while India is to grow at 5.5 per cent in FY15, aluminium will likely again experience a fall in growth. This is happening when Vedanta and Hindalco are raising production by a significant amount. Government-owned National Aluminium Company (Nalco), exercising production discipline for the sake of profit improvement, is now engaged in reviewing whether more capacity use at this juncture will prove beneficial. A demand fall for two years in a row has led the Indian aluminium sector to sell the rising surplus abroad. Primary producers' exports climbed...
Shanghai Metal Exchange had found that Chalco was planning to withhold aluminium inventories of up to 1.2 million tonnes along with 10 other leading aluminium producers of China in the hope of boosting aluminium prices. However such a stance seems difficult at the moment given the current market scenario. Considering the losses incurred by the high-cost smelters holding onto large volumes is unreasonable even the low-cost smelters, although more profitable cannot commit to stocking large inventories of unsold materials. Stockpiling works when the demand is high and supply is plenty to boost the price. Although there is no dearth of supply of aluminium in China demand is uncharacteristically low given the looming Chinese New Year ahead on February 19. Analysts believe that the impulsive...
As part of a corporate quest for excellence across the business, Emirates Global Aluminium ("EGA") continually benchmarks its operations against industry peers. For example, to ensure proficiency and accuracy in laboratory testing, the DUBAL Technical Laboratory at EGA Jebel Ali has regularly participated in Round Robin testing schemes for independent verification of the laboratory's competence since the laboratory was established in 1980. Over the years, the DUBAL Technical Laboratory has ranked among the five best laboratories worldwide for Accuracy in both the Raw Material and Quantometer sections. For instance, the laboratory has maintained excellent standards in Round Robin testing of Anode Cores, Petroleum Coke, Coal Tar Pitch, Aluminium Metal, Alumina and Aluminium Fluoride. In the...
Hydro's fourth quarter results 2014 will be released at 07:00 CET (01:00 AM EST, 06:00 UK time), on Wednesday February 11, 2015. The quarterly report and presentation slides will be available on Hydro website at the same time. Presentation in Oslo Hydro will host a combined analyst and press conference, in English, at its corporate headquarters at Drammensveien 260, Oslo at 08:30 CET the same day. The presentation will be held by President and CEO Svein Richard Brandtzæg and CFO Eivind Kallevik and can also be seen on web TV. To attend the presentation in Oslo, please register on ir@hydro.com Q&A / Conference Call There will be a Conference Call at 15:00 UK Time (16:00 CET, 10:00 AM EST,) the same day. The Q&A will be held by President and CEO Svein Richard Brandtzæg and CFO Eivind...
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will have a strong presence at the Aluminium Middle East 2015 exhibition with top industry players from the Arab world's second largest economy confirming their participation. Aluminium Middle East 2015, to be held from April 14 to 16 at Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre (DICEC), will see more than 200 exhibitors from 25 countries participating. This year, more than 10 per cent of the confirmed exhibitors are from the UAE. Daniyal Qureshi, Group Exhibition Director at Reed Exhibitions Middle East, organisers of the event, said: "The exhibition comes at a right time where the global aluminium industry can explore new opportunities as a result of the boom in projects in the region. By bringing participants from across the world, we will also...
Alcoa today announced that its Board of Directors has elected L. Rafael Reif a director of the Company effective March 2, 2015. Dr. Reif, 63, is president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the world renowned educational institution of science and technology. He has been a faculty member of MIT for more than 30 years. "In addition to leading one of the world’s most acclaimed academic institutions, Dr. Reif is a respected international authority on innovative material science and advanced manufacturing technologies,” said Alcoa Chairman and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld. “His expertise and counsel will be invaluable as Alcoa invests in digitization, automation and robotics to enhance the competitiveness of our expanding multi-material, value-add business portfolio.” Dr. Reif, at the...
Collectively the five Aluminium companies (EGA, Alba, Ma’aden, Qatalum and Sohar Aluminium) produced 4,928,143 tons of primary Aluminium in 2014 compared to 3,748,616 tons in 2013, an increase of 31%. GCC Aluminium production constitutes 10% of the total world production. Mr. Mahmood Daylami, Secretary General, Gulf Aluminium Council(GAC) added, “The main increase has come from Ma’aden Aluminum, Saudi Arabia start-up which was successfully ramped up during the year, and EMAL Phase 2 project completion before the target date”. He also added that the production for 2015 is expected to be more than 5 million tons. GCC remains to be one of the leading hubs for the Aluminum business where 40% of its production utilized by the Downstream Aluminium industry in the Gulf for Regional and...
UAE aluminium giant Emirates Global Aluminium ("EGA") will play a pivotal role as Associate Sponsor when the World Future Energy Summit ("WFES") 2015 is hosted by Masdar at the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre from 19 to 22 January. More than 30,000 delegates from 170 countries representing expertise from industry, technology, finance and government will attend an event widely considered the world's foremost summit dedicated to renewable energies, clean technologies and energy efficiency. Held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, WFES is a key part of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2015.While the summit enjoyed sponsorship support from Emirates Aluminium ("EMAL", an...
Bharat Aluminium Company Limited (BALCO), a subsidiary of Vedanta SSLT, announced that it has received approval from the state government of Chhattisgarh, to start a 1,200 megawatts (MW) captive power plant (4 units of 300 MW each). The move will boost BALCO’s annual aluminium production capacity to 5.7 lakh metric tonnes from the current 3.5 lakh and also make Chhattisgarh, India’s third largest aluminium producer, said the company. “We are very grateful to the Government of Chhattisgarh for the approval granted, at a time when we are celebrating our Golden Jubilee Year. It enables us to further ramp up our state-of-the-art aluminium smelter, thereby taking the aluminium capacity to 570,000 MT per annum. The power plant and Smelter will significantly contribute to the state exchequer and...
National Aluminum Company (Nalco) of India is enhancing its wind power generation capacity by investing around Rs 700 crore. The company has planned to install an additional 100 MW wind power generation capacity to its existing 100 MW capacity. “The project will be set up shortly at a suitable location in India”, says, Ansuman Das, chairman cum managing director, Nalco. Already company owns 100 MW in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. The Gandikota unit with 50.4 MW capacities in Andhra Pradesh was commissioned in 2012. The second wind power plant of 47.6 MW capacities at Jaisalmer in Rajasthan was commissioned in January last year. The central PSU has another proposal to set up a solar power plant in the country to meet its solar purchase obligation. Besides, Nalco has plans to build a 14-MW...
2014 has been a bad year for Brazil and things do not look much brighter in 2015 as the country still seems to be in a haze of lethargy as the end-user demands remain low and most producers holding enough stocks to sustain them through the first quarter resulting in a quiet marketplace. Buyers complain that the sloth-paced market has forced many of them to extend their year end holidays, some even up to a month. Consumers are still long in aluminium after a disastrous 2014 and the condition is still not conducive for trading volumes in the country’s spot market. The slow Brazil economy has had a great impact on the country’s consumer market in the construction and automobiles sector, both of which use aluminium, dragging the demand for spurred by high energy prices and possibility of...
