Ahead of the National Day holiday, domestic aluminium ingot inventories continued to set fresh year-to-date lows. According to SMM statistics, as of September 30, electrolytic aluminium ingot inventories in China's major consuming regions stood at 638,000 tonnes, down 36,000 tonnes from Monday and 40,000 tonnes from last Thursday. The pace of pre-holiday destocking was relatively fast overall, leaving ample buffer for inventory accumulation during the holiday. Source: SMM On the supply side, domestic downstream demand recovered somewhat month on month in September, but processing fees for some fabricated products came under pressure, leading some downstream enterprises to cut or suspend production, which lowered their willingness to purchase molten aluminium and pulled the...
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...
Grow with
AL Circle
Aluminum Corp. of China (Chalco) expects a full-year loss for 2014 after releasing its financial reports for 3rd quarter ending September. The company registered a loss of 1.29 billion yuan ($210 billion) or a loss of 0.10 yuan per share during the third quarter. That compared with a loss of 1.22 billion yuan a year earlier, it said.
Aluminum is expected to prove resistant to declines, and may rally this week, Shanghai Metals Market’s Xue foresees. A slew of risky events are going to be released this week, and the results are believed to put a downward pressure on base metals market, in addition to a strong dollar. “Aluminum, and zinc included, will outperform others thanks to the improvement in market fundamentals”, SMM’s Xue said. “The outlook for copper is not good, and the red metal will continue its downward trend”, he added. Sales at highs are advised for those bearish ones.
Aluminum oversupply in China will worsen in Q4 2014, and even more so into Q1 next year, as additional over 2 million-tpy new capacity will come on stream for the remainder of the year, Shanghai Metals Market foresees. Currently, over 80% of China’s aluminum capacity is operating in the black in terms of cash costs, thanks to growing use of captive power, direct power feeds from other power plants, and falling prices of raw and supplementary materials, SMM data showed. Hence, smelters are actively bringing cost-efficient new capacities online. For example, Baotou Aluminum Co., Gansu Dongxing Aluminum Co, and Inner Mongolia Jinlian Aluminum (Phase I) collectively put 700,000-tpy in new capacity into operations in H2. Moreover, other smelters, mainly in Xinjiang, are following suit, SMM’s...
Hindalco Industries Ltd. limited is supposedly going ahead with their plan of raising funds by selling shares to institutional investors, said bank sources who are dealing directly with the case. Hindalco had planned to initiate the qualified institutional placement (QIP) issue long back but deterred the plans due to poor market sentiment post the cancellation their coal blocks by the Supreme Court. Now the company plans to launch the QIP in December or January after the coal matter is resolved. One of the bankers said that the company hopes to raise INR 3,000 crores in the first phase of the program. Company officials however declined to comment on the issue. Hindalco had informed the stock exchanges on 18 July that they would be raising INR 5,000 crore. Several banks have been hired by...
Third Quarter 2014 Highlights and Recent Events • Excluding special items, earnings per share ("EPS") was a $0.04 loss in third quarter 2014 and reported EPS was a $0.06 loss compared to a $0.27 loss in the third quarter 2013 • Total segment profit was $36.6 million, compared to $30.4 million in second quarter 2014 and $11.0 million in third quarter 2013 • Average realized Midwest transaction price per pound shipped was $1.08, compared to $0.99 in second quarter 2014; $0.92 in third quarter 2013 • Net Cash Cost was $0.90 per pound, compared to $0.84 per pound in second quarter 2014; third quarter 2013 Net Cash Cost was $0.89 per pound • Cash and cash equivalents totaled $24.3 million and total available liquidity was $183.5 million as of September 30, 2014 Noranda Aluminum Holding...
Aluminium company Hydro and Rio Tinto Alcan (RTA) have closed the deal for Hydro to take over RTA's shares in the aluminium smelter Sør-Norge Aluminium AS (Søral) in Norway. Hydro and RTA announced the plans for Hydro to take over Søral in July. Following approval from competition authorities in Norway and France, the companies closed the deal on the afternoon of Friday October 31, with effect as of November 1. "We welcome the 230 employees at Husnes into the Hydro family. As a fully-owned plant, we will now be able to contribute even stronger in strengthening operations at the plant and to serve our customers with value added aluminium products," says Hilde Merete Aasheim, Executive Vice President and head of Primary Metal in Hydro. With the deal completed, Søral's new plant name will be...
Aluminium company Hydro and Rio Tinto Alcan (RTA) have closed the deal for Hydro to take over RTA's shares in the aluminium smelter Sør-Norge Aluminium AS (Søral) in Norway. Hydro and RTA announced the plans for Hydro to take over Søral in July. Following approval from competition authorities in Norway and France, the companies closed the deal on the afternoon of Friday October 31, with effect as of November 1. "We welcome the 230 employees at Husnes into the Hydro family. As a fully-owned plant, we will now be able to contribute even stronger in strengthening operations at the plant and to serve our customers with value added aluminium products," says Hilde Merete Aasheim, Executive Vice President and head of Primary Metal in Hydro. With the deal completed, Søral's new plant name will be...
The government of Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province, is planning to bring the city’s annual aluminum capacity to 2 million tonnes by 2020, local media reported yesterday. Meanwhile, the local government has set a target of bringing the city’s annual alumina capacity to 5 million tonnes, installed capacity of captive power to 3,400 MW, and annual aluminum processing capacity to 3 million tonnes by 2020, it added. Chalco, which has three subsidiaries in the city – Chalco Shanxi Aluminum Plant, Chalco Shanxi Huaze Aluminum & Power Co., Shanxi Huasheng Aluminum Co. – is eyeing expansions there.
Century Aluminum's idled Ravenswood, West Virginia plant isn't likely to come out of mothballs in 2014. During the company's third quarter conference call Oct. 29, CEO Mike Bless told analysts the company is still working on the power agreements that would enable them to restart the plant, shuttered in 2009. The closing eliminated 650 jobs and, eventually, health insurance coverage for the company's retirees. “There are meetings all the time,” he said. “At some point in time we hope to make a filing with the (PSC) ... we're hoping no later than the end of the year that we're in a position to make a filing.” During Century Aluminum's second quarter conference call in July, Bless had said the company was working hard to get the plant back in operation and had made continual investments to...
According to RHB Research Institute Sdn Bhd, Press Metal Bhd has impressive prospects as earnings are expected to rise with improved aluminium prices, higher turnover and lower effective tax rate. The Press Metal earning projection for FY15 is calculated by RHB Research to be higher by 11.3%. The positive prediction is reinforced by the company’s recent proposal of a bonus issue aimed at improving the liquidity of the company’s shares price. AmResearch Sdn Bhd (AmResearch) has given another picture of the company, saying that the company’s early conversion of 95.7 million of redeemable convertible secured loan stocks will earn them interest savings of RM 12.6 million while the enlarged share base will reduce the company’s net gearing. They have also calculated that the Press Metal may...
A recent report by Reuters quoted comments from UC Rusal Deputy Chief Executive Oleg Mukhamedshin at London Metal Exchange Week saying the world’s largest producer did not intend to bring any idled production back onstream for the next 3 years and expected its production to remain flat for the period. Weak prices, even with the hefty physical delivery premium added on top of the LME price, are not enough to encourage Rusal to restart their older, less-efficient potlines. Indeed, they are now so high-cost that they may never be restarted with the company preferring to bring new, more-efficient plants into operation. Mukhamedshin said the company could add 150,000 tons of capacity by the end of next year with a new project. Although the firm has been the most vocal among western producers...
Noranda Aluminum Holding is set to announce its earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. Investors that are interested in participating in the company’s conference call can do so using this link. Noranda Aluminum Holding last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 11th. The company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of ($0.08) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $345.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $341.57 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.16) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect Noranda Aluminum Holding to post $-0.31 EPS for the current fiscal year and $0.38 EPS for the...
Aluminum Corp of China Ltd (Chalco) posted a wider net loss of 1.29 billion yuan ($210.99 million) for the July-September quarter due to oversupply in the world's biggest aluminium market. China's biggest producer of primary aluminium and raw material alumina sells its products mainly in its own market. Its net loss widened from 1.22 billion yuan a year earlier. For the three quarters from January to September, its net loss was 5.41 billion yuan, the company said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange. A year earlier it had a net loss of 1.85 billion yuan. Chalco closed a 1.6-million-tonne-per-year alumina production facility in central Henan province last month after a waste pool broke down. Vice Chairman Sun Zhaoxue resigned last month after the government launched an investigation...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), a champion of workplace safety and health, is pleased to announce that its Cast House has achieved 2,000,000 work hours without Loss Time Injury (LTI), thus demonstrating the Company’s commitment to safety and maintaining a zero-accident work environment. Alba’s Executive Management and other managers congratulated all employees on this achievement and praised them for their proactive attitude and commitment towards safety. Commenting on the safety milestone of 2 million working hours without LTI, Alba’s Chief Executive, Tim Murray said: “I congratulate and thank the employees of Cast House for accomplishing this feat, which represents the level of awareness of all Alba employees and their commitment to safety. Alba believes that all accidents and injuries...
State-run aluminum maker Indonesia Asahan Aluminium, or Inalum, is planning to build an aluminum smelter valued at $2 billion and a calcined petroleum coke plant worth $30 million, in a move that will help it to produced value-added products. The smelter will turn bauxite into aluminum, which the company needs to produce aluminum ingots. The move is expected to bring added value to the company, which is now under the state’s control. The government took over Inalum after buying shares it didn’t own from its Japanese partner last year. Inalum is also planning to diversify its business by producing aluminum alloy. “We’re conducting a feasibility study on the projects. Hopefully it can be completed soon so that the two plants can start operation by 2019-2020,” Agus Tjahajana, chief...
Shipments of primary aluminum by North American (U.S. and Canada) producers totaled 1,115 thousand metric tonnes (kmt) in the third quarter of 2014, down 6.7 percent from the third quarter 2013 total of 1,195 kmt. Shipments of primary billet were off six-tenths of one percent year-over-year, while shipments of foundry ingot increased 5.9 percent during the same period. Compared to the previous quarter, total shipments of primary decreased 2.5 percent. During first nine months of 2014, shipments totaled 3,388 kmt, off 6.9 percent from the 2013 total of 3,638 kmt. Aluminum net shipments (including exports) by domestic U.S. and Canadian facilities totaled an estimated 2,066 million pounds during September, up 7.4 percent over the September 2013 total of 1,925 million pounds. Shipments of...
Century Aluminum Company reported net income of $50.4 million or $0.52 per common share for the third quarter of 2014 on higher aluminum prices and lower power prices in the Midwestern U.S. Sales for the third quarter of 2014 were $500.6 million compared with $399.9 million for the third quarter of 2013. Shipments of primary aluminum for the third quarter of 2014 were 218,214 tonnes compared with 212,797 tonnes shipped in the third quarter of 2013. For the third quarter of 2013, Century reported a net loss of $9.5 million or $0.11 per common share. Cost of sales for the year-ago quarter included a $5.8 million benefit for lower inventory costs and an $11.7 million benefit for deferred power contract liability amortization. For the first nine months of 2014, the company reported net income...
Meridian Energy says, in the possible scenario of Rio Tinto not renewing their contract post July 1 next year, they will watch for the closures of fossil-fuel powered stations before making a decision about their response. Rio Tinto is the major owner of the Tiwai Point Aluminium smelter. According to Mark Binns, the chief executive of Meridian, there are two threats to the growth of the company, one is the potential closure of the Tiwai Point smelter while the other is the review of the RET scheme initiated by the Australian federal government. In the first annual meeting after being listed on the NZX a year ago, Binns told the congregation that in the event of a termination notice from new Zealand Aluminium Smelters after July 1, 2015 the company "will monitor the supply response from...
