The US September consumer confidence index plunged 6.7 points to 81.9, the lowest since 2014 and deteriorating across the board. The University of Michigan survey showed consumers' assessments of their current financial situation and that one year ahead both fell about 10 per cent, with high-price concerns continuing to brew. Inflation pressure showed no signs of easing. US Fed Governor Cook said AI demand growth, rising oil prices, and supply chain disruptions from Middle East conflicts would keep inflation under pressure, but gave no clear guidance on rate hikes. CME data showed the market-implied probability of a 25 bp rate hike in October had risen to 70.9 per cent, and the probability of a cumulative 50 bp hike by December reached 58.7 per cent. Tightening expectations strengthened...
The proposed Srikakulam aluminium smelter project in Andhra Pradesh is gaining momentum, with around 6,800 acres of saline land earmarked at Mulapeta and Pundi for the large-scale industrial development. The proposal could also bridge Odisha’s alumina industry with Andhra Pradesh’s coastal port infrastructure, forming a potential industrial link between the two states. Union Minister for Civil Aviation Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu discussed the proposed smelter with Union Minister for Mines G Kishan Reddy in Delhi, highlighting the availability of around 6,800 acres of saline land in Srikakulam district. Out of this, 5,000 acres are located in Mulapeta and 1,800 acres in Pundi. Explore the production, demand and consumption forecasts of bauxite and alumina in our report: “ Global Bauxite &...
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Aluminum is one of the best performing commodities this year, with the price jumping 16% during 2014 as stockpiles fall and demand increases. In August the metal gained for a seventh straight month, which is its longest ever streak of advances. Aluminum added 0.7% to US$2,096.50 a ton on the London Metals Exchange (LME) on Friday, its best price since early 2013. Aluminum is an industrial metal, and with the U.S. economy growing more than forecast for the June quarter, it is expected that the world's biggest economy require more and more aluminum. Demand is expected to firm from car and plane manufactures, who use the metal to replace heavier steel. Highlighting the shortfall, stockpiles tracked by the LME have fallen to a two year low. There are forecasts that demand for the metal will...
Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Ma'aden) said on Monday its joint aluminium smelter with U.S.-based Alcoa has started commercial operations. The $10.8 billion aluminium plant at Ras al-Khair, on the Gulf coast of the kingdom, had experienced issues during the initial start-up phase last year when it had to shut one of its two smelting lines in October due to problems encountered during ramp-up. The smelter has a production capacity of 740,000 tonnes a year of aluminium, with commercial operations to begin impacting Ma'aden's financials from the third quarter onwards, it said in a bourse filing. The Saudi project is important to Alcoa, both because of its size and the fact it should be the facility with the lowest production costs in the world - important at a time when the industry pushes to cut...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), as part of its commitment to share its knowledge and expertise with the society, organised a tour of its recently inaugurated datacentre for members of the Technology and Business Society (TBS) on Thursday, August 27, 2014. The visitors from TBS - comprising key IT personnel from well-known enterprises and businesses in Bahrain - were able to view and learn more about the datacentre, which is one of the latest generations of Containerised Datacentre (CDC). Built by HP, Alba’s new datacentre was designed in-house by Alba’s IT team to suit the company’s requirements and was delivered, commissioned and live in early December 2013. Alba’s Chief Operations Officer, Isa Al Ansari, Chief Financial Officer, Ali Al Baqali, Senior Manager Information Technology,...
Aluminium prices rose 1.19 per cent to INR 127.70 per kg in the evening session of futures trade today as speculators enlarged positions amid positive cues from overseas markets. Besides, increased demand from consuming industries in the spot market supported the uptrend. There was no trading in morning session on account of "Ganesh Chaturthi". At the Multi Commodity Exchange, aluminium for delivery in September moved up by INR 1.50, or 1.19 per cent, to INR 127.70 per kg in a business turnover of 1,497 lots. Similarly, the metal for delivery in October was up by INR 1.50, or 1.18 per cent, to INR 128.45 per kg in 109 lots. Marketmen said apart from a firm trend, shrinking supplies led to the rise in aluminium prices at futures trade. Globally, aluminium for delivery in three months...
A New York judge on Friday dismissed a class action lawsuit that accused major banks and a trading house of fixing the price of aluminium by ruling that market inefficiencies were the result of rational profit maximization and not illegal collusion. Aluminium consumers alleged that Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Glencore and their warehousing subsidiaries engaged in a horizontal conspiracy to restrain the output of aluminium by working in concert to stockpile aluminium in Detroit warehouses. This in turn delayed load-out rates, increased storage costs and artificially inflated US Midwest premium. The London Metal Exchange was also named as a defendant in the original suit; however, earlier this week the exchange was declared immune under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA). US...
The Western World moves into an aluminium deficit, as producers from all over the world are cutting back production. This has pushed up aluminium prices and brought many companies out of losses, like RUSAL. The production of aluminium across the world, except China, this year was recorded at 24.38 million tonnes in July which was 1.5 million tonnes lesser than the record high production noted at 25.92 million tonnes in October 2011. In the same period of nearly three years, the production of aluminium has grown by 5.7 million tonnes annualized to 23.28 million tonnes in July. This extra production was not a result of better margins but pressures from the government who controlled the losses by tweaking the power rates. Even when the Chinese smelters were forced out of business, they would...
The Australian Aluminium Council has published a statement on the report by the Expert Panel for the Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme and its impact & benefits on the renewable energy sector, the manufacturing sector and Australian households. “We welcome the acknowledgement by the Review Panel that the RET impacts electricity prices for trade exposed businesses such as aluminium smelting and alumina refining – and that significant adjustments to the scheme are required to reduce its cost burden,” Miles Prosser, the Council’s Executive Director said. However, the Australian Aluminium Council says that the RET policy imposes extra costs on smelters which other major global competitors of the Australian aluminium industry do not need to pay. This is restricting their ability to compete...
Shandong Nanshan Aluminium Co. filed financial report for the first six months of 2014 to the Shanghai Stock Exchange and reported a YOY rise of 3.23% in net profits to 323.37 million yuan ($ 52.46 million) as a result of falling costs, expanding export margins and changes in product portfolio. The company stated in their report that the falling coal prices played a significant role in the decline of production costs, while a lower SHFE/LME aluminium price ratio, facilitated export pushing export profitability up. Nanshan Aluminium constantly was in sync with the market demand and adjusted their production portfolio accordingly which was a key factor in improving profit margins. The report also mentioned that the focus of the company is slowly shifting to high value added products which...
As tensions rise in Ukraine, both aluminium and copper are feeling the affect on price. Though LME copper prices fell 1.3 percent to close at $6,934, aluminium prices were held back by tightness in near-term supplies. The aluminium for three month delivery has dropped to $2,080, down by 0.3% as people are vary about the Ukraine-Russia friction, where Ukraine is blaming the other about moving in troops to the country. Aluminium, that is increasingly being used in transport and packing has gained 12% in early July because investors are fearing a deficit, as supply faces cutbacks in production from Chinese manufacturers and there is an increase in demand from the auto and airplane sectors. Copper prices fell on Thursday, under pressure from escalating tensions in Ukraine and...
China’s top aluminium producer, Aluminium Corp. of China Ltd (Chalco) reported a net loss of 4.12 billion yuan ($670.76 million) on Thursday, for the first half of the year. In the same period last year, the net loss was 623.8 million yuan. The losses are caused by overcapacity and weak domestic demand. Since the company caters primarily to the domestic market, they had to adjust their production as per the weak demand in the first half according to their filing released to the Shanghai Exchange. The production of metallurgical alumina was recorded at 6 million tonnes and chemical grade alumina at 910,000 tonnes, in the first half. The former was down by 1.5 % and the latter up 19.7% from last year. The production of primary aluminium also fell 19.7% as compared to 2013 to 1.63 million...
Rusal, the world’s leader in the aluminium sector has cut back their production by 10.8% in the first six months of the year, according to a report released on Wednesday at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The company has experienced a great improvement in their financial results in the second quarter as result of “recovery in the aluminium prices, rise in average realized premiums and tight cost controls.” Rusal was able to cut back costs by 9.8% by cutting back output at inefficient smelters, causing the production to drop by 10.8% to 1.78 million metric tons from a year earlier. In the second half, they are planning to produce 1.8 million metric tons of aluminium. This leader in aluminium manufacturing operates in 19 countries and I 2013, they accounted for 8% of the world aluminium...
LME aluminium is expected to rise to $2,129 per tonne, as it has cleared a resistance at $2,074. The resistance was at the 138.2 percent Fibonacci projection level of an upward wave C that developed from the May 21 low of $1,754.75. The next resistance will be at $2,129, the 161.8 percent level. The final component wave of the wave C is unfolding and may peak around $2,129, as suggested by a trendline ascending from the June 9 high of $1,918. A drop below $2,074 will signal a break above this level was false and the target at $2,129 has to be aborted.
The futures for aluminium dropped to INR 125.35 per kg on Wednesday as the speculators reduced their expectations taking a cue from the global markets. The domestic spot markets too have seen a dip in demand which in turn have affected the metal prices. In a business turnover of 1,392, the aluminium due for August delivery saw a slide of 0.32% or 40p and brings the number to INR125.35 per kg as seen on the Multi Commodity Exchange. Even the metal for September suffered similar dip of 35p or 0.28% in 389 lots amounting to INR 125.30 per kg. After reaching an 18-month high yesterday, the global rates for aluminium saw little change at USD 2,082.75 at the London Metal Exchange. According to the analysts, the dip in the future prices is caused by the weak domestic spot demand for the metal...
According to Reuter reports, four sources revealed on Tuesday, Rio Tinto is charging a record premium of $420 per tonne from its Japanese buyers for October-December primary metal shipments, which is 3-5 percent higher than the last quarter. Being the biggest importer of the metal, the premium that Japan agrees to pay for the metal shipments each quarter, above the LME price, sets the benchmark in the area. Rio Tinto’s quote was lesser than that made by Russia’s United Company Rusal Plc who quoted $460 per tonne. Rio Tinto was not available for comment regarding the offer. Japanese aluminium buyers have already paid record high premiums for the July-September quarter amounting to $400-$408 per tonne over the London Metal Exchange prices, which is 8-12 percent higher than the last quarter.
A US judge has dismissed the London Metal Exchange (LME) from a lawsuit in America which had accused it, along with a number of banks and commodities companies, of aluminium price-fixing. District judge Katherine Forrest concluded that the LME was an “organ” of the UK government and was therefore exempt from legal action under the foreign sovereign immunities act. Acknowledging her decision was “somewhat surprising and counterintuitive”, Forrest said the “decidedly public function of market regulation” undertaken by the metal exchange meant it should not be included in the price-fixing lawsuit. The case against the banks and commodities companies alleges that they conspired together since May 2009 to slow down the supply of aluminium to the market by hoarding it, driving prices up. The...
UC RUSAL, a leading global aluminium producer, announces its results for the six months ended 30 June 2014. The highlights of the result are given below: Total aluminium output amounted to 1,783 thousand tonnes in the first half of 2014, representing a decrease of 10.8%, as compared to 1,999 thousand tonnes in the first half of 2013 following the successful completion of capacity curtailments program at the least efficient smelters. Production of value-added products continued to grow and reached a record 46.9% of total aluminium production in the second quarter of 2014. Alumina output remained almost flat and comprised 3,618 thousand tonnes in the first half of 2014, representing a decrease of 0.5%, as compared to 3,638 thousand tonnes for the same period of 2013. Bauxite production...
It has been a remarkable year for aluminum. The metal, which plunged about 17% last year due to feeble demand, has gained more than 15% this year as production cuts from the likes of Alcoa Inc., Rusal and Rio Tinto have helped in bringing the market back to equilibrium. Aluminum prices have finally crossed the $2,000 mark this year. Recently, it rose to an 18-month high. However, lately, there have been some concerns over whether the rally will continue. The metal retreated about half a percentage on the London Metal Exchange recently after worse-than-expected factory activities data emerged from China last Thursday. HSBC's preliminary Purchase Manager's Index (PMI) for August stood at 50.3, the weakest reading since May. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a reading of 51.5 following...
Aluminium prices rose in the London Metal Exchange for the second day in a row due to Alcoa’s decision to shut down the smelter in Italy and the higher demand for durable goods in US – the second-largest industrial metal consumer. The metal due for delivery in three months rose to $2,073 a metric ton from $2,070.75 as recorded at 3.16pm Hong Kong on Tuesday, up by 0.5%. The largest US aluminium producer, Alcoa announced that it would close the smelter in Italy permanently reducing their annual capacity of production by 150,000 tons which would now stand at 3.6 million tons. In July, the demand for goods that are meant to last more than three years grew by 8% in for the US as compared to the previous month. It is the highest it has ever been since March 2011 as per the survey of 78...
