PV aluminium extrusion: This week, operating rates at sampled PV frame enterprises remained broadly stable. Some PV frame enterprises in Hebei and Anhui reported that their October production schedules were basically flat versus September. During the National Day holiday, production lines will run normally to ensure on-time delivery of early-October orders, extending the pre-holiday rush to meet delivery deadlines. From the downstream module side, October module scheduled production is expected to see limited M-o-M change. With centralised projects gradually requiring delivery and growth in new overseas orders, total module production is expected to rebound slightly, and demand for PV frame support remains intact in the near term. Overall, the October delivery window provides phased...
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...
Grow with
AL Circle
UC RUSAL, a leading global aluminium producer, presents its overview of the aluminium market trends. A number of influential factors that have emerged in recent weeks cause the Company to become increasingly bullish about the near term prospects for the aluminium price and UC RUSAL believes a convergence of physical and technical factors are now causing a realisation amongst industry participants and investors that the price is undervalued. Supply demand balance As the Company has previously highlighted, the market is forecast to record a deficit of approx 1.2 million tonnes in 2014 and a further 985kt in 2015. The current forecast includes expansions at EMAL (EGA), Ma'aden and Press Metal as well as the ramp up of projects in India. Beyond 2015, RUSAL sees limited opportunities for...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), one of the leading smelters in the world, demonstrated its commitment to promote greater safety awareness across the plant with the opening of Reduction Lines 1-3 Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) Week 2014. Taking place from June 8 to 12, 2014, the Reduction Lines 1-3 SHE Week 2014 is being held under the theme: “Safe Behaviour is an assurance for your & colleagues' safety”. The event will feature various activities such as open discussions, presentations, films and much more, which are aimed at creating a more cohesive changing employees mind set towards safety and ensuring a zero-accident work environment. The Reduction Lines 1-3 SHE Week 2014 was inaugurated by Alba’s Chief Executive Officer, Tim Murray and Manager Reduction Lines 1-3 Nabeel Jallabi...
Qatalum has released its annual 2013 Sustainability Report, providing insight, analysis and strategic planning with respect to the company’s economic, social and environmental performance – and the ways Qatalum is taking action to integrate sustainability within its operations. Priding itself as Qatar’s first and only producer of Aluminium, and one of the region’s leading and fastest-growing smelters, Qatalum recognises the importance of leadership on sustainability for the success of its operations, and contributing to the sustainable development ambitions of the State of Qatar – particularly in line with the government’s National Vision 2030 strategic pillars. The report was released as Qatalum was awarded a commendation in Strong Contractor Management at the 4th Annual Qatar Energy &...
XinRen Aluminium Holdings, a China based company has decided to raise its stake in Xinjiang based aluminium smelter by 30% some time back. This move was given a positive nod by the shareholders on Friday, 6th June. This was decided after XinRen exercised the option to icrease their stake in Xinjiang smelting plant for 3.15 bn yuan(S$633 mn) in the month of April. The company initialyy bought 21% stake in China Leading International two years ago. China Leading International was the owner of the plant in Xinjiang and after XinRen had bought a part of the stake, the company was granted an option for second call. This acquisition will bring the total share to 51%.
Bridgnorth Aluminium has made a deal of £62m package for helping the business develop in their on-going operations as well as future expansion of the company’s manufacturing plant located in Shropshire. The finance package from the company’s office of Lloyds Bank includes a £45m lending facility based on asset from Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance and also £17m from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking. Earlier in 2014, the company had invested £41m in their operations and employed 65 people. The lithosheer rolling mill as well as stretch levelling production line built for a purpose is housed at the 60-acre site based in Bridgnorth. This facility will be a part of Llyods Banks funding deal. The investment of the company will increase the capacity of the plant to approx. 150,000 tonnes every year...
The base metals were mixed again yesterday with the aluminium price putting in the strongest performance with a 0.9 percent rise to $1,848, while the nickel price was the weakest with a 0.6 percent drop to $19,032. While other markets reacted positively to the ECB’s new measures, the base metals were generally under pressure most of the day, but they did get some lift towards the close – the copper price closed little changed at $6,783. In Asian trading this morning the base metals have generally eased with prices off an average of 0.2 percent on light volume of 3,825 lots as of 06:03 BST. Copper and lead are off the most with 0.4 percent losses to $6,755 and $2,094.75, the nickel pricxe is little changed at $19,039 and the aluminium price is off 0.2 percent at $1,844. In Shanghai, the...
Norwegian aluminium company Norsk Hydro ASA has signed a long-term power contract with Norwegian renewable energy producer Lyse Energi AS for annual supply of 0.7 terawatt hours (TWh) over 10 years from 2021. Hydro signed a similar contract with Agder Energi AS last week, for an annual supply of 1 TWh over 10 years from 2021. The contract will contribute to supplying power to Hydro's aluminium plants in Norway in the years after 2020, when the existing long-term power contract with Statkraft expires. The Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between Hydro's fully owned subsidiary Hydro Energi AS and Lyse Produksjon AS covers electricity supply over a 10-year period from January 1, 2021, with an annual volume of 0.7 TWh and a total delivery of 7 TWh.
Press Metal Bhd (Press Metal) is aiming for higher contribution from its upstream business in terms of higher production, driven by the completion of its Samalaju smelter plant and the recovery of its Mukah smelter plant. After facing many headwinds in 2013, mainly due to the state-wide power outage which greatly affected its Mukah smelter plant, Press Metal’s chairman Dato (Dr) Megat Abdul Rahman Megat Ahmad said with both Samalaju and Mukah smelters back in full operations, the group looks forward to more contribution from the upstream business in terms of higher production. “Global aluminium demand is expected to grow by about seven per cent this year. Although demand in China will moderate, the demand in America is strong. Even the eurozone is expected to recover from its last year’s...
The London Metal Exchange (LME) has decided to appeal against a court ruling that halted a reform aimed at cutting backlogs at its global warehouse network. A successful appeal could allow the exchange to carry through planned rules aimed at slashing waiting times of up to two years for industrial companies to gain access to metal stored in LME-approved warehouses. "We welcome the opportunity to challenge the decision of the judge at the first instance at a hearing scheduled to take place on 29-30 July 2014," an LME statement said on Wednesday. The exchange, owned by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd , got permission to appeal on May 15, but had not said until Wednesday whether it would go through with an appeal or restart its consultation process. [ID:nL6N0O12WB] The LME, the world's...
Siemens AG, Germany has made an agreement with Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi-Hitachi Metals Machinery, Inc for a joint venture to operate metallurgical business industry as a complete provider of products, plant and services for aluminium industry. In accordance to this, the Board of Directors agreed to transfer Metal Technologies of their company in a meeting on 3rd June, 2014 to a designated entity subject that can be decided later on. SIEMENS LTD. shares were last trading at Rs.929 in BSE in comparison to closyre of Rs. 938.6. The total shares traded during the day were 28790 in over 2205 trades.
The Aluminium Association of Canada and the Gulf Aluminium Council which represents the industry in the Persian Gulf states, signed an agreement on 3rd June that seeks to deepen the co-operation and exchanges between the two major aluminium producing regions. This agreement is part of the business relationship developed by Quebec and the Middle East in the aluminium industry for more than a decade and could contribute to promoting Quebec expertise, notably in research and industrial maintenance services. “Over the past 10 years, Quebec has developed some very important connections with the industry in the Gulf, notably through the expertise of Quebec engineering consulting firms as well as manufacturers of machinery and products created here. We already have benefits from economic...
The recent rise in aluminum prices would prove unsustainable due to limited room for speculation and oversupply pressures, said Yang Xiaowu, General Manager at the Futures Department of China Aluminum International Trading in a statement made on May 29. LME aluminum prices rose from $1,754 per tonne on May 21 to $ 1,848 per tonne on May 28. Some market players attributed the sharp gain to market speculation that the Indonesian ban on exports would continue, with speculators now believing prices would rise by 30% in 2015 to as high as $2,300 per tonne. Mr. Yang, however, held a different view, believing the rise in aluminum prices would be unsustainable. Thanks to plentiful resources around the globe, Chinese aluminum smelters can increase bauxite imports from Australia, Guinea, and other...
Graphene-reinforced aluminum matrix nanocomposites were successfully synthesized through ball milling and powder metallurgy. The tensile strength and yield strength of graphene-reinforced aluminum matrix nanocomposites are remarkably enhanced by adding graphene nanoflakes(GNFs). Importantly, the ductility properties are remained excellently, which is firstly found in the second phase reinforced metal matrix nanocomposites. The microstructures were observed by OM, SEM and TEM method. And the tensile properties were tested.The results show that graphene nanoflakes are effectively dispersed and well consolidate with aluminum matrix, however, chemical reactions are not observed. The original structured characteristics of graphene nanoflakes are preserved very well. The average tensile...
Premiums paid to secure aluminum are poised to exceed $500 a metric ton as soon as the coming quarter on stronger demand and limited supplies, according to United Co. Rusal (486), implying a jump of at least 20 percent. At least 75 percent of stockpiles in London Metal Exchange warehouses are tied into financing transactions and unavailable for immediate withdrawal, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Oleg Mukhamedshin said today in a telephone interview from Moscow, where the company is based. The “overall” global surcharge, added to the price on the LME, will be “well above” $500 a ton in the third quarter, he said. Buyers in Japan, Europe and the U.S. are paying record premiums for supplies of the lightweight metal. Stockpiles tracked by the LME fell in 19 of 20 sessions as of today to the...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), one of the world’s leading smelters, made a big step towards a greener environment with the inauguration of it’s first-ever “green “amenity building. The single story amenity building, catering mainly to Power Station 3 & 4 employees, incorporates many green technologies such as solar panels and energy efficient appliances as compared to conventional factors. The building makes use of highly efficient solar water heating facility for the showers, as well as energy saving “LED” light fittings throughout the building. These two initiatives alone reduce the building power consumption by 40 kW, which is equivalent to the power required for around 23 tonnes of aluminium per annum. Passive engineering construction techniques -- insulated-type brick walls and...
Century Aluminum was upgraded by Bank of America to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Monday. Shares of Century Aluminum opened at 13.65 on Monday. Century Aluminum has a 1-year low of $7.65 and a 1-year high of $14.80. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $13.79 and its 200-day moving average is $11.62. The company’s market cap is $1.212 billion. Century Aluminum last released its earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported ($0.23) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the analysts’ consensus estimate of ($0.05) by $0.18. The company had revenue of $420.80 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $437.44 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.09 earnings per share. Century Aluminum’s revenue was up 31.0%...
Aluminium settled up 0.88% at 109 as prices got supported as economic indicators from the US were upbeat. The People’s Bank of China and China Banking Regulatory Commission held a meeting last Friday to arrange RRR cuts for qualified rural banks, shoring up market confidence. The official China manufacturing PMI for May advanced at its fastest pace this year to 50.8, indicating continued improvement of manufacturing sector. This encouraging news offset the negative effect from poor euro zone manufacturing data reported earlier. In other news, the US ISM admitted a mistake in its May manufacturing index estimate, and the revised index beat forecast. Mixed economic data released and risk aversion ahead of the weekend caused the three-month aluminum on London Metal Exchange to hit a high of...
Nikica Ljubic has been appointed today as CEO of Aluminij d.d. Mostar to a full four-year term. The decision on the appointment was made with a majority vote at today's session of the Supervisory Board of Aluminij. Ljubic was the acting director of the Company starting from April 28 this year, and he had been appointed by the members of the SB after the previous CEO Željko Kordic submitted his irrevocable resignation to this position. The new CEO was elected today among the three applicants to tender. The Supervisory Board session was preceded by interviews with all the candidates, and besides Ljubic the other candidates were Dalibor Miloš and Goran Cavar. Ljubic had the best qualifications and demonstrated the most realistic vision for recovery of the greatest BiH exporter which has been...
