The ANZ World Commodity Price Index rose 0.6 per cent month on month and 1.0 per cent year on year, with prices increasing across most categories. The rise was largely driven by higher energy prices, while a weaker New Zealand dollar pushed the index in local-currency terms up 2.8 per cent. Oil surge lifts aluminium prices along with milk powder Aluminium benefited from supply disruption linked to the Middle East conflict. Prices rose 1.1 per cent during September and are around 23 per cent higher year on year, with production and exports in the region remaining disrupted. Dairy prices increased 1.0 per cent in September, led by skim milk powder. Prices for the product jumped 9.2 per cent month on month and are now 41.1 per cent higher than a year earlier. ANZ said milk powder prices are...
Mexico is approaching the final stages of negotiations with the United States on reducing tariffs on aluminum and steel products, with officials indicating that a deal could significantly lower the effective tariff burden on Mexican exporters. Luis Rosendo Gutiérrez, Mexico’s undersecretary of foreign trade, said talks had made progress during the National Auto Parts Industry congress. Discussions covering the automotive sector are targeting a 15% tariff, which could fall to an effective rate of around 4% to 5% after deductions linked to regional value content. The potential reduction would bring Mexico closer to tariff levels faced by competitors including Japan, South Korea and Germany, improving the position of Mexican suppliers in the US market. Explore the production, demand and...
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Several months after shuttering its local plant and almost one full year since it filed for bankruptcy, Ormet Corp. has announced the smelter plant and surrounding property - including land on which natural gas currently is being produced - is up for sale. The company, in noting the plant's assets for a potential new buyer, is touting the ability to restart each of its closed smelter's six potlines independently, as well as expected natural gas royalties from the adjacent land. Calibre Group, the company's investment bank, already has begun to reach out to prospective purchasers and investors and is assisting Ormet with other strategic initiatives that may add value for a potential buyer. To help pay off debts, the aluminum producer, which filed for bankruptcy on Feb. 25, 2013, has sold...
The capital expenditure target of Nalco has been squeezed by 32% to $190M (approx) for the year 2014-15 as a result of repeated failure of this Public Sector Unit in meeting their targeted expenditure in earlier years. Moreover, the capital expenditure target of National Aluminium Company's (Nalco) has been cut down by a huge 69% to $87M (approx.) from originally estimated amount of $280M (approx.) for the present fiscal, the Interim Budget papers for the year 2014-15 showed. "Plan outlay is mainly meant for Greenfield project and expansion plans, captive coal mine Utkal E, second phase expansion and additions/modification/replacement," it said. Recently, a Parliamentary Standing Committee on Coal and Steel asked the company as well as its parent, Ministry of Mines, about their...
The importance of the growing aluminium sector in UAE was reflected recently at Tawdheef 2014 career fair that has witnessed a record number of applications from Emiratis. Over 1,600 UAE Nationals have applied to work at Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), the UAE based jointly-owned aluminium conglomerate to be formed by Investment Corporation of Dubai and Mubadala Development Corporation through integration of Emal, Emirates Aluminium and Dubai Aluminium, Dubal. Saeed Al Mazrooei, CEO of UAE Operations, said, "Emiratisation is at the core of our strategy for an expanding aluminium sector in the UAE. As a main driver for industrial diversification, the aluminium industry is key to providing a prosperous future for the nation. Emirati talent has been at the fore as the UAE established itself...
Aditya Birla group’s company expansion plans are still entirely focused on the aluminium and alumina business, where the company embarked on a $5.5 billion capital expansion plan in 2009. As part of this, it started work on new projects in Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Jharkhand. The company is looking at more than 1 million tonne capacity for aluminium in the next few years from 513,100 tonnes now, while its copper capacity, with only one plant, remains at 500,000 tonnes. The company perhaps realized this anomaly as it announced in August that it is re-evaluating its investment strategy with respect to the proposed Aditya Refinery in Odisha and the Jharkhand aluminium project, citing delays in getting regulatory approvals and the uncertain economic environment. The company has several...
AZ China’s 4th International Aluminium and Carbon conference which will be held at Sofitel Hotel in Beijing, May 5-7 has recently announced a full list of speakers, including the former Australian Ambassador to China, Dr Geoff Raby, Economist, author and member of Bloomberg’s Beijing team, Tom Orlik and Ron Knapp, Secretary General, International Aluminium Institute. These speakers will be discussing where China is headed over the next 5 years. China has been the focus of the aluminium industry for years and will continue to be so as more and more production takes place in a country which is well known for cheaper manufacturing costs. By the year 2020, China will have around 60 million tonnes of primary aluminium capacity, while production in the rest of the world will be exceeded 30...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) demonstrated its commitment to empower women with the launch of its first batch of Women’s Vocational Training (VT) Programme on February 18, 2014. As part of the programme, 10 Bahraini women have been inducted to undergo a structured training programme over the span of two years during which, they will be trained on all aspects of the job in the assigned department. The inducted trainees have been assigned to the following departments: Infrastructure and Engineering, Procurement, Health, Safety and Environment, Marketing, Financial Accounting and Laboratory. Commenting on the launch of the first-ever batch of Women’s VT Programme, Alba’s Training & Recruitment Manager, Rawdha Salman Alaradi said: “Alba is proud to launch the maiden Women’s VT Programme,...
Aluminum producers sometimes say their product is really molten electricity, not metal. The industry witticism reflects the fact that energy accounts for one-third or more of a smelter’s production costs, and it helps explain why one producer is asking the Missouri Public Service Commission for a 25 percent cut in its electricity rate. Noranda Aluminum, which operates a smelter at New Madrid in southeast Missouri, is by far the state’s largest buyer of electricity. Its power appetite is roughly equal to the entire city of Springfield, Mo. Noranda already pays less than any other customer of Ameren, its electricity supplier. It has managed to hold its rate increases to 13 percent since 2002, while residential rates have risen 49 percent. Noranda certainly deserves a discount for buying in...
Vnesheconombank, or VEB, the state development bank of Russia, is planning to participate in government state stock of aluminium creation, reported the news agency Interfax news agency. Russia's aluminium giant Rusal is presently in a loss making stage. It has supported the creation of such fund since the last year, as the company has suffered loses due to weak aluminium prices and has to pay a net debt of around $10 billion. Rusal has offered to purchase 1 million tonnes of aluminium at a price of $1.7 billion at current prices for the stock. "This issue is being discussed," Dmitriev told reporters in Moscow on Thursday, in response to a question on whether the creation of the fund had been being discussed and whether VEB might be involved in it. The aluminium stock creation has been a...
The World Bureau of Metal Statistics came out with the report on metals. The report showed that the calculated market surplus for primary aluminium for January to December 2013 was 1.102 million tonnes, which follows a surplus of 349000 tonnes recorded for the whole of 2012. Demand for primary aluminium in January to December 2013 was 46.91 million tonnes 917000 tonnes more than the equivalent total in 2012. Refined Aluminium Production in January to December 2013 rose by 1.669 million tonnes from the same period in 2012. Total reported stocks fell by 82000 tonnes during December and at the end of the month were 7.15 million tonnes, which equated to 56 days demand and compares with 7.361 million tonnes at the end of 2012. Total stocks held in the four exchanges in London, Shanghai, USA...
Tony Abbott has said the closure of Alcoa’s Port Henry aluminium smelter was a result of “the carbon tax doing its job”, despite the company having explicitly stated the carbon tax was “not a factor” in its decision to shut. In a press conference to announce the purchase of new military aircraft, the prime minister said: “We are all mourning the close-down of the Alcoa plant at Port Henry near Geelong, but I regret to say that is the carbon tax doing its job. It’s not the only factor in the closure, don’t get me wrong, but the whole point of the carbon tax is to stop operations like that and under the former government’s own modeling there was going to be a 60% plus reduction in aluminium manufacture here in Australia. “If you are serious about protecting jobs in manufacturing let’s get...
United Company Rusal, the world's largest producer of the metal, will seek court permission next week for the review, in hopes of quashing LME moves that may undermine the price at which it sells its products. The Hong Kong-listed company argues that the LME actions will harm its economic interests and that there were flaws in the consultation and inquiry process adopted by the exchange. "Rusal is seeking to protect its financial position," said Igor Lebedinets, an analyst at VTB Capital in Moscow. If the review goes ahead and finds in Rusal's favour, the world's largest marketplace for base metals could be forced to repeat a months-long consultation that split its stakeholders, pitting warehouse owners against industrial companies. "Normally a judicial review is about a decision-making...
Despite a loss of $40.3 million the previous year, Century Aluminum still has hopes of reopening its Ravenswood smelter, said the company in a financial statement. Century Aluminum lost a sum of $9.7 million in the last 3 months of 2013, according to the financial statement released. The statement also talked about the company paying $8.4 million to its last chief executive officer, Logan Kruger. The company lost around $6.9 million during 2012’s fourth quarter. "We remain absolutely and resolutely committed to reopening our smelter at Ravenswood, West Virginia, and are working hard on a number of processes to this end," Century stated in its annual report. Randy Moore, sub-district director for the United Steelworkers of America in West Virginia, said, "That is what they keep telling us....
Century Aluminum Company reported a net loss of $9.7 million ($0.11 per basic and diluted common share) for the fourth quarter of 2013. Cost of sales for the quarter included a benefit of $16.6 million related to deferred power contract liability amortization and a $9.0 million benefit related to lower of cost or market inventory adjustments. The financial results also included an $8.4 million charge relating to the separation of our former chief executive officer. For the fourth quarter of 2012, the company reported a net loss of $6.9 million ($0.08 per basic and diluted common share). For 2013, the company reported a net loss of $40.3 million ($0.45 per basic and diluted common share). Financial results were positively impacted by a $31.0 million benefit for deferred power contract...
Azerbaijan has plans of increasing their total aluminium production from 2015, taking it to around 100,000 tonnes in 2016 after the capacity expansion of a state-owned plant, the head of this plant said. Aluminium production in Azerbaijan was around 54,000 tonnes in 2013, 98% of it had been exported, Jamil Safarov told Reuters. He also added that Iran, China, and Turkey were the main importers of aluminium from Azerbaijan. Det Al Aluminium has managed the aluminium plant in Gyanja town since 2009. "Construction works aimed at expansion of the plant are expected to be started in March and to be completed by mid 2015," Safarov said. "It will allow (us) to increase production next year and to double it from this year's level to 100,000 tonnes." Safarov said the company was unaffected by low...
Origin Energy Ltd, Australia's biggest energy retailer, expects little impact on power demand from a string of closures of car plants and an aluminium smelter, as new gas liquefaction plants would take up the slack. Only if newer, larger aluminium smelters were shut would there be a big hit to power demand, Chief Executive Grant King said at a news conference on Thursday after the company reported a 5 percent rise in first-half underlying profit. U.S. aluminium giant Alcoa Inc announced this week it was going to close its Point Henry smelter and two rolling mills in August, following plans by car makers Toyota Motor Corp , General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co to close their Australian plants by 2017. King said liquefied natural gas plants in the state of Queensland, due to launch...
United Co. Rusal, the largest aluminium producer in the world, plans to cut down output to a minimum in the coming eight years as it will be shutting down inefficient smelters. It is expected production will be around 3.5 million metric tons in 2014, the company said on Tuesday to the Hong Kong stock exchange, down by 10% output in 2013. Rising electricity costs as well as low aluminium prices are disappointing producers and a cut down of 3 million tons of aluminium capacity by 2015, Bloomberg Industries said. Alcoa Inc., the largest aluminum producer in U.S, said it had close down a smelter as well as mills in Australia in order to cut down the annual capacity by 5% to 3.8 million tons. Aluminum prices went up for a fifth time in 6 days after Rusal and Alcoa’s statements. Aluminum for...
Century Aluminum has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the company, AnalystRatingsNetwork.com reports. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have issued a hold recommendation and three have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $9.79. CENX has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Analysts at Cowen and Company downgraded shares of Century Aluminum from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. They now have a $9.00 price target on the stock, down previously from $10.00. They noted that...
The Missouri Department of Economic Development recently honored Noranda Aluminum with the Flag of Freedom award. The award is recognition for the company for participating in Show-Me Heroes program and also hiring veterans, who make up for 20% of the workforce of the aluminum smelter. "Noranda makes it a priority to hire veterans," said Noranda Aluminum Plant Manager Frank Davis. "We are proud to employ so many hard-working veterans who bravely served our country." The Show-Me Heroes program offers the military veterans job opportunities when they return home from their service. This program is administered by Missouri Division of Workforce Development and showcases Missouri businesses who hire veterans. Employers who participated in the Show-Me Heroes program had to sign a pledge to...
