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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Hindalco Industries fell 1.17% to Rs 105.60 at 10:42 IST on BSE after the company's US subsidiary Novelis reported its Q3 results on Monday, 10 February 2014. Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 71.20 points, or 0.35%, to 20,405.47 On BSE, so far 2.21 lakh shares were traded in the counter, compared with an average volume of 9.29 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 107.15 and a low of Rs 104.45 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 126.75 on 11 December 2013. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 83.05 on 7 August 2013. The stock had underperformed the market over the past one month till 10 February 2014, falling 3.26% compared with the Sensex's 2.04% fall. The scrip had also underperformed the market in past one quarter, declining 8.24% as against...
Signals are mixed for LME aluminium as it is not clear if a downtrend has resumed. The trend started from the Jan. 17 high of $1,825.25 and has been disrupted by a rebound from the Feb. 3 low of $1,671.25. A Fibonacci retracement analysis on the rebound reveals the current drop from the Feb. 7 high has almost touched a pivotal support at $1,692. Such a deep fall does indicate a resumption of the downtrend, however, so long as aluminium hovers above $1,692, it may still extend its rebound. Most likely, the metal will hover above this support for one day.
Weak aluminium prices are pointing to a major oversupply in the metal in Chile. But, Citi thinks the market indicators for aluminium are conflicting. The London Metals Exchange 3-month prices imply a market that's in significant oversupply, despite the closure of smelting capacity around the world over the last two years. Physical premiums are at record highs, resulting in full prices being seen in North America, whether they're up almost 20% since July 2009, in Citi's calculations, and even up by 5% since the beginning of this year. This has led to speculation there's a deficit. Citi thinks this is fanciful. Chinese smelting capacity is being built out and the country is increasing its exports of semi-refined aluminium. There's also significant growth in Middle Eastern production....
Commodity trader Trafigura's warehousing and logistics subsidiary has delisted eight metals warehouses in Antwerp, Belgium, the London Metal Exchange (LME) said on Monday. The move by Impala Terminals UK Ltd comes as the market prepares for tighter LME rules to reduce wait times to access metal in warehouses following complaints, lawsuits and regulatory pressure. The new regulations to take effect from April have the potential to reduce profits for warehouse companies, which have generated rental income from metals caught up in the backlogs. Last month Trafigura said it would integrate its warehousing company North European Marine Services (NEMS) into Impala. Sources in the warehousing sector have said that NEMS had not been as successful in creating queues and generating income from...
Japanese trading house Sumitomo Corp., which has stakes in smelters from Brazil to Australia, forecast aluminium will face a deficit next year for the first time ever since 2006 as lower prices accelerate output cuts. “Global demand will outpace supply by 37,000 metric tonnes in 2015 from a surplus of 312,000 tonnes estimated for this year,” said Shingi Yamagiwa, manager of light metals trading at the Tokyo-based company. Aluminium prices are down 18% last year on the LME. Top producers such as Rio Tinto Group, United Co. Rusal, and Alcoa Inc. have already announced their output cutbacks. China has made efforts to cut down the capacity of its plants which account for almost half the world output, resulting in low prices in an over-supplied market. “Western producers will continue to cut...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C reaffirmed its commitment towards enhancing the safety culture of Alba with its plant-wide HSE Week held from January 26 to 31, 2014. Organised in cooperation with the Alba Labour Union, the HSE event's theme - 'Elevating Safety to Lightspeed' - symbolised Alba's move to the next level on health, safety and environment. Along with work safety, the HSE event focused significantly on spreading the safety culture beyond Alba - to the families, especially children of all employees. The main highlight was the Kids Drawing Competition - under the theme 'home safety' - wherein Alba employees' children participated by submitting a drawing/painting on their understanding of safety. The winners were selected and awarded by Alba's Chief Executive Officer's daughter, Faith...
Rio Tinto is expected to give shareholders a healthy dividend boost when it reports full-year financials this week, with analysts expecting chief executive Sam Walsh to make good on his mantra of seeking to increase returns to investors. However, the expected 10 per cent rise in dividends is likely to come with a reminder of the company’s recent struggles, in the shape of multibillion-dollar impairments on the company’s aluminium assets. The combination of stronger than expected iron ore prices in 2013 and more than $US2 billion worth of cost reductions should allow Rio to raise dividends from 167¢ per share last year to 181¢ per share, according to a consensus of analysts. Deutsche Bank and JP Morgan both believe the rewards could be even better than that, with both predicting dividends...
Investors note, the recent upswing in aluminium premiums in the US and Europe may not benefit Indian aluminium manufacturers - Hindalco Industries and Nalco - as such premiums have been relatively stable in Asia. Aluminium prices on LME continue to be muted with production exceeding demand coupled with high inventory. Over the past two months, physical premiums have shot up by 78% to $460/tonne in the US and by 37% to $355/ tonne in Europe. This is contrary to expectations that the premiums would decline, given stringent LME warehousing rules to be implemented from April. Physical premium is the money paid over the LME aluminium prices to secure physical delivery. There has been a spike in premiums because of severe winter in N America, which squeezed supply as production was halted and...
Aluminum prices which tumbled to 4.5 years low managed to stage smart recovery on London Metal Exchange. Earlier, disappointing economic data from the US and China had dragged the aluminum prices to $1,671.25 per ton. The elevated supply levels of aluminum also had added momentum to the drastic fall in prices. However, in general, the base metals are expected to trend lower. The recently released quarterly report by the World Bank states that slowing growth in China may trigger negative attitude towards commodities in general. The report predicts that the metal prices will drop for a second successive year in 2014. The prices are predicted to drop another 1.7% in 2014, but all depends on the strength of Chinese economy. According to Commerzbank, the physical premiums for aluminum still...
Our aluminum price index registered a value of 89 in February, a decrease of 3.3 percent from 92 in January. The 3-month LME price closed on Tuesday at $1,686 per metric ton, the lowest level seen in the past 4+ years. Aluminum keeps struggling to reach previous peaks, but it doesn’t seem to have any problem with reaching new lows – a perfect definition of a downtrend. We have been calling for lower aluminum prices in one of our recent MMI reports and this latest downward movement makes us even more bearish. Some have been arguing that prices were low and they couldn’t go even lower. We don’t share that opinion, and while the trend is in motion, we expect prices to keep going down. An interesting fact is the divergence seen in Alcoa’s stock price and aluminum prices. While they usually...
This could be the year the world at last stops churning out much more aluminium than it can use, as economic recovery begins to stoke demand while some producers cut output after years of falling metal prices. At least that is what a few aluminium smelters and bankers are predicting, going against a consensus view that surpluses of production over demand are set to continue. Whatever happens, prices this year are unlikely to rally because there is a huge overhang of stocks, estimated at 10-15 million tonnes globally, although much of this is kept sitting in warehouses earning cash via investment deals. The price of aluminium — mainly used for packaging, construction and transport — has shed nearly 50 per cent since 2008, forcing loss-making companies to slash capacity in recent years.
CME Group Inc., the largest futures exchange in the world, is ready to start up an aluminum futures contract and is even planning to introduce other metals products. CME said it has planned last year to start something alternative to aluminum contract traded on the LME for improving transparency. Consumers such as MillerCoors LLC complained they have wait for long in order to withdraw metals from the warehouses that are monitored by the LME distorted prices. Producers including United Co. Rusal said it is important that exchange improves transparency. “We are still on track and are very pleased with the amount of engagement from the industry,” Harriet Hunnable, managing director of metals at Chicago-based CME, said today in an interview in London, declining to provide a start date for the...
Century Aluminum was downgraded by analysts at Cowen and Company from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, TheFlyOnTheWall.com reports. They currently have a $9.00 target price on the stock, down from their previous target price of $10.00. Cowen and Company’s price target would suggest a potential downside of 22.68% from the company’s current price. The analysts noted that the move was a valuation call. Century Aluminum opened at 11.64 on Wednesday. Century Aluminum has a one year low of $6.26 and a one year high of $12.58. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $10. and its 200-day moving average is $9.12. The company’s market cap is $1.032 billion. CENX has been the subject of a number of other recent...
FinnvedenBulten has, as part of the ongoing restructuring of the foundry business in the Finnveden Metal Structures division, signed an agreement to sell the division's Swedish aluminium business in Finnveden Gjutal AB. The buyer is International Aluminium Casting Sweden AB, which operates with aluminium die-casting in Sweden and Estonia. "Our strategy within Finnveden Metal Structures is to offer a unique combination of sheet metal stamping and magnesium die-casting to meet the need for weight reduction in the automotive industry. The sale of the aluminium business is an important part of the ongoing restructuring program and streamlining of the die-casting operation where all magnesium die casting is concentrated to one focused foundry located in Poland. At the same time we are pleased...
Aluminium prices rises by 0.43 per cent to INR 104.50 per kg in futures trade today as all participants enlarged positions on a firming overseas trend. Strong demand in spot markets is also responsible for metal prices. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, aluminium for delivery in the month of February inched up by 45 paise, or 0.43 per cent, to INR 104.50 per kg in total turnover business of 251 lots. Likewise, aluminium for delivery in the month of March traded higher by 25 paise, or 0.24 per cent, to INR 105.90 per kg in 48 lots. Marketmen said, besides increased domestic demand, a firming trend in the overseas base metals supported the rise in aluminium prices at futures trade here.
While the premiums paid for physical delivery of aluminium against the LME benchmark is going up and industrial users are trying to protect themselves against further rise in premium, CME Group Inc’s nascent aluminium premium contract is picking up in the market during the beginning of the year. According to Reuter report, open interest, a reflection of market liquidity, has hit 242 lots, worth about $10 million and equivalent to 6,050 tonnes of aluminum, almost five times as much as at the start of the year. Market activity has also picked up with 215 contracts exchanging hands in nine days between Jan 16th to 24th. Though it is not a huge volume, the sudden rise in interest is quite substantial for a contract that has hardly seen any trading for two years since its launch. End users who...
Base metals hit two-month low in London due to slowing factory output growth in China coupled with deteriorating demand outlook following uncertainty in the recovery in global economy. Copper hit the low of $7,033.5 in early Monday trade on the London Metal Exchange. The metal lost around four per cent in January, the weakest monthly performance in seven months. Experts believe copper may decline further to hit $7,200. Aluminium prices remain under pressure by bulging global inventories. Prices on Monday stayed over four-year lows of $1,698.25 a tonne tipped on Friday, at $1,703 a tonne. Other metals broadly moved in tandem with copper and aluminium.
The rising cost of green taxes and the burden of EU climate policies have allowed the aluminium industry in Europe to become globally uncompetitive, experts have warned. Rising green taxes are leaving the European aluminium industry at a cost disadvantage to the rest of the world, with international competitors enjoying lower taxation of electricity and lower green levies. The Information Daily spoke to the President of the UK Aluminium Association (ALFED), and the Director General of the European Aluminium Association (EAA) ahead of their meeting with Minister of State for Energy, Michael Fallon. Dr Gerd Goetz, Director General of EAA explained that the EU Commission has requested to regain 20 per cent share of GDP in Europe, which the industry is currently "quite a mile away from". A...
