A 15,000-ton shipment of primary aluminum from Venezuela has arrived at the Port of Avondale in New Orleans, Louisiana, marking the first Venezuelan aluminum shipment to the United States in nearly a decade and potentially reopening a long-dormant supply route between the two countries. The cargo was unloaded on October 5 in an event attended by US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Representative Julia Letlow. The shipment is part of a broader commercial initiative involving US investment firm Heeney Capital and commodity trader Mercuria Energy Group, with the aluminum produced by Venezuela’s state-owned CVG Venalum. The shipment is considerably larger than Venezuela’s last reported US-bound aluminum cargo. The country last shipped primary...
The London Metal Exchange (LME) aluminium price chart continued to slip across the pricing and contract segments on the October 5 trading session, reporting declines over the October 2 close . Meanwhile, the LME three-month Asian Reference Price benchmark alone reported a gain of nearly one per cent. The LME aluminium cash bid price dipped slightly by 0.1 per cent day-on-day, shifting from USD 3,109 per tonne to USD 3,106 per tonne. The offer price contracted from USD 3,109.5 per tonne to USD 3,107 per tonne, reflecting an even more modest 0.08 per cent decline. Explore- Most comprehensive and forward-looking industry-focused report — Global Bauxite & Alumina Market Forecast to 2036: Supply–Demand, Trade Flows & Price Outlook The LME aluminium three-month bid and offer prices faltered by...
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Select copper and aluminium prices eased in an otherwise lacklustre non-ferrous metal market here today on stockist selling amid lower demand from industrial users on the back of bearish London Metal Exchange (LME) cues. The industrial metal declined at the LME, dropping further from near two-month highs reached earlier in the week as investors worried the Federal Reserve could curb its monetary stimulus. Copper utensils scrap fell by Rs 3 per kg to Rs 460 from Tuesday's closing levels of Rs 463. Aluminium ingots moved down by Rs 2 per kg to Rs 146 from Rs 148. Copper cables scrap, copper armiture, copper wire bar and copper sheet cutting all softened by a Re per kg each to Rs 506, Rs 486, Rs 534 and Rs 479, respectively.
Trimet Aluminum AG has taken control of two former Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. production plants in France. The Essen, Germany-based aluminum producer said Dec. 16 that the move came after it received regulatory approval for a deal signed in July. The plants—in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne and Castelsarrasin, France—make aluminum products used in the power transmission and automotive sectors, Trimet said. The acquisition should give Trimet a presence in the aluminum wire market and boost its core business of supplying specialty products, chief executive officer Martin Iffert said. Iffert is expected to become chief executive officer of Trimet France SAS, which is majority owned by Trimet and in which Paris-based Electricité de France SA (EDF) holds a minority stake, the company said. Montreal-based...
The electrolytic aluminum capacity in China will reach 32 million tonnes by the end of this year, said Wen Xianjun, vice Chairman of China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association. If the new capacity well controlled, the goal to solve the overcapacity will be realized. In the first 11 months, the output of electrolytic aluminum reached 20.11 million tonnes, 9.6% higher than the last year, and the total output this year would reach 22 million tonnes. In the first 11 months, the aluminum products reached 35.92 million tonnes, increased by 24.73%, and the total output would be 39 million tonnes. In the first 10 months, the investment in the aluminum smelting totaled 68.4 billion Yuan, declined by 4.68% YOY, and the net loss reached 4.25 billion Yuan, compared with 6.95 billion Yuan in 2012....
Glencore's former No. 2 aluminum trader Matt Lucke has opened a physical metals trading firm, becoming the first high-profile alumni of the commodity trading giant's powerful metals business to return to the market since its takeover of Xstrata in May. The 40-year old American told Reuters last week he has returned to trading just six months after leaving Glencore Xstrata Plc where he worked his way up over 17 years from the finance department to becoming one of the company's most senior aluminum executives. His departure in the summer alongside global aluminum and alumina chief Gary Fegel was the biggest shake-up of the world's biggest aluminum trading desk in years. The future of Glencore's senior executives who became paper millionaires following the firm's stock market listing in 2011...
Aluminium ingots moved up in an otherwise mute non-ferrous metal market here today on stockist buying amid renewed offtake from consumer industries. The industrial metal edged up at the LME, from the highest in nearly two months hit the previous day, as traders cut risk ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting. Aluminium ingots climbed up by Rs 3 per kg to Rs 148 from Monday's closing level of Rs 145.
Lawsuits accusing Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS:US), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM:US), their warehousing businesses and the London Metal Exchange of constricting aluminum supplies and driving up prices will be handled in a New York court. Twenty-six federal cases have been filed accusing the defendants, in various combinations, of violating U.S. antitrust laws. While most were brought in Detroit, some are already pending in New York, with others in Los Angeles, New Orleans and elsewhere. Arguments promoting each location as most suitable for pretrial exchanges of evidence and depositions were made before the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on Dec. 5 in Las Vegas. That panel issued a decision yesterday choosing New York.
Rio Tinto has announced that it is shelving its plans to construct an aluminum smelter worth $4 billion in Paraguay. The company attributed its decision to poor market conditions in the aluminum segment. The decision doesn’t come as a surprise to us, considering that only a few days back the company announced massive spending cuts, especially in the aluminum business. The aluminum market is currently oversupplied and prices remain depressed with no upside in sight. Despite the announcement of a massive reduction in smelting capacities by major producers such as Alcoa and Rusal, the downward price trend continues. Why Has The Project Been Shelved? Rio’s proposed aluminum smelter in Paraguay was supposed to be built at a cost of $4 billion. It would have been the company’s biggest aluminum...
One of the toughest markets to read direction for has been aluminum and next year, consumers will not be pleased to hear, it does not look much better. In most other markets, massive over-supply would result in prices falling to the point where marginal suppliers throw in the towel and supply becomes constrained sufficiently to support a recovery in prices. Market economics, if you like, come into play and balance out supply at or above breakeven. Not so in the aluminum industry since the financial crisis. Massive overproduction, predicated on the back of strong growth in demand earlier this decade – growth, incidentally, that has continued in positive territory in spite of the financial crisis – has continued to bring new capacity on-stream even as loss-making older plants have been shut...
Aluminum production is rising in Africa, China, the Arabian Gulf, Eastern and Central Europe and (this surprised us a little) North America, but it is falling in Oceania, South America, Western Europe and Asia (ex-China), according to FastMarkets. We continue our Aluminum Outlook 2014 from Part One here. Collectively, production in the world ex-China totaled 17.06 million tons in the first eight months of the year period, down from 17.131 million tons in the same period of 2012 – all the net growth is in China, where production climbed to 15.841 million tons in the first eight months of the year from 14.541 million tons a year previously. While on the subject of closing production, don’t be too wowed by statements from market leaders like Alcoa Inc. talking about how much capacity they...
The European Commission said Friday it has approved Rio Tinto Alcan's planned sale of aluminium plants in France. "The European Commission has approved under the EU Merger Regulation the acquisition of joint control over two aluminium production facilities located in France of the Rio Tinto Alcan group by the Trimet group of Germany and Electricite de France S.A. (EDF) of France,". On July 13, Rio Tinto Alcan said it had received a binding offer for its St Jean-de-Maurienne aluminum smelter and its Castelsarrasin casting facility in France from German aluminum producer Trimet. The deal will bring in French state-controlled power firm EDF as a minority stakeholder. Since 2009, Rio Tinto Alcan has closed or curtailed over 600,000 mt of aluminium capacity and sold a further 13 non-core...
Aluminium prices fell by 0.50 per cent to Rs 109.50 per kg in futures trading today as speculators offloaded their positions amid weak cues from global markets. Besides, subdued demand in the domestic spot markets also weighed on metal prices. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, aluminium for delivery in December declined by 45 paise, or 0.50 per cent, to Rs 109.85 per kg in business turnover of 120 lots. Similarly, the metal for delivery in January traded lower by 55 pa
Independent Commodities Logistics BV (ICL) has received approval from the London Metal Exchange for the first warehouse in Moerdijk, Netherlands, the exchange informed its members on Friday December 13. The warehouse in Moerdijk run by ICL will be listed from March 13 next year and will be a good delivery point for aluminium, aluminium alloy, copper, nickel, lead, tin and zinc. ICL is a joint venture between EuroRijn and Hans Cleton, who joined the company earlier this year after ten years as gm of Henry Bath BV Rotterdam. ICL received approval for a warehouse in Rotterdam earlier in the year. The port of Moerdijk is located between the ports of Rotterdam, Vlissingen and Antwerp, already a central hub for the transportation and storage of LME metal. There are already about 400 companies...
Global aluminium prices have been on a downtrend in the last few years. This has weighed on National Aluminium Company (Nalco) with its stock price falling around 30 per cent since last December to Rs 37 currently. The company’s margins are stabilising due to higher sale of alumina and lower input costs. Also, Nalco’s revenues are likely to grow as alumina sales pick up. The stock trades at a discount to its global peers — Alcoa and Norsk Hydro (price-to-forward earnings of around 20 times) — and to its historic levels of over 20. However, the stock’s price-to-FY15 earnings ratio of around 11 times is at a premium to peers such as Hindalco and Sesa Sterlite, which trade at around 9 and 6 respectively. Investors can hold their position as the stock is richly valued even after steep price...
Bahrain’s opposition has called for an independent investigation into state-run Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) after a corruption trial collapsed in London last week. Al-Wefaq, which has been at the forefront of protests in Bahrain, says losses to the public purse should be investigated by the government. “The Bahraini people lost money,” said Abdul Jalil Khalil, a Wefaq spokesman. “We need an independent investigation here in Bahrain to look into this as we are talking about more than $3bn – this is not an easy figure.” Billionaire Victor Dahdaleh did not dispute that he paid £38m to Sheikh Isa bin Ali al-Khalifa, Alba’s former chairman and a close adviser of the prime minister, to win $3bn of contracts for companies including Alcoa of the US. Mr Dahdaleh’s lawyers argued in court, however,...
The Oman Aluminium Rolling Company (OARC) officially opened its manufacturing facility under the auspices of Dr Mohammed Hamad Al Rumhi, Minister of Oil and Gas, here yesterday. The ceremony was attended by Hilal Al Kharusi, Chairman of the OARC, and Buddy Stemple, CEO of the OARC, along with higher government official delegates and representatives of private sector organisations. Owned by Takamul Investment Company with a total cost of OMR148 million, the OARC plant is one of the largest added value projects in the aluminium processing industry at the Sohar Industrial Area. The annual capacity of the plant is 140,000 tonnes of multi-purpose aluminium sheets which are to be sold in the local markets and exported to the Middle East, Asia, Europe, Australia, North and South America. The...
Brazilian aluminium exports fell sharply year-on-year in November after traditional customers like Japan and Switzerland reported no trade in the month, and domestic demand increased. Volumes sent abroad totalled 10,260 tonnes, from 41,782 tonnes in November 2012. Revenues in the month totalled $19.27 million, compared with $82.51 million a year ago. Exports from January to November amounted to 357,276 tonnes, down 21.5% year-on-year. From the 10,260 tonnes exported in November, 9,803 tonnes were shipped to the Netherlands. Additional material was sent to South Korea (406 tonnes) and Colombia (51 tonnes). Japan, traditionally the main destination for Brazilian aluminium, reported no trade, in comparison with 17,937 tonnes in November 2012. No volumes were sent to Switzerland, which...
Aluminium buyers in Japan, Asia’s largest importer, agreed to pay a fee matching a record to producers in the first quarter as demand picks up in China, three executives familiar with the situation said. The fee for the three months starting in January was set at $255/tonne over the London Metal Exchange cash price, said the executives, who represent buyers and sellers and asked not to be identified because they are not authorised to speak to the media. That matches the record high reached in the fourth quarter of 2012last year. China, the world’s largest consumer, accelerated purchases of the metal to take advantage of a price drop in the London market to an almost four-year low in June, said partner at research company Market Risk Advisory Company in Tokyo, Naohiro Niimura. Chinese...
Noranda Aluminum is one of today's worst performing low-priced stocks, down 7.8% to $2.37 on 1.1x average daily volume. Thus far today, Noranda Aluminum has traded 409,000 shares, vs. average volume of 376,000 shares per day. The stock has underperformed the Dow (-7.8% to the Dow's -0.5%) and underperformed the S&P 500 (-7.8% to the S&P's -0.2%) during today's trading. Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp is an integrated producer of aluminum products, as well as rolled aluminum coils. The Company produces aluminum products in the form of billets, rods and sows, used mainly for building construction, architectural and transportation applications. Noranda also produces foil and light gauge sheet products from its rolling mills. In the past 52 weeks, shares of Noranda Aluminum have traded between...
