Asian aluminium premiums are facing more pressure ahead of Q4 talks. CRU’s Asia CIF aluminium premium is now USD 202 per tonne, well below the USD 395 per tonne Main Japanese Port (MJP) Q3 benchmark. MJP Q4 offers have also dropped sharply. They fell from USD 325 per tonne in early September to USD 245–260 per tonne as the new quarter approaches. This shows weaker sentiment in the market. Aluminium premiums are under pressure across Asia, especially in Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan. These markets are more exposed to spot price changes, so premiums can move quickly when supply or demand changes. Explore the production, demand and consumption forecasts of bauxite and alumina in our report: " Global Bauxite & Alumina Market Forecast to 2036: Supply–Demand, Trade Flows & Price Outlook " Premiums...
Rio Tinto is connecting its Kitimat aluminum production with a new British Columbia-based supply chain through a long-term agreement with RevoCast Aluminum Billets Ltd., under which aluminum from BC Works will be combined with recycled aluminum to produce billet for North American manufacturers. Announced on September 28, the agreement gives Rio Tinto exclusive marketing rights for aluminum billet produced at RevoCast’s newly commissioned Langley casting facility. The operation combines primary aluminum from BC Works with recycled aluminum processed by RevoCast. Explore the production, demand and consumption forecasts of bauxite and alumina in our report: “ Global Bauxite & Alumina Market Forecast to 2036: Supply–Demand, Trade Flows & Price Outlook ” The deal, however, will not change...
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Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba), committed to Bahrainisation and determined to empowering young Bahrainis, launched a new batch of Vocational Training (VT) Programme on November 3, 2013. Organised in conjunction with Tamkeen, the programme recruited 60 young Bahrainis - 20 secondary school graduates and 40 National Diploma who will undergo a two-year training programme in various aspects of Alba operations. The programme was inaugurated by Alba's Chief Executive Officer, Tim Murray and also present were Chief Operations Officer, Isa Al Ansari, Chairman of Alba Labour Union, Ali Al Binali and Training & Recruitment Manager, Rawdha Salman Al Aradi. Alba's Vocational Training Programme is designed to empower trainees with technical and practical skills, and provide them with hands-on...
Shares of major aluminum producers tumbled on Thursday, as investors anticipated that new London Metal Exchange warehouse rules could depress aluminum prices. Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. producer fell 7.5% in afternoon trading. Shares of United Co. Rusal, based in Russia and the largest aluminum maker in the world, fell 2.9% on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The LME, the world's largest metals exchange, on Thursday announced final rules designed to speed the delivery of metal out of its global warehousing network. Metal users like Coca-Cola Co. and MillerCoors LLC have complained that bottlenecks to retrieve aluminum from warehouses overseen by the LME were inflating their costs. The LME's rule would essentially force warehouses that are home to long waits for metal to deliver out more...
The London Metal Exchange has pledged to cut down the amount of time it takes for customers to receive physical metals in a bid to combat criticism over metal hoarding. Under a new plan, the LME plans to slash waiting times down to 50 days, after regulatory pressure for the industry to review its metal storage practices. The LME also revealed that it has commenced a legal review of what steps it can take on high storage charges. The group's desire clamp down on alleged metal hoarding comes after swathes of criticism and concern from regulators and market participants. Goldman and the LME have been sued in the US on the allegations. In July, reports claimed that a Goldman Sachs subsidiary shuffled aluminium stocks around its warehouses each day, lengthening storage times and bloating...
Cost pressure of EU policies and regulations has put the European aluminium industry at a competitive disadvantage to its global rivals. This is the key finding of a study undertaken for the European Commission in the framework of its Fitness Check on the aluminium sector that is published today. The Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) has performed a first ever analysis of the costs borne by the aluminium industry attributable to EU legislation over the past ten years in the areas of energy, climate change, environment, competition, trade and products policies. The study surveyed 46 plants accounting for more than 60% of EU production capacity. “The results clearly show the significant negative cost impact of some EU rules on our ability to compete internationally,” said Gerd Götz,...
Greece's dominant electricity producer PPC threatened on Thursday to ditch its biggest customer, Aluminium SA, upping the ante in a five-year row between the two firms over power supply prices. The dispute, which threatens to disrupt production at Aluminium, southeast Europe's biggest aluminum smelter, is emblematic of the confused state of Greece's power market, one of the problems Athens needs to fix as part of its bailout by the International Monetary Fund and European Union. State-controlled PPC's management board unanimously decided on Thursday to scrap its contract with Aluminium, effective Nov. 18, it said in a statement. "We don't want them as clients any more," a company official told Reuters on condition of anonymity. PPC said on Tuesday it would take a 109 million euro ($146...
Brazilian aluminium producer Alloys & Metals Reciclagem de Metais intends to save costs at its future operations in Pará state, in the north of Brazil, by processing liquid metal, Metal Bulletin understands. "By building a plant next to a primary aluminium producer, it is possible to save costs by reprocessing liquid metal, which, in this case, is generated by [Hydro's] Albras, [plant," Alloys' director Marcel Popovici told MB. Alloys, Hydro subsidiary Albras and Pará state government recently signed a commitment to make future investments in the local aluminium production chain. "There are lots of business opportunities in the Northern region of Brazil," added Popovici. Alloys intends to build a billet operation in the state, as well as an extruded products plant and an aluminium...
US regional aluminium premiums fell during most of the third quarter but have recently firmed and even increased slightly, Century Aluminum Co executives said. But the Chicago-based aluminium producer said uncertainty remained in premiums and warehouse stock forecasts given uncertainties around London Metal Exchange warehouse policies. U.S. Midwest premiums fell from a high of 11.8 cents per pound before the LME proposed changes to its warehousing policies (amm.com, July 1) to a low of roughly 9.8 cents per pound, company president and chief executive officer Michael A. Bless said during a Nov. 4 conference call with analysts. Midwest premiums have recently increased to 10 cents per pound, while European Union duty-paid premiums have been stable in recent months at about $245 per ton,...
Having again lent its support to the 2013 Emirates Energy Award ("EEA") programme, Dubai Aluminium (" DUBAL ") was honoured to receive a Gold Sponsor's Trophy during the awards-presentation ceremony, hosted by the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy ("DSCE") on 28 October 2013. Abdulla Kalban (President & CEO) received the trophy on behalf of DUBAL from H H Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, in the latter's capacity as Chairman of the DSCE. Commenting on the award, Mr Kalban said, " DUBAL is very proud to be associated with the EEA programme. We believe that our sponsorship of initiatives such as this is integral to our investment in the future of Dubai and the UAE." DUBAL 's involvement in the EEA reflects the company's support for the UAE's efforts to optimize energy utilization and...
Noranda Aluminum Holding Corporation ( NOR ) will begin trading ex-dividend on November 07, 2013. A cash dividend payment of $0.01 per share is scheduled to be paid on December 05, 2013. Shareholders who purchased NOR stock prior to the ex-dividend date are eligible for the cash dividend payment. This represents an -75% decrease from the prior quarter. At the current stock price of $2.9, the dividend yield is 1.38%. The previous trading day's last sale of NOR was $2.9, representing a -57.66% decrease from the 52 week high of $6.85 and a 31.22% increase over the 52 week low of $2.21. NOR is a part of the Basic Industries sector, which includes companies such as Aluminum Corporation of China Limited ( ACH ) and Century Aluminum Company ( CENX ). NOR's current earnings per share, an...
Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) swung to a third-quarter net profit on higher sales to Saudi Arabia, the owner of the world’s fourth-largest aluminium smelter said on Wednesday. Alba increased its sales by 4.2% YoY thanks to a strong Saudi demand while production rose by 4.7% YoY on the back of strong overall operational & cost performance. Net profit for the three months to September 30 was 4.9 million dinar ($13 million) versus a net loss of 13 million dinars a year earlier. Alba’s income was boosted by a seven per cent increase in sales to 183.3 million dinars, with strong demand from Saudi Arabia noted, and a 4.7 per cent hike in tonnes produced compared to the same months last year. Despite the return to profit, Alba missed the estimate of local investment bank SICO Bahrain, which forecast...
Qatalum is participating in the 17th session of the Arab International Aluminium Conference and Exhibition (Arabal), which is being held in Abu Dhabi. The participation in what is considered the most important trade event for the aluminium industry in the Middle East has come through a high-level delegation comprising Qatalum CEO Tom Petter Johansen, deputy CEO Khalid Mohamed Laram, a number of directors, various heads of departments and specialists in the company. Qatalum also participated in the Arabal exhibition held on the sidelines of the conference, at a forum through which attendees were informed about the most important developments in the current year and earlier. On the first day of the conference (November 5), Qatalum launched its specialised electronic newsletter bulletin,...
Iran's aluminum ingot production has increased by 6 per cent in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year, which began on March 21, compared to the same period in the past year, the Mehr News Agency reported. Some 206,908 tons of aluminum ingots were produced in the 7-month period. Production stood at 195,774 tons last year. Some 29,600 tons of aluminum ingots were produced in the sixth calendar month (August 22 - September 22). It was previously announced that Iran plans to increase its annual aluminum ingot production capacity up to 910,000 ýtons by the end of the Fifth Five-Year Economic ýDevelopment Plan (March 2016). According to the Iranian Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Vajihollah Ja'fari, Iran's current consumption of aluminum per capita stands at...
Arabian Gulf aluminium producers are on track to nearly double their slice of global output by 2020 as the Gulf is the only region outside China expanding capacity in the industry. This comes despite Qatalum, a key player, putting its expansion plans on hold. The joint venture between Qatar Petroleum and Norway’s Hydro Aluminium cited a large supply overhang and uncertain profitability for its decision. However, other players, including the UAE’s Emirates Aluminium (Emal), are pressing ahead with growth plans. From the middle of next year, it will have completed its second phase expansion, taking capacity to 1.3 million tonnes. The facility will be the world’s largest single site smelter. “We are three months ahead of schedule so that means we need to slowly go up with production because...
Emirates Aluminium (Emal) is ahead of schedule with the expansion of its production capacity to 1.3 million tonnes a year and expects to complete the project in mid-2014, the company's chief executive said on Wednesday. Emal's $4 billion project to boost capacity from about 800,000 tonnes a year had been expected to be completed by the end of 2014. "We are three months ahead of schedule on that," CEO Saeed al-Mazrooei told reporters on the sidelines of a conference in Abu Dhabi, adding that he expects strengthening global demand to absorb the company's increased output. Canadian engineering contractor SNC-Lavalin said in September that it had achieved the first hot-metal production from the expanded facility nearly three months ahead of schedule. Mazrooei said that Emal's production could...
China’s aluminum output in September held largely flat with August levels as no smelters cut production and no new capacity came online. China produced 1.86 million mt of aluminum during September, up 11.15% YoY, but flat with August levels. Output from January to September hit 16.21 million mt, a gain of 9.97% YoY, according to the CNIA. China’s aluminum imports during September spiked from a month earlier on larger room for LME vs SHFE arbitrage. China imported 54,000 mt of primary aluminum during September, up 34.37% YoY and 61.68% MoM. YTD imports through September totaled 207,300 mt, a drop of 53.15% from the same period last year. The SHFE/LME aluminum price ratio rose in Q3, especially in August and September, improving profit margins at Chinese aluminum importers and giving them...
LME aluminium may end its current moderate rebound around a resistance at $1,825 and then drop towards $1,790 per tonne. The rebound has been triggered by a support at $1,806, the 76.4 percent Fibonacci retracement on the rise from the Sept. 17 low of $1,775.50 to the Oct. 29 high of $1,905.75. Wave pattern shows the drop from $1,905.75 has adopted a five-wave mode, with the wave 5 likely to extend to $1,790, a level pointed by the lower channel line of a channel, which has been duplicated from the upper channel. The rebound is driven by a wave 4, which may travel a little bit further to $1,837 if it could go above $1,825.
Aluminium manufacturer Aleris International is selling 5083–H128, a newly developed aluminium alloy temper for marine applications. The alloy meets new standards for marine plate as specified in the American Society for Testing and Materials’ (ASTM) B928-13 standard, the company said. While exposure to elevated temperatures can increase the susceptibility of marine alloys to corrosion, Cleveland-based Aleris’ new process for developing marine plate temper demonstrates enhanced corrosion resistance in such conditions, the company said. Aleris is also looking into applying the H128 temper to other plate products, it said.
Century Aluminum Company reported a net loss of $9.5 million ($0.11 per basic and diluted common share) for the third quarter of 2013. Cost of sales for the quarter included a $5.8 million benefit for lower of cost or market inventory adjustments and an $11.7 million benefit for deferred power contract liability amortization. In the third quarter of 2012, Century reported a net loss of $12.0 million ($0.14 per basic and diluted share). Financial results were positively impacted by a net benefit of $4.1 million related to certain litigation items. Cost of sales for the quarter included an $8.2 million benefit for lower of cost or market inventory adjustments. Sales for the third quarter of 2013 were $399.9 million, compared with $304.6 million for the third quarter of 2012. Shipments of...
