The London Metal Exchange (LME) aluminium price chart recovered on the November 9 trading session, wish cash reporting nearly 1 per cent gain compared to the November 6 close. Longer-dated contracts and inventories, however, edged lower. The LME aluminium cash bid as well as offer prices gained 0.96 per cent day-on-day on November 9. The bid recovered from USD 3,115 per tonne to USD 3,145 per tonne. The offer price surged from USD 3,117 per tonne to USD 3,147 per tonne . 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 price reported a 0.33 per cent rise from USD 3,049 per tonne on November 6 to USD 3,059 per tonne on November 9. The offer...
Iran is expanding its domestic aluminium manufacturing capabilities through nanostructured anodising technology, developing specialised aluminium sheets and profiles for applications across aerospace, medical equipment, electronics and automotive industries. The initiative reflects a move towards higher-value aluminium products by improving the metal's surface properties and expanding its potential industrial applications. According to Pars Today, citing Mehr News Agency, an Iranian aluminium complex is using the technology to produce aluminium components with nanostructured ceramic coatings designed to improve resistance to corrosion and wear. The complex is also working on developing specialised aluminium standards and has so far established eight standards in this field. The...
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Norsk Hydro ASA, Europe’s third- biggest aluminum supplier, may resell power it bought from Vattenfall AB as it cuts production amid falling prices for the metal. Norsk Hydro may sell on a portion of the 18 terawatt-hours of electricity it committed to buy in 2008, Halvor Molland, a spokesman for the Oslo-based company, said in a March 1 e-mail. Three-month benchmark aluminum prices have fallen 30 percent since May 2011 to $1,969.25 a metric ton, London Metal Exchange data show. The aluminum producer pledged to buy the power on Sept. 10, 2008, five days before the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., in a deal to supply Norsk Hydro’s Soeral plant from 2013 to 2020. Norway’s power-intensive industries used 34.4 terawatt- hours of electricity last year, 17 percent below the average...
Aluminum of China is a company whose shares are active, trading 4.4% lower to $10.31. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is now trading fractionally lower to 14,052 and the S&P is trading fractionally lower to 1,514. In the past 52 weeks, shares of Aluminum of China have traded between a low of $9.22 and a high of $13.88 and are now at $10.31, which is 12% above that low price. In the last five trading sessions, the 50-day moving average (MA) has fallen 0.4% while the 200-day MA has remained constant. Aluminum Corporation of China Limited is a producer of alumina and primary aluminum in China. The Company refines bauxite into alumina and smelts alumina to produce primary aluminum. Aluminum of China is currently priced 6.2% above its average consensus analyst price target of $9.67. Aluminum...
Alcoa has been named the most admired metals company in the world for the second year in a row in Fortune magazine’s annual ranking on corporate reputation. Alcoa has been a member of the "Most Admired" list since Fortune began the annual ranking 30 years ago. Alcoa also received top ranking in seven of the nine key attributes: innovation, people management, use of corporate assets, social responsibility, quality of management, financial soundness, and long-term investment. "It is extremely gratifying to be ranked the most admired metals company again,” said Alcoa Chairman and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld. "Today, as Alcoa observes its 125th anniversary, the key to our success remains the dedication of our employees to Alcoa’s values and to the relentless pursuit of excellence." Fortune's Most...
United Co. Rusal PLC, the world's largest aluminum producer, will cut annual output by around 7% this year, the company said Monday, paring excess global supply at a time of lackluster demand, depressed prices and rising output in China and the Persian Gulf. Rusal will maintain the lower production through at least 2015 unless prices rise sharply, the company said after announcing that it swung to a net loss last year. "This decision has been undertaken to maintain the company's competitive position in the global aluminum market given the current overcapacity, high power tariffs and metal prices downturn," the company said in a statement. Rusal will cut production by around 300,000 metric tons at its "less efficient" smelters by the end of the year, and maintain output at around 3.8...
The UAE’s two primary aluminium smelters – Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) and Emirates Aluminium (Emal) – will be showcasing its key technology and present technical papers at the TMS annual meeting and exhibition (TMS 2013) in Texas. The expo, which runs till March 7, will focus on providing materials science and engineering professionals the opportunity to network, present research, share industrial applications and introduce innovation— the aim being to leverage synergies that will progress research and development activities towards applications that offer global solutions. The duo's participation is a clear demonstration of the UAE aluminium industry’s technology development expertise, said a senior official. Senior executives from Dubal will present six technical papers at TMS 2013, all of...
India's Nalco awarded Thursday a sell tender for 10,000 mt of aluminum ingot, at $203/mt plus LME cash CIF Singapore to Swiss trader Euromin SA, a company source said Friday. The product is to be delivered to Singapore between March and June, in four 2,500-mt lots. The closing date for offers was February 26, with the offers required to be valid until February 28. The premium to the LME was $27/mt below Nalco's last tender awarded in late January to Singapore-based Gold Matrix at around $230/mt plus LME cash, CIF Singapore. That tender offered 12,000 mt to be delivered in eight 1,500-mt lots between February and September.
As the key enterprise in Chinese aluminium industry, Chalco took the responsibility of prospering Chinese aluminium industry, leading Chinese nonferrous metals business to a sustained, healthy and rapid development path and taking an active part in international competes when it was first established. During the 12 years since establishment, Chalco has been one of the first three aluminium enterprises in the world and has been on the 500 top companies in the world list 5 years in a roll. The large amount of aluminium techniques that Chalco has developed hasn't only be applied inside China but also been exported to over 20 countries. Over these years Chalco has been building the most promising first class mining company in the world by preceding structural adjustment and strategy...
Worse-than-expected economic figures from the euro zone and expectations for lower interest rate in the region pushed the euro down against the US dollar. February manufacturing PMI in the US suggested that the US economy is continuing to recover, driving the US dollar index above 82 and weighing down commodity prices. In this context, LME aluminum dropped all the way to USD 1,956/mt after opening at USD 2,008/mt last Friday. Finally, LME aluminum ended the day down USD 32.8/mt or 1.63% at USD 1,974/mt. Trading volumes increased 2,732 lots to 26,680 lots, while positions decreased 3,246 lots to 698,155 lots. Latest LME aluminum inventories were up 10,500 mt to 5,172,550 mt. With the US dollar index hovering high, LME aluminum should continue to meet resistance at the 5-day moving average...
Aluminum may drop to about $1,911 a metric ton if it falls below an area consisting of the 200-day moving average and a six-month uptrend, according to technical analysis by Commerzbank AG. The attached chart shows that the metal has fallen below its 200-day moving average that is currently at about $2,001 and a six-month uptrend line at about $1,984. A drop below that area means prices may slide to an uptrend line drawn from 2009 to 2013 at about $1,911, Karen Jones, a technical strategist at Commerzbank in London, said by phone yesterday. “It will be pretty rapid,” she said, referring to a possible drop to the $1,911 target within a week of falling below the six-month trend line. Aluminum for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange is down 3.8 percent this year and today...
Romania’s aluminium producer Alro Slatina, controlled by Russian – owned Vimetco, ended 2012 on a loss, EUR 38.4 million, after an EUR 49 million profit in 2011. The reported data is preliminary and unaudited. This is the first time Alro posts a loss after its 2002 privatization. “External, unpredicted factors, such as those related to energy supply and its taxation, influenced total costs, having a significant impact over the results,” said Marian Nastase, president of Alro Slatina. Last year, Alro renegotiated its energy supply contract with Hidroelectrica and ended up paying 50 percent more, as well as EUR 11 million extra for the first half of 2012. Alro is a subsidiary of Vimetco N.V., a global aluminium producer. The firm has an installed production capacity of 265,000 tonnes per...
Current Aluminum Prices The aluminum 3-month price saw the biggest decline of the day, dropping 1.7 percent on the LME to close at $2,014 per metric ton on Feb. 27, 2013. The primary aluminum cash price on the LME has been on the decline for 9 days and is now at $1,970 per metric ton. The Indian aluminum cash price has been on the decline for 12 days. Chinese aluminum closed mixed on Wednesday. Following a 0.3 percent rise yesterday, the price of Chinese aluminum billet closed up. After falling for two days, the cash price of Chinese aluminum rose 0.1 percent. The price of Chinese aluminum scrap was essentially unchanged. For the fifth consecutive day, the price of Chinese aluminum bar held flat.
The finance ministers' move to equalize customs and countervailing duty of steam coal and bituminous coal will help coastal power plants import coal cheaper and will affect most other companies who import low value coal. It will raise average cost of power generation. "Companies like Adnai, JSW and a host of other coastal players who were importing higher quality coal were being forced to pay an import duty of 6% while those importing low quality coal were paying only a countervailing duty of 1%. Following the clarification, taxes on both variety of coal has been equalized and it will help the nation import higher quality of coal at an uniform rate," A Khurana director general of the Association of Power Producers told ET. Chidambaram in his budget speed said: "Steam coal is exempt from...
Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) has reported 2012 net profits of $430m – 55% down on the company's 2011 figure of $957m. The company's net profits figure includes Dubal's share in the profits of Emirates Aluminium (Emal). Despite the noticeable downfall in net profits from last year, the company's president and CEO, Abdulla JM Kalban, said that the smelter achieved higher production and sales volumes in 2012 when compared with the previous year. Annual production volumes were up from 1.01Mt in 2011 to 1.02Mt at the end of 2012. Dubal has produced over 1Mt of aluminium per annum for three consecutive years.
Scott Corporation has renewed its contract to provide alumina and petroleum coke road transport services to Tomago Aluminium for another six years. The new contract will generate revenue of about $4 million per annum and start this month. As part of the agreement, Scott will invest around $3.5 million in new "belly dumper" style equipment to operate on the contract and improve productivity. The Tomago Aluminium contract represents a key piece of Scott's bulk transport business in Newcastle.
The final reading of Spain’s 4Q GDP shrank 1.9% YoY. The 4Q GDP of the US was revised to a meager 0.1% growth, but still fell short of expectations. Growing worries over economy in Europe and the US, coupled with a lack of progress on negotiations over automatic spending cuts in The US, helped the US dollar index soar to near 82. As such, LME aluminum retreated from USD 2,000/mt to a low of USD 1,994/mt. However, the decline in US initial weekly jobless claims and upbeat Chicago PMI for February helped LME aluminum recover some losses at the tail of trading. Finally, LME aluminum ended the day down 0.61% at USD 2,006.8/mt. Latest LME aluminum inventories increased 950 mt to 5,162,050 mt. Markets are staying cautious ahead of the release of manufacturing PMI from major economies and US...
Global unwrought aluminum inventories at the end of January were up 45,000 mt from December but down 186,000 mt from January 2012, according to figures released Wednesday by the International Aluminium Institute. Unwrought inventories totaled 1.307 million mt at the end of January, up from a revised 1.262 million mt in December but down from 1.493 million mt at the end of January 2012. Total aluminum inventories at the end of January were up 35,000 mt at 2.310 million mt from 2.275 million mt in December, but were down 164,000 mt from 2.474 million mt at the end of January 2012, the IAI said.--Greg Smart, greg_smart@platts.com
A few days ago, the state-owned National Aluminum Co. Ltd. (NALCO) increased prices of all its products, including ingots and billets, by about US $92 (Rs 5,000) a ton. This was to bring the prices in line with international rates after the metal had gained on the LME. NALCO is Asia’s largest integrated aluminum producer and other companies in India watch the company’s sales prices since they generally serve as an international benchmark. The basic price of standard aluminum ingots after the latest revision increased to US $2,674 (Rs 144,700) per ton. This was the second time in as many months that NALCO has increased the price of its products. In January, it hiked prices by roughly $85. Clearly, the aluminum sector in India is on the rebound. NALCO has often resorted to a price hike to...
Century Aluminum and Appalachian Power Company have restarted talks in connection with a power rate for Century that could lead to the reopening of the company's plant in Ravenswood. Appalachian Power Communications Director Jeri Matheney tells MetroNews regular discussions began a few weeks ago. They aren't taking place every day but they are ongoing. Century closed its plant in 2009 because the price for aluminum bottomed out. The company said the rate it paid for electricity was too high. The closure left 650 people without jobs. The state legislature passed a bill that opened the door for a special rate. Century proposed a special rate from Appalachian last Oct., but the PSC denied that proposal. The PSC came back with another proposal that would have established a Special Rate...
