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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China exports of unwrought Aluminium and Aluminium product imports increased in the month of November. This indicates that the spot demand for the metal in the country is down and this is resulting in China stepping up its exports. Total unwrought Aluminium exports were 49788 tonnes in the month of November 2012, up 28% from October this year. On a yearly basis, imports were down by 40.4% from 83571 tonnes in similar period last year.
"Shandong Nanshan Aluminium Co. Ltd. has awarded SMS Siemag, Germany, a contract for the supply of a 1+5 hot rolling mill for aluminum alloys. Shandong Nanshan Aluminium is part of the Nanshan Group located in Longkou, China. The hot mill line will consist of a plate mill and a five-stand finishing line. It will be integrated into a new works located to the west of Yantai in the province of Shandong. With this mill line, Nanshan‘s annual capacity for flat-rolled products will rise by 300,000 t in the first stage of construction. The new line will produce can stock for the beverage industry and sheets and plates for the automotive and aircraft industries. In its first construction stage, the mill will produce plates up to a width of 3,800 mm and strip up to 2,800 mm in width. The minimum...
Closing at $2,094 per metric ton on the LME, a 5.1 percent increase made the aluminum cash price the biggest mover on the weekly Aluminum MMI®. Also on the LME, the aluminum 3-month price rose 4.7 percent last week to $2,092 per metric ton. The Indian aluminum cash price rose 1.8 percent this week, closing out the fifth consecutive week of elevating prices. Chinese aluminum prices were mixed for the week. Chinese aluminum scrap closed out the week after a 0.8 percent decline. Chinese aluminum billet prices were off slightly, down about $15 per metric ton from a week ago. The Chinese aluminum cash price declined 0.3 percent since last week. A 3.5 percent jump represented the week’s heaviest change for European 1050 aluminum. Meanwhile, European 5083 aluminum plate rose by a slight 0.2...
Norsk Hydro ASA, Europe’s third- largest aluminum producer, fell the most in more than a month in Oslo trading as Nomura International Plc said the company may be over-reliant in its bet on a recovery of metal prices. Hydro, which competes in Europe with United Co. Rusal and Rio Tinto Alcan Inc., fell as much as 3.3 percent, the most since Oct. 23, and was down 3 percent at 26.87 kroner as of 1:11 p.m., making it the biggest decliner in the Bloomberg Europe Metals & Mining Index. “We would prefer companies where earnings growth is under their control rather than being reliant on higher commodity prices,” Neil Sampat, an analyst at Nomura wrote in a note. Sampat, who downgraded the stock to reduce from neutral, sees about 30 percent downside to 2013 earnings before interest, taxes,...
A new 10-year electric power supply contract signed Friday, Dec. 7, ends years of job uncertainty for 625 Alcoa Intalco Works employees. More than 100 workers gathered at the aluminum smelter's Totem Terrace assembly hall west of Ferndale to watch Bonneville Power Administration boss Steve Wright and Alcoa executive Bob Wilt sign the deal, first announced in October. Also on hand were U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, Gov. Chris Gregoire, U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen and U.S. Rep Suzan DelBene, along with many local officials. "You can have a great Christmas because we've got 10 years ahead of us and, we hope, a lot more," Wilt told the crowd. Intalco and its employees have survived some tense times the past 10 years, as power supply disruptions led to the shutdown of most of the other aluminum smelters...
Aditya Birla Group company Hindalco will receive $100 million in financing from Export Development Canada or EDC, the country’s export credit agency, for its Mahan Aluminium Project in Madhya Pradesh. The agreement, signed a few days ago, will support the supply of technology and capital equipment to the project by subsidiaries of Canada’s Rio Tinto Plc, operating under the umbrella of Aluminum Metals Group of Rio Tinto Plc. The Mahan Aluminium Project consists of a 359-ktpa aluminium smelter and a 900-Mw captive thermal power plant. The project was classified as Category-A by EDC, defined as projects “likely to have significant adverse environmental effects that are sensitive, diverse or unprecedented” according to the agency’s website. All project sponsors of Category A projects not...
State-owned National Aluminium Company (Nalco) may call off its proposed Rs 16,000 crore aluminium smelter and captive power plant project in the island nation of Indonesia if they manage to get clearances and coal linkages for a similar project in Odisha. The proposed project in Indonesia is stuck and awaiting various approvals. “We have already got permission for land and water for a similar project in Odisha. We have already applied for coal linkages and if we manage to secure coal linkages to this project we may not continue with the Indonesia project,” a senior company official told Financial Chronicle. Nalco is planning to set up a 0.5 million tonnes per annum capacity smelter in Odisha and 1,250 mega watt coal fired captive power plant to feed the smelter. When contacted by FC, BL...
Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) has announced that it is to undertake a feasiblity study to investigate the expansion of its plant to incorporate a sixth production line. The company said that it expects production within its current year to exceed last year's figure of 881,310 metric tonnes (MT), so a decision was taken at its board meeting to carry out the feasibility study. Alba chairman Mahmood Hashim Al Kooheji said: “2012 has been a volatile year for the aluminium industry. However, even in the face of tough market conditions Alba has remained resilient by bolstering its operational performance.” The addition of an extra line is expected to increase the plant's capacity by 400,000 MT to 1.3m MT.
Meridian Energy and Rio Tinto will resume talks before Christmas about supplying power to the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter in Southland, but there is no sign that a deal is just around the corner. Rio Tinto has said that the smelter, which employs about 600 people, could close if it cannot get even cheaper power prices. The smelter uses about 15 per cent of New Zealand's power. Meridian has a binding contract with the smelter company NZAS, covering 18 years from January 1, 2013. The Government has indicated that Rio Tinto would be bound by existing contractual arrangements for three years, but Meridian chief executive Mark Binns would not comment on that. However, if Rio Tinto did walk away, the excess power from the Manapouri station would come on to the national electricity market and...
The US November nonfarm payrolls increased by 146,000 and unemployment rate fell to 7.7%, its lowest since December 2008, helping commodity price rebound. However, a lack of progress over the US budget negotiations and the upcoming US Federal Reserve interest rate meeting helped the US dollar index stabilize at 80, curbing the gains of commodity prices. LME aluminum dipped to a low of USD 2,077/mt during the European session before touching a high of USD 2,094.8/mt. Finally, LME aluminum ended the day at USD 2,089/mt, up USD 6/mt or 0.29%. Latest LME aluminum inventories increased 5,325 mt to 5,187,100 mt. China’s economic data was negative in November, compared with positive nonfarm payrolls in the US. LME aluminum should meet resistance at USD 2,100/mt and fluctuate in the band of USD...
Century Aluminum Company CENX announced today that President and Chief Executive Officer Michael A. Bless was elected tothe Company's board of directors. Mr. Bless joined Century in January 2006 as its Chief FinancialOfficer. In February 2012, he was elected as the Company's Presidentand Chief Executive Officer by the board of directors. Prior tojoining Century, Mr. Bless served as the Chief Financial Officer ofRockwell Automation, Inc. and was an investment banker at Dillon,Read & Co. Mr. Bless is a 1987 graduate of Princeton University. "In his more than six years with the Company, Mike has achieved agreat deal and proven himself as an excellent leader," said CenturyChairman of the Board Terence Wilkinson. "We look forward to workingfurther with him to continue to enhance Century's...
Sellers of standard grade 226 aluminium alloy pushed through some small price increases in Europe this week, backed by stronger metal prices on the LME in active market conditions. A number of diecasters were in the market seeking alloy for January, and in some cases, February too. Larger buyers in Germany were achieving prices of around Eur1,690/mt, an improvement of some Eur20/mt after sales reported into a large automotive producer in the Czech Republic at Eur1,670/mt last week. Smaller spot and monthly consumers were placing orders towards the upper end of the Platts price range at Eur1,720-1,740/mt delivered Germany, sources said. Last week a European diecaster held negotiations for the majority of its Q1 requirements and was understood to have purchased at around Eur1,660-1,680/mt....
Vale SA, the giant Brazilian mining company, said Thursday it is in no rush to sell its 22% stake in Norway-based aluminum company Norsk Hydro ASA (NHY.OS, NHYDY). "We will sell when it is showing value for Vale," Murilo Ferreira, Vale's chief executive, told journalists at the company's London investor day meeting. He noted that the asset wasn't core to the company's operations and would be sold once valuations on aluminum companies become more reasonable. Vale joins other miners that have been considering divesting of aluminum assets in the wake of lackluster pricing and concerns about large amounts of aluminum tied up in warehouse financing deals. Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto PLC (RIO, RIO.LN, RIO.AU) has signaled it will exit a basket of poor-performing aluminum operations.
On BSE, 6.53 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 11.94 lakh shares in the past one quarter. The stock hit a high of Rs 139.90 and a low of Rs 136.90 so far during the day. The stock had hit a record high of Rs 251.90 on 6 January 2011 and a 52-week low of Rs 113 on 25 November 2011. The large-cap stock outperformed the market over the past one month till 5 December 2011, falling 1.98% compared with Sensex's 4.31% decline. The scrip, however, underperformed the market over the past one quarter, sliding 11.09% as against Sensex's 0.55% rise. The company has equity capital of Rs 191.45 crore. Face value per share is Re 1. According to reports, Hindalco Industries may raise the funds through debt, project financing, bonds, local or external commercial...
New Zealand's largest electricity producer, Meridian Energy, has resumed talks with Rio Tinto Alcan, the majority owner of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter, over Rio's request for changes to 18-year contracts for power supply that kick in on January 1. Meridian chief executive Mark Binns told the company's annual public meeting in Wellington that Rio had recently come back to resume discussions after Meridian set out what it was and was not prepared to renegotiate in the contracts, which were signed in 2007 and account for about one-seventh of total electricity consumption in New Zealand. Since then, aluminium prices have fallen steeply on global markets, while on the domestic front Meridian and other electricity generators are heading into their sixth year of flat demand as the economy...
Rusal has signed a memorandum of understanding with Shandong Xinfa Group, one of China's largest private aluminium companies, detailing the study of future possible cooperation areas, including joint ventures in the aluminium industry, the Russian producer said Thursday. Rusal and Shandong Xinfa have agreed to establish a joint work group over the next three months from the date of signing to study potential areas of cooperation. The parties will then examine the proposals from the work group until June 30, 2013, to identify cooperation projects which offer the greatest potential. Preliminary examined opportunities between Rusal and Shandong Xinfa include the creation of Russian-based joint ventures in aluminium smelting, and joint alumina and bauxite projects, including ones in third...
The Bank of England and European Central Bank (ECB) decided overnight to leave interest rates unchanged. The ECB revised down its economic forecast for the euro zone for the year of 2012 and 2013, increasing market worries and causing the euro to plunge. No progress had been made on the US budget negotiations. Investors are awaiting the US November nonfarm payrolls to be released today, helping the US dollar index regain 80 and putting downward pressure on commodity prices. LME aluminum struggled to hold onto USD 2,100/mt during early European session. However, LME aluminum had its upside space curbed by the firm US dollar and dived below the 5-day moving average. Finally, LME aluminum closed at an intraday low of USD 2,083/mt, down USD 22/mt or 1.05%. Latest LME aluminum inventories...
Reflecting the national pride that permeates the organization, Dubai Aluminium, DUBAL, today expressed its tangible support for the Union Tree initiative launched by H H Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai) to commemorate the 41st UAE National Day, by planting a tree outside its corporate head office in Jebel Ali. Abdulla Kalban did the ceremonial honours, in the presence of DUBAL’s senior executives and other employees. “DUBAL operates one of the world’s largest single-site primary aluminium smelters but, as an entirely state-owned corporation, is intensely proud of its UAE roots,” says Kalban. “This is reflected in our pro-active investment in initiatives that support the social and economic development goals of the UAE;...
