Since late September, LME aluminium prices ended their previous trend of fluctuating at highs and underwent a notable pullback around China’s National Day holiday. The LME spot aluminium settlement price fell from USD 3,248.5 per tonne on September 28 to USD 3,204 per tonne on September 30, with the decline accelerating further in October. It dropped USD 84 per tonne in a single day on October 1 to USD 3,120 per tonne, and fell further to USD 3,109.5 per tonne on October 2. As of October 5, the LME spot aluminium settlement price had declined to USD 3,107 per tonne, a cumulative drop of USD 141.5 per tonne from September 28, or about 4.36per cent. Compared with the previous staged high of around USD 3,350 per tonne, the cumulative pullback exceeded USD 240 per tonne, a decline of about...
Egypt Aluminum stock closed lower on the Egyptian Exchange on October 7, 2026, with shares ending at EGP 339.40 (USD 6.48), down 1.17 per cent from EGP 343.41 (USD 6.55) in the previous session. The stock was 14.08 per cent below its 52-week high of EGP 395.00 (USD 7.54) and 107.53 per cent above its 52-week low of EGP 163.66 (USD 3.12). The company had a market capitalisation of EGP 140.0 billion (USD 2.67 billion). During the session, Egypt Aluminum shares traded between EGP 334.73 (USD 6.39) and EGP 344.99 (USD 6.59), with trading volume at around 307,000 shares, above the stock’s three-month average. The October 7 movement came after Egypt Aluminum reported its fiscal 2026 results on September 20, providing the market with a view of the company’s profitability for the year ended June...
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Big Rivers Electric is looking to sell two of its western Kentucky coal-fired power plants, Coleman and D B Wilson, representing nearly 900 MW of generating capacity, and plans to idle both baseload facilities next winter if it has no buyers or long-term power purchase agreements in hand by then, a Big Rivers spokesman said Tuesday. With the impending loss of its two largest customers, aluminum smelters in Hawesville and Sebree owned by Century Aluminum, the Henderson, Kentucky-based generation and transmission co-op has no need for the output of the 444-MW Coleman plant and 443-MW D.B. Wilson plant to serve its predominantly rural load, Big Rivers spokesman Marty Littrel said. Earlier this month, Big Rivers asked the Public Service Commission to allow Century to bypass the co-op and buy...
South African power utility Eskom briefly cut supply to one of BHP Billiton’s aluminium smelters on Monday night after nation-wide demand outstripped supply, a company spokeswoman said on Tuesday. An agreement between state-run Eskom and BHP allow the utility to interrupt power to the latter's energy-intensive smelters if the national grid approaches a tipping point. “We did interrupt supply to one of the BHP Billiton units for a time, but still have emergency reserves available,” spokeswoman Hilary Joffe said. She also said Eskom ran gas turbines which it activates when supply is tight. Eskom said on Monday the power reserve margin for the evening was expected to be extremely tight at 29 megawatts, or just 0.08 percent of available power. The utility also has agreements with its other...
German company Outotec is in the process of constructing a EUR5.1 million state-of-the-art electrolyte processing line at UC Rusal’s BEMO smelter in Tayozhny in the Krasnoyarsk region of Russia. The equipment automates the process in which the electrolyte is crushed to the required fraction of any size, says Rusal, adding that the specified capacity of the line is 40 tonnes per hour. Modern suction systems provide complete dust control at all stages of the process. “We use only the most technologically advanced and energy-efficient solutions for the BEMO smelter construction,” commented Vladimir Polin, director of Rusal’s Aluminium Division East, said that Outotec’s electrolyte processing equipment is a benchmark in the industry and that the technology used is considered to be the most...
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) said yesterday it will closely monitor short-term liquidity crunch, easing market worries. This helped China’s A-shares rebound following sharp declines earlier. The US durable goods orders rose 3.6% MoM in May. Home prices in major cities in the US grew 12.1% in April. Meanwhile, US Consumer Confidence Index advanced to 81.4 in June, the highest since January 2008. These positive data suggest sustained recovery in the US economy, but also pushed the US dollar index up. LME aluminum inventories broke through 5.445 million mt overnight, keeping aluminum prices in check. LME aluminum rose to USD 1,775/mt during early European session, and was then pushed up by strong US economic indicators to USD 1,801.5/mt. However, LME aluminum pared gains at the tail of...
The global aluminium industry is forecast to reach an estimated US$160billion in 2017 with a CAGR of 5.3% over the next five years (2012-2017), says Research and Market agency. Increasing application, growing environmental concerns, and the move toward greater use of recyclable materials are driving growth in the worldwide aluminium market,according to the agency. According to their reports, the aluminium industry is highly consolidated. The Asia Pacific (APAC) region dominates the industry. A combination of factors such as growth in related complementary industries, additional governmental regulations, and cyclical fluctuations in input prices, general economic conditions, and expansion in end-user markets influence the industry dynamics significantly. The industry grew at a good pace...
Research agency InfodriveIndia.com has announced that India’s aluminium and aluminium articles imports in May 2013 has grown to US$ 307.44 M, an increase of 12.49% compared to April 2013. This finding is based on imports in India of aluminium and aluminium articles and is compiled from bills of entry filed by Indian importers at Indian customs through May 2013 at more than 110 ports in India like JNPT, Bombay Air and Sea, Chennai Air and Sea , Delhi IGI Air, Delhi Tughlakhabad ICD, Delhi Patparganj, Kolkata Air and Sea, Bangalore Air and many more. According to the chief research associate of the agency, compared to April 2013, an increase of USD 307.44 M in May 2013 has been noticed.
Sludge has been leaking from an aluminum plant in Baise City, southwest China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, since mid-June, government authorities confirmed Monday. On June 17, leakage containing ore waste was found at a sludge tank at a plant of the Guangxi Branch of the Aluminum Corporation of China, according to the Guangxi Regional Department of Environmental Protection. The leak occurred after frequent small earthquakes measuring below 3-magnitude have shaken the area since June 17. The amount of leaked material increased after a 2.3-magnitude quake on Friday. The site of the leak is about 12 km away from the Youjiang River, a major source of drinking water for Baise City. As of Monday, leaked sludge had not been detected in the Youjiang River and nearby channels. The plant and...
TRIMET Aluminium SE has yielded seven millionth ton aluminium at its Essen plant. This produced quanity in the past week is a record since the foundry’s foundation. The jubilee Aluminium was delivered in the form of highly specialized slabs to the company’s long-standing customer Constellium Singen GmbH. A small ceremony was held to mark this special occasion in the presence of representatives of Constellium Singen GmbH, Dr. Martin Iffert, CEO of TRIMET Aluminium SE, and other members of staff. Constellium Aluminium GmbH processes these slabs to make films that are used in packaging. Since TRIMET's takeover of the Essen plant in 1994, over 500,000 tons of slabs and extrusion billets have been produced at the foundry for the factory in Singen. On the basis of this long and mutually...
Indonesian Industry Minister M.S. Hidayat on Monday said the government will fully take over resource company Indonesia Asahan Aluminium, known as Inalum, in November, although negotiations are still ongoing. “It should become 100 percent Indonesian-owned by November 1, though technicalities are still being discussed,” Hidayat told journalists at the State Palace. Hidayat said that the government has already earmarked Rp 7 trillion ($707 million) for the take-over. The government had earlier planned to sell its stakes to other investors, but then changed course because it wants to turn Inalum into a new state-owned enterprise. Inalum is currently 58.88 percent controlled by Japanese consortium Nippon Asahan Aluminium and 41.12 percent controlled by the Indonesian government. While the...
The Islamic Republic of Iran has produced 59,100 tons of aluminum ingots in the first two months of the current Iranian calendar year, which started on March 21, 2013. The volume of aluminum ingot production in the country over the Iranian calendar month of Farvardin (March 21-April 20) stood at 29,200 tons, which showed a 3.5-percent growth compared to the corresponding period a year earlier, IRNA reported. The report added that Iran produced 21,900 tons of alumina powder during the same period. The number showed a 10-percent increase compared to the same period last year. Iran also produced 29,900 tons of aluminum ingots in the Iranian calendar month of Ordibehesht (April 21-May 21). The figure showed a 3.5-percent growth compared to the last year. The volume of alumina powder...
Investors pulled out of financial markets against liquidity crunch in China at the end of mid-year. As a consequence, China’s A-shares plummeted 5.3% on Monday, and gloomy outlook for demand in China added to market worries. Meanwhile, LME aluminum inventories broke through 5.44 million mt to a new record high. Shorts dominated the market during the European session, sending LME aluminum down to USD 1,762.5/mt, a four-year low. Finally, LME aluminum closed at USD 1,770/mt, down USD 25/mt or 1.39% and ending in negative territory for twelve days in a row. LME aluminum inventories increased 6,375 mt to 5,440,325 mt, and positions soared 10,627 lots to 760,086 lots. Liquidity crunch in China will continue to dampen market sentiment. LME aluminum should inch down to test support at USD...
Urbanization in China is expected to stimulate aluminum consumption in coming decades, Chinese metals consultancy Beijing Antaike told a metals seminar in Hong Kong Monday. "China's is still undergoing urbanization in the next few decades, with urbanization rate reaching 60% by 2020, and 65% by 2030, and 75% by 2050," Wang Zhongkui, Vice General Manager of Antaike said. "China's per capita aluminum consumption hasn't reached its peak yet, with the S-shaped growth curve still rising," he said. The Beijing agency said in 2012 that China's per capita aluminum consumption was 17.4kg, with per capita GDP of Yuan 27,350 ($4,428). Based on Antaike estimates, Chinese per capita aluminum consumption could reach 30kg by 2020, assuming GDP grew by 7% a year to Yuan 46,994/head, with the population...
Summer can be very challenging in the aluminium industry where working conditions can be very harsh especially for operators. That is why Sohar Aluminium (SA) conducts a Heat Stress Management campaign for its workforce every year with the vision and goal of a ‘Zero Harm’ environment. The campaign mainly focuses on giving awareness about the Heat Stress symptoms and ways to prevent it. And SA believes that changing behaviours start from early school years. That is why this year SA extended its campaign to include Al Batinah International School (ABIS), one of the flagship schools in the region. The students were asked to participate in a drawing competition to deliver messages on preventing Heat Stress thus creating awareness among students and their parents helping them with their...
The aluminum industry has experienced an abundance of severe challenges in recent years, resulting in a sharp decline in company valuations and profits. To reignite the value creation engine and restore investor confidence, CEOs and their management teams can pursue aggressive action plans that will turn around the industry, according to a new report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). The report, titled The Aluminum Industry CEO Agenda, 2013-2015: Understanding the Challenges and Taking Action, was released yesterday. “Our analyses show that the industry’s crisis can’t be traced back to an unexpected drop in demand caused by the global economic downturn or sudden changes in the value chain’s upstream or downstream segments,” said Thomas Bradtke, a BCG partner and coauthor of the...
Emirates Aluminium Co, the UAE company that is part of a $15bn merger, has picked six banks including HSBC Holdings for a possible bond sale this year, two bankers familiar with the plan said. Citigroup, BNP Paribas, Royal Bank of Scotland Group, Emirates NBD and National Bank of Abu Dhabi will also help manage the sale, said the bankers, asking not to be identified because the information is private. The company known as EMAL may raise about $1bn from the sale, expected in the fourth quarter if market conditions permit, one of the bankers said. EMAL, a venture between Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala Development Co and Dubai Aluminium Co, is building the world’s biggest smelter at Al Taweelah near UAE capital Abu Dhabi. Mubadala and Investment Corp of Dubai, the holding company that owns Dubai...
London-based Vedanta Resources is awaiting the green signal from the Chhattisgarh government to expand the capacity of Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd (Balco), which it acquired in 2001 amid controversy. Vedanta chairman Anil Agarwal had talks with chief minister Raman Singh and senior officials in Raipur to seek the go-ahead for its 325,000-ton alumina smelter unit, which is ready for operation, along with a 1,200-MW thermal power plant. “We are hopeful with the outcome of the meeting,” the chairman said. Balco produced 247,000 tons of aluminium, its current capacity, in 2012-13. The company generates 810 MW. “The power produced will be for captive use and the local facilities of the company,” Agarwal said. Agarwal said since Balco was a matter of strong sentiment for him, its expansion and...
Research firm Nirmal Bang expects industrial metals prices to take support from improving economic conditions in the US. Though, the deteriorating manufacturing conditions in China are likely to keep a check on the upside. Industrial metals prices fell to its lowest level in 20 months, hit by further evidence that the economy of top metals consumer China is slowing down and the US Federal Reserve’s stated intention to begin scaling back stimulus measures later this year. Rio Tinto said its plan to start exporting copper from the USD 6.2 billion Oyu Tolgoi copper mine on Friday has been delayed at the request of the Mongolian government, ahead of a presidential election on June 26. India’s state-controlled NALCO has sold 6,000 tons of aluminium ingots at USD 226 per tonne premium to the...
The US Federal Reserve (Fed)’s plan to scale back QE3 later this year continued to affect market sentiment, pushing the US dollar index up above 82.5. However, base metals rebounded last Friday due to technical buying, except for LME aluminum, which closed with losses due to mounting inventories and poor fundamentals. LME aluminum found its low at USD 1,784.8/mt during Friday’s European trading session before finally closing at USD 1,795/mt, 0.35% and ending in negative territory for an eleventh straight day. LME aluminum inventories decreased 25 mt to 5,433,950 mt, while positions soared 12,107 lots to 749,459 lots. LME aluminum should move within USD 1,780-1,810/mt on Monday, and the most active SHFE aluminum contract is expected to open at RMB 14,300/mt, with prices between RMB...
