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...
Grow with
AL Circle
HSBC’s flash China manufacturing PMI for October rose from September, pointing to contraction for 12 consecutive months, but expectations remain on rebound of the Chinese economy. However, preliminary manufacturing PMI in the euro zone for October continued to shrink, weighing down data in Germany and France and aggravating worries over the debt crisis in the region. US initial manufacturing PMI for October rebounded slightly and new home sales for September rose significantly, but the US Federal Reserve failed to expand the scale of QE3 as expected. Mixed data caused the US dollar index to hover near 80. In this context, LME aluminum extended losses during the European session and dipped to a low of USD 1,925/mt. Trading volumes contracted. LME aluminum regained some losses at the tail...
Alcoa Inc (AA) continues to operate in a difficult environment. We have a neutral rating on the company, as we continue to see the aluminum market remaining oversupplied in the near future. There is little upside potential for aluminum prices given the supply and demand situation. However, we believe AA is well positioned to benefit in the long term, as costs of both aluminum and alumina decrease. Aluminum is the second-most widely used metal in the world, after steel (iron). It is also the most abundant metallic element in the earth's crust. Building and construction, beverage cans and other packaging, and transport are the three key markets for aluminum. The transport industry, driven by an expanding auto market, is the biggest consumer of aluminum in the developed world. Aluminum helps...
Europe’s third- largest aluminum maker, fell the most in 11 months in Oslo trading on concern weak aluminum prices will continue to weigh on earnings. Shares in the Oslo-based company fell as much as 6.6 percent, the most since November 2011, and were down 4 percent at 25.83 kroner as of 3:26 p.m. in the Norwegian capital. The company today reported a net loss of 277 million kroner ($49 million) in the third quarter, compared with a profit of 997 million kroner a year earlier, citing falling prices. Sales fell to 19 billion kroner from 23.8 billion kroner. “Management are guiding people down for next year’s numbers,” Neil Sampat, an analyst at Nomura International Plc, said by phone from London. “Implicit within consensus estimates for next year is a fairly material rebound in the...
ABC reported that 4 decades of aluminium production officially ends at the Kurri Kurri smelter when the last aluminium billets are cast. The smelter has been gradually winding-down since Norsk Hydro announced the closure around 6 months ago with the loss of around 450 jobs. By the end of the year the plant will go into mothballs with only a small number of workers to maintain it. Mr Richard Brown acting MD of Kurri Kurri said that the plant may be re started in the future if market conditions improve but concedes that it is unlikely. Mr Richard Brown said that "The economic conditions that would allow a re start not only to sustain and operate the plant but to cover the cost of a re start and you're right it's not just turn it back on again, you'd have to bring all the equipment back up...
Reuters reported that abundant stocks of aluminium and lukewarm demand in the global market may cap prices on the London Metal Exchange at about USD 1,950 per tonne on average next year from just above USD 2,000 expected this year. Mr Yang Xiaowu director of futures department at Aluminum Corporation of China said that prices of the metal may continue to move within a narrow range in coming months and that would reduce trading interests from investors and speculators on the contracts both on the LME and the Shanghai Futures Exchange. The market may go back to the fundamentals next year. Aluminium prices for 2013 are not as optimistic as copper. Mr Yang said that high inventories typically are considered a bearish factor for prices when fundamentals are the focus. Aluminium stocks...
Tracking a firming trend in base metals in the global markets and rising spot market demand, aluminium prices edged up by 0.72 per cent to Rs 105.15 per kg at futures market. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, aluminium for delivery in October shot-up by 75 paise, or 0.72 per cent, to Rs 105.15 per kg, with a business turnover of 668 lots. Similarly, the metal for delivery in November traded higher by 70 paise, or 0.66 per cent, to Rs 106.25 per kg, with a business turnover of 74 lots. Marketmen said the rise in aluminium prices at futures trade was in line with a firming trend in base metals at the London Metal Exchange (LME) after data showed China's industrial production, retail sales and fixed-asset investment accelerated in September, raising demand outlook.
Manufacturers of value-added aluminum products haven’t been making much headway in terms of securing long-term supply contracts for next year, a European producer of value-added products told AMM sister publication Metal Bulletin "We’ve not started closing transactions for next year yet," the producer said, adding that he expects that to change over the coming weeks, especially in the slab rolling, where buyers are used to having floating premiums on their contracts with suppliers. But producers are now pushing floating premiums in contract discussions with customers in other value-added product sectors, such as billets, wire rod and foundry alloys, in order to incorporate record-high aluminum premiums that are expected to rise even higher next year. In many cases, resistance to these...
State regulators are allowing a large Ohio aluminum manufacturer to defer electric bill payments for the remainder of the year. Ormet Corp., located near Hannibal in eastern Ohio, has benefited from a unique electric-rate subsidy with American Electric Power that has reduced its costs by more than $150 million since 2009. That subsidy includes $54 million this year. The Public Utilities Commission on Wednesday approved the company's proposal to defer this year's remaining payments until 2014 and 2015. The PUCO says it approved the delay, agreed to by AEP, to provide continuity to the employees and businesses dependent on Ormet. The commission also says any additional requests for help from Ormet should be accompanied by a business plan confirming its long-term ability to exist without...
Hertwich Engineering from Braunau, Austria recently commissioned another batch homogenizing plant at Hammerer Aluminium Industries in Ranshofen of Austria. The new homogenizing plant is already the second of its kind in the HAI casthouse. Billet diameters from 153 mm to 381 mm and billet lengths of up to 7 meters can be heated. The furnace capacity is 43 tonnes. The design for special homogenizing recipes for hard alloys includes precise temperature control and step by step heating. Hertwich Engineering GmbH is a company of the SMS group which, under the roof of the SMS Holding GmbH consists of a group of companies internationally active in plant construction and mechanical engineering for the steel and nonferrous metals industry. With some 11,000 employees, the group generates sales of...
Dropping 1.5 percent, the cash price of primary Indian aluminum was the biggest mover on our aluminum price index for Oct. 16, 2012. On the LME, the primary aluminum cash price fell 1.3 percent to $1,950 per metric ton. Also on the LME, the 3-month price of aluminum declined 1 percent to $1,974 per metric ton. Chinese aluminum prices were mixed for the day. The price of Chinese aluminum billet declined 0.3 percent. After a couple of days of decreasing prices, the Chinese aluminum cash price held steady. For the fifth consecutive day, the price of Chinese aluminum scrap held flat. The price of Chinese aluminum bar held steady.
Abundant stocks of aluminium and lukewarm demand in the global market may cap prices on the London Metal Exchange at about $1,950 per tonne on average next year from just above $2,000 expected this year, a senior Chinalco official said. Yang Xiaowu, director of futures department at Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco), the top aluminium producer in China, said prices of the metal may continue to move within a narrow range in coming months and that would reduce trading interests from investors and speculators on the contracts both on the LME and the Shanghai Futures Exchange. "The market may go back to the fundamentals next year,' Yang told Reuters on the sidelines of China Metal Seminar in London on Wednesday. "Aluminium prices for 2013 are not as optimistic as copper." High...
Spot aluminum was mainly traded between RMB 15,280-15,300/mt in Shanghai on Wednesday, with discounts between RMB 80-100/mt. Low-iron aluminum was traded between RMB 15,350-15,360/mt. The SHFE 1212 aluminum contract was mired, dampening sentiment in spot aluminum market. Mainstream traded prices met strong resistance at RMB 15,300/mt. Supply was ample, while downstream producers generally watched from the sidelines, depressing overall trading.
The SHFE 1212 aluminum contract was mired on Wednesday, without upward momentum to rebound. Downstream producers purchased on an as-needed basis, while cargo holders also held back goods, causing mainstream traded prices to edge down to RMB 15,270-15,290/mt in south China, at mild discounts over prices in Shanghai. Overall trading remained light.
Saudi Arabian Mining Co (Maaden) said on Tuesday it had signed financing agreements worth $320 million with a Saudi government fund to develop the first phase of an aluminium projects in the kingdom with Alcoa . Saudi Industrial Development Fund, a government institution, has agreed to lend Maaden two loans, the mining company said. The first loan is to its subsidiary Maaden Aluminium Co and the second to Maaden Rolling Mill Co, which is a joint venture with Alcoa in which the international aluminium refiner holds a 25.1 percent stake. The loans are to be repaid over six years in twice yearly installments, with repayments starting for the first in February 2015, and for the second in January 2016, Maaden said. The company added, in a statement posted on the website of the Saudi bourse,...
Global mining giant Rio Tinto said Tuesday production of several metals including iron ore and copper increased in the third quarter, but aluminum output was down 10 per cent from a year ago as it continued to ramp up following the end of a lengthy labour dispute in Quebec. Rio Tinto Alcan's share of aluminum production increased by two per cent from the second quarter to 538,000 tonnes, but was down 11 per cent for the year so far compared with the first nine months of 2011. An agreement was reached in July that ended a seven-month lockout of 780 workers at the Alma smelter, about 225 kilometres north of Quebec City. It is one of Rio Tinto Alcan's key aluminum smelters, producing about 438,000 tonnes of aluminum a year. The lockout caused a one-third reduction in output. Rio Tinto's...
Traffic on Harvard Avenue was snarled Tuesday afternoon, when a semi crashed on the northbound on-ramp. Roseburg police say the big rig was hauling 44,000 pounds of aluminum, when it was turning onto the on-ramp right next to Roseburg High. The trailer tipped over, spilling the load all over the roadway. Police say the driver, Johnnie Wayne Scott, was not injured in the crash. The accident happened at about 2:00 p.m., less than an hour before Roseburg High School let out for the day. A fence surrounding the school was damaged in the incident. Roseburg police and OSP troopers responded for traffic control while the mess was being cleaned up. The exact cause of the crash is still under investigation.
The aluminium industry has ramped up its push for gas to be set aside for domestic manufacturing, calling gas a "publicly owned resource" with the government the "custodian of that resource". Rising domestic gas prices, coupled with the inability of large industrial gas consumers to enter into long-term contracts, have left parts of the manufacturing industry exposed to increasing energy costs at a time when operations are already being pressured by the strong currency. The increases have occurred as a large round of capital investment is under way in Queensland to launch a series of export gas projects, placing a question mark over the commitment of the gas industry to meeting domestic demand, given the higher prices achieved from exports. As a result, parts of the manufacturing industry...
Industrial power consumers in West Virginia appear to be happy with the state Public Service Commission's decision to grant Century Aluminium a special power rate reflecting shifts in aluminium prices. The power deal means that Century can re-open its closed Ravenswood aluminium smelter, which closed in 2009 resulting in the loss of almost 700 jobs. Century's original proposal - to shift costs to other power users in the region - was rejected by other ratepayers, but they seem to be able to live with the current plan. Derek Williamson, solicitor for the West Virginia Energy Users Group (WVEUG) said the current special power rate structure is complicated, but the reaction from WVEUG members is 'generally positive'. The new deal provides Century with a minimum rate that the company must hit...
