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
A man who held repeated negotiations with the owners of Southland's aluminium smelter thinks an agreement to keep it open is likely. But Sir William Birch says any significant cut in the price it pays for its electricity will be short term. Sir William held multiple roles in government and negotiated repeatedly with the plant's previous owner, Comalco. Rio Tinto has said it might have to close the smelter unless it gets cheaper electricity. Low global prices for aluminium have produced a $20 million loss at the plant and brought forward plans to cut scores of jobs. Sir William helped steer a contentious law through Parliament, forcing up the price of electricity to the plant. He says the Government will have to approve any deal between the smelter and its power supplier, Meridian Energy,...
Workers at the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter say morale is at an all-time low and many fear for their jobs. Wednesday's announcement that New Zealand Aluminium Smelters (NZAS) would shed 65 jobs in the next two months - instead of in five years as previously planned - has shocked many staff. Staff consultation about the restructure has begun, with options including voluntary redundancies, redeployment to other roles and forced redundancies. Smelter workers contacted yesterday said they were afraid to speak out in case they were targeted for redundancy. Workers were whispering about closure, but did not know what was going on. The worker said staff were concerned they had not heard from Deputy Prime Minister and Clutha Southland MP Bill English and Invercargill MP Eric Roy. Mr Roy said it...
Constellium, which owns the aluminum rolling mill at Ravenswood, says it has lost money in 11 of the last 13 years. Its contract with Steelworkers Local 5668 has expired. About 570 members of the local have applied for unemployment benefits. Century Aluminum idled the adjacent aluminum smelter in February 2009, throwing more than 650 members of the same local out of work. Century later ended health care benefits for retirees. Constellium says it needs Steelworkers, who have first-dollar health coverage, to accept slightly less advantageous health care benefits in exchange for some monetary benefits over the life of the contract. The Legislature has approved, and the governor has signed, legislation to give Century $20 million in state tax credits for each of the next 10 years if it...
Despite efforts to put the ill-fated 2007 acquisition of Alcan behind it, the continued weakness in aluminum prices hints at yet another hefty impairment this year for Rio Tinto. The Anglo-Australian company will look at the carrying value and goodwill of all its businesses ahead of the release of its annual results early next year. But analysts who met this week with Phillip Strachan, chief financial officer of the Rio Tinto Alcan division, say he conceded that consensus valuations are significantly different to the company’s book value for aluminum. Aluminum and the $US38 billion acquisition of Canada’s Alcan at height of the market have long dogged Rio Tinto. Chief executive Tom Albanese and outgoing chief financial officer Guy Elliott in February waived their right to annual bonuses...
According to the ECB meeting overnight, the ECB will leave interest rates unchanged and agreed on unlimited purchases of government bonds. The ECB, however, expressed pessimism over the economic outlook of the euro zone over the next two years. The US ADP survey indicates that the jobs created were well above forecasts, signaling upbeat nonfarm payrolls on Friday and weakening the possibility of policy easing by the Fed. Investors’ confidence cooled as a result. In response, LME aluminum fell back after jumping to a fresh two-month high of USD 1,987.5/mt during European session. Total positions surged by 12,000 lots due to short selling at highs. Finally, LME aluminum ended the day up USD 11/mt or 0.56% to close at USD 1,974.5/mt. Latest LME aluminum inventories were down 8,225 mt to...
The London Metal Exchange said Wednesday it has approved the listing of high-grade aluminum brand AAR, which it said constitutes good delivery with immediate effect, the LME said. The brand is produced by Canada-based Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. at the Arvida Works 1955 plant in Quebec, Canada, which has an annual plant capacity of 180,000 metric tons. The product is produced in sow-shaped units of 1570mm x 895mm x 220mm with a pieceweight of 700kg, the LME said.
The monthly Aluminum MMI registered a value of 94 in September, an increase of 1.1 percent from 93 in August. “Though certainly not setting the world on fire, aluminum has shown some surprising strength this past month for a couple of reasons,” said Lisa Reisman, managing editor of MetalMiner. “Stimulus announcements have lent recent support and some production cutbacks have begun to impact available aluminum stocks.” However, many analysts including Harbor Aluminum believe the recent price run-ups toward $2,000 per metric ton may not last, because producers have failed to cut capacity to match declining global demand. MetalMiner’s Stuart Burns recently penned two pieces providing further insight into recent aluminum price trends. Select Price Drivers of the Aluminum Index Increase. After...
Constellium made another contract offer Wednesday in an attempt to end a month-long strike at its aluminum plant in Jackson County, Governor Earl Ray Tomblin said. The new offer came following an afternoon of negotiations at the governor's mansion in Charleston. But the offer's details and fate were unclear Wednesday night. Company and union officials did not return calls and emails or declined to comment. Since early August, 700 members of United Steelworkers Local 5668 have been on strike at the rolled aluminum plant in Ravenswood. The two sides had not sat down at the bargaining table since the strike began. Tomblin organized Wednesday's meeting, which was attended by company and union negotiators, two federal labor mediators and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin. "I do believe progress was made...
The European Commission is investigating the electricity supply arrangements between Romanian hydropower producer Hidroelectrica and aluminium producer Alro Slatina and seeking comments from interested third parties, the EC said Wednesday. Alro, a unit of the Netherlands-based Vimetco group, is the largest aluminium producer in Central and Eastern Europe, excluding the CIS, with total cast aluminium output of 261,000 mt in 2011. In January 2011 the EC initiated an ex officio inquiry into potential state aid involved in the directly-negotiated long-term contract for the supply of electricity between the two companies. The contract was concluded in 2005 and successively amended until 2010. Alro Slatina is the largest industrial electricity consumer in Romania. Hidroelectrica, Romania's...
Russian firms plan to invest billions of dollars in refineries, smelters and infrastructure, including railways and power plants, in Indonesia within the next few years, an ambassador says. Russian Ambassador to Indonesia Alexander A. Ivanov said on Wednesday that the investments would come from, among others, state railway firm Joint Stock Company (JSC) Russian Railways, Norilsk Nickel — one of the world’s largest nickel, platinum and copper producers — and Russia’s leading aluminum producer, Russky Aluminiy. “There are very broad potentials [for investment]. But, the companies are still in the initial stages and they have not applied to the BKPM [Investment Coordinating Board] yet,” he told reporters during a press briefing on the ongoing Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), hosted...
The Russian Energy Ministry is now considering the possibility of effecting a reduction of the long-term electrical power tariff for Bogoslovsk Aluminum Plant (BAZ), Energy Minister Alexander Novak told the press in Yekaterinburg on Wednesday. The issue will be settled on an individual basis, Novak said. "I think that we will make a final determination on this issue in the near future," Novak said. As reported, Russian Aluminum (Rusal) considers it impossible to get aluminum production at BAZ to break even only with modernization and without a reduction in the electricity tariff. Per company calculations, the price for supplied electricity has to be comparable with that for the company's Siberian plants - not over $0.03 per kilowatt (less than one ruble). As reported, Rusal has decided to...
Emirates Aluminium (Emal) will have to pay much higher rates to borrow money from banks to help finance a $4bn smelter expansion due to the impact of the euro zone crisis on infrastructure lending in the Middle East. Emal, a joint venture between Abu Dhabi's Mubadala and Dubai Aluminium, aims to raise about $2.8bn via the loan. The company will also invite banks to pitch for a bond mandate at the end of September, banking sources said on Wednesday, a sign that companies are having to turn to bond investors for cash as the euro crisis makes bank loans more difficult to access. The loan portion of the finance package, currently being studied by banks, will cost Emal more than double what it paid for financing on the first phase of the smelter. Pricing on the 15.5-year loan, earmarked to...
With a 2.7 percent increase over the past day, the cash price of primary Indian aluminum was the biggest mover on MetalMiner’s daily aluminum price index on Sept. 4, 2012. After falling for two days, the cash price of primary aluminum rose 1.6 percent on the LME to $1,879 per metric ton. Following a 1.6 percent rise yesterday, the 3-month price of aluminum closed on the LME at $1,898 per metric ton. Chinese aluminum prices were mixed for the day. The Chinese aluminum cash price finished the day following a 0.2 percent increase. The price of Chinese aluminum scrap held steady, the price of Chinese aluminum billet remained essentially flat, and the price of Chinese aluminum bar continues hovering around above $2,200 per metric ton for the fifth day in a row.
The Aluminum Corp. of China, better known as Chalco, dropped in Tuesday trading after the company announced on Monday that the state-owned firm would drop its bid for Mongolian SouthGobi Resources after months of contentious negotiations. Chalco, China's largest producer of aluminum, had previously bid $962 million for SouthGobi, a Hong Kong-listed Mongolian miner earlier this year. However, the company's bid resulted in significant backlash from the Mongolian peoples, wary of what they perceive to be a form of neo-imperialism. Concerns also persist in Mongolia that not enough of the recent boon from commodities is being kept in domestic hands, and that the traditional Mongolian way of life may be corrupted by the country's pivot towards a resource-based economy. Whether these concerns...
A Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia is scheduled to pronounce its judgment on Thursday in the Bharat Aluminium Company (Balco) versus Kaiser Aluminium Technical, in which it is expected to interpret the judgment of a three-Judge Bench in another case. What makes the keenly-awaited judgment important is the fact that the Supreme Court could decide in unambiguous terms if foreign arbitration awards involving Indian firms and their foreign partners will be open to challenge in Indian courts if the arbitration has taken place in another country. Currently, foreign companies find it extremely difficult to get foreign arbitration awards against their Indian partners enforced through courts in the country as they invariably stay the arbitration award on the ground...
It was reported overnight that the ECB is drafting a bond-buying plan, which involves unlimited and sterilized purchases of government bonds maturing in three years or less, boosting market confidence in Thursday’s ECB meeting to solve the European debt crisis The US dollar index fell as a result, pushing commodities to rebound. LME aluminum jumped to a two-month high of USD 1,970/mt during European session. Trading volumes hovered around 18,000 lots due to massive short-covering. Finally, LME aluminum ended the day up USD 26.5/mt or 1.37% to close at USD 1,963.5/mt. Latest LME aluminum inventories were down 3,850 mt to 4,874,625 mt. Aluminum prices will hover high during Asian trading session as markets are focusing on the ECB meeting on Thursday. LME aluminum should test support at USD...
Gulf Industry Fair (GIF), the premier business-to-business industrial show in the Northern Gulf, will kick off in Bahrain in a big way with a major new initiative being introduced by organisers Hilal Conferences & Exhibitions (HCE). Preparations are already in full swing for the giant industrial event, which runs from January 15 to 17 at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre (BIECC), said HCE in a statement. The new ‘Industry Week’ is a unique and innovative concept whereby a cross-section of Bahrain’s leading industries will open their doors for site visits for university students and graduates for the duration of the fair. ‘Industry Week’ is primarily designed to promote Bahrain’s world-class industrial capabilities to young stakeholders, while highlighting the...
Shares of Alcoa crossed below the 50-day moving average indicating a likely bearish trend. Recent trading activity signals that the shares may continue to head lower in the foreseeable future as long as the stock price remains below the moving average line. AA shares slid 1.54%% percent to $8.43 on Tuesday with volume at 11.10M. Based on the pivot points, the current support and resistance levels for AA are $8.31 and $8.61 respectively. However, moving averages should never be used alone. Moving averages should be used in conjunction with other indicators in order to properly confirm trends and price movement. Alcoa has market cap of 8.98B and is part of the basic materials sector and aluminum industry. Historical performance shows that the stock has lost 10.52% within the last six month....
