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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The cash price of primary Indian aluminum closed up Sept. 3, 2012, halting two days of weakening prices with a 1.2 percent shift. On the LME, the aluminum 3-month price fell 1.1 percent to $1,869 per metric ton. The primary aluminum cash price weakened by 1.0 percent on the LME, settling at $1,848 per metric ton. Chinese aluminum prices were flat for the day. The price of Chinese aluminum scrap remained above $2,000 per metric ton, Chinese aluminum billet prices continue hovering above $2,400, the price of Chinese aluminum bar saw essentially no change at above $2,200, and the cash price of Chinese aluminum held steady north of $2,400 per metric ton.
Extravagant claims recently made by United Company Rusal, the world’s largest aluminum producer, in a Financial Times article reflect more hope than reality. “More than 4.5m tons of global aluminum production will be idled [by the end of] 2012 due to the fact that global aluminum prices are, based on Rusal’s estimates, below the break-even point for the majority of aluminum producers,” the statement read. That amounts to about a tenth of global aluminum demand this year, according to the FT, yet only a fraction – 125,000 tons – is coming from Rusal itself. Rusal is a comparatively low-cost producer, yet is flirting with posting a loss for this year; published figures are muddied by write-downs on shareholdings in Norilsk Nickel and a reduction in the value of its bauxite facilities in...
London Clearing house LCH.Clearnet is reducing its margin rates for the London Metal Exchange's copper, primary aluminium, aluminium alloy, North American alloy, nickel, lead, zinc and molybdenum contracts, effective September 7, LCH said Tuesday. The rate covers the market risk the clearing house takes on when it accepts trades for clearing and reflects the extent of any losses a contract might show. Margin rates typically rise during increased market volatility. Basic inputs to the LCH calculations of initial margins are the so-called "scanning range" and the volatility change for options. After consultation with the LME, the scanning range for copper will be reduced to $580/mt from $630/mt; for primary aluminium to $130/mt from $142/mt; for aluminium alloy to $110/mt from $120/mt; for...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba) underlined the importance of maintaining stringent quality standards in aluminium production process with a group of 14 students from the University of Bahrain (UOB)’s Chemical Engineering Department who visited the company for an educational tour. The visit was aimed at introducing UOB students to Alba’s operations as well as to the type of processes used in producing primary aluminium with the highest purity rates. The group was accompanied by their instructor, Dr. Odai Al Buhamad, and received by the Casthouse 3 Superintendent, Hussain Faqihi. Commenting on the visit, Alba’s Chief Executive, Laurent Schmitt, said: “Alba is well known for its international standards in producing high grade aluminium. It is through these rigorous standards that we ensure...
Shares of SouthGobi Resources Ltd. tumbled almost 17 per cent Tuesday after Aluminum Corporation of China Ltd. withdrew its offer for up to a 60-per-cent stake in the coal miner. Chalco and Turquoise Hill Resources cancelled a deal Monday that would have seen the company formerly known as Ivanhoe Mines sell its stake in SouthGobi to the Chinese concern. Turquoise Hill said in a statement that the two companies concluded that the proposed deal had a “minimal prospect of obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals within an acceptable time frame.” “As a result, Turquoise Hill and Chalco have agreed to terminate the lock-up agreement, including Chalco’s obligation to make a proportional offer,” the company said in a statement. On the Toronto Stock Exchange, SouthGobi shares were down 47...
Aluminum production at the Bogoslovsk Aluminum Smelter (BAZ) in the Sverdlovsk region cannot possibly be brought to the break-even point just by modernizing it, without lowering the tariff for electricity, Russian aluminum company UC Rusal, which owns the smelter, said in a statement. "BAZ's production costs cannot be reduced to the point that the smelter would reach the break-even point exclusively by substituting equipment for more modern tools and using new technologies. This is precisely why Rusal has turned to and is turning to energy companies and authorities of all levels with the request that aluminum production in the north of the Sverdlovsk region be provided with a tariff that would be beneficial to all parties," the statement said. As reported, Rusal has decided to slash its...
The New Zealand government remains confident that New Zealand Aluminium Smelters and energy provider Meridian Energy Ltd. will reach an agreement on a power-supply agreement, but failure to do so wouldn't necessarily delay a partial privatization of Mighty River Power Ltd., Minister of Economic Development Steven Joyce said Wednesday. State-owned Meridian said in August that NZAS, majority-owned by Rio Tinto PLC (RIO), had approached the company about renegotiating its power-supply agreement. News of that move, and a decline in aluminum prices, sparked concerns that NZAS may close, creating a national electricity surplus and significant headwinds for all energy prices in the country, which could make selling a stake in Meridian Energy and other power companies more difficult. NZAS...
Japanese aluminium buyers are looking to lock in fourth-quarter supplies at a premium of around $250 to $253 per tonne, two industry sources said on Wednesday, about 20 percent more than the record high level of the previous three months. In June, Japanese aluminium buyers -- Asia's biggest importers of the metal -- had agreed on a record high physical premium of $200-$210 per tonne for the July-September quarter after global smelters cut output. The buyers had been bracing for a rise in fourth-quarter term rates amid high premiums in the spot market, but they were resisting offers of $255-$258 per tonne from Alcoa Inc and BHP Billiton citing bleak demand prospects as car production slows, the sources said, asking not to be identified as the talks are not public. "We don't want to see Q4...
New Zealand Aluminium Smelters has accelerated plans to axe 100 jobs from the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter as depressed global metal prices continue to challenge the sector worldwide. Alan Clarence from the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union (EPMU) said the plan will devastate the Invercargill economy. "The hundred redundancies announced today are a major blow to Invercargill, but it's just the tip of the iceberg. Unless the Government acts now there's a good chance the whole place will close, and with the smelter goes the Invercargill economy," he said. "The Government has said it won't get involved in the future of Tiwai, but frankly that's not good enough. It's sitting on its hands over Spring Creek and it's doing the same here, while communities are being torn apart and...
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of the government says possible "governance deficit" has resulted in delay in NALCO’s Rs 4,091.51 crore second phase capacity expansion project. "Gaps and inadequacies in project formulation and execution points towards a governance deficit in the company which needs to be addressed appropriately," Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) said in its report tabled in Parliament today. It said the "system weaknesses" contributed significantly in delaying the project and due to delay in completion of civil and electrical works, the mining equipment procured in 2008 at a cost of Rs 103 crore could not be commissioned. The equipment pertained to saving cost for bauxite transportation. The government had approved the company's second phase capacity...
The US ISM manufacturing PMI for August was 49.6 overnight, far below forecasts and the lowest since July, 2009. Manufacturing PMI of global three largest economies pointed to contraction in August, rekindling market apprehension over the global economy and helping the US dollar index rebound. Commodities had limited downside room, though, as downbeat data was twined with expectations for easing policies. LME aluminum jumped to a two-month high of USD 1,954/mt, up more than 1.4%. However, as investors took profits at highs, LME aluminum trimmed some gains at the tail of trading and trading volumes doubled to more than 18,000 lots. Finally, LME aluminum ended the day up USD 11.3/mt or 0.58% to close at USD 1,937/mt. LME aluminum gained most among base metals. Latest LME aluminum...
Tianshan Aluminium Co plans to increase capacity at its Shihezi, Xinjiang smelter to 1.6Mt/yr by 2015. Tianshan is also planning to construct an aluminium processing plant with a 1Mt/yr capacity alongside a captive power plant equipped with 10 350mW generators. The Shihezi smelter was established in 2010.
Norwegian aluminium company Norsk Hydro ASA has decided to increase in-house primary metal sourcing, replacing less cost-efficient remelting of cold metal as a source for its Neuss-Grevenbroich rolling mills. "The change in raw material mix will realize positive system effects for Hydro's German aluminium activities and is part of our ongoing optimization efforts and adaptation to challenging market conditions," said Executive Vice President Oliver Bell of Hydro's Rolled Products business areas. In preparation for a ramp-up of primary sourcing in Neuss, planned for the first half 2013, Hydro has secured power contracts with Swedish energy group Vattenfall, totalling 2.2 TWh (250 MW) annually over five years. The power contracts are a combination of new and existing power arrangements, the...
The Sverdlovsk Regional Prosecutor's Office has issued a warning to Oleg Deripaska, the tycoon that owns Russian aluminum giant RUSAL, over the situation developing at the Bogoslovsk Aluminum Smelter in the Urals, where the company is considering winding up its electrolytic production, the office reports on Monday. "The regional prosecutor's office is holding an inspection in light of the planned termination of employees at the smelter," the office said. "During the inspection, the regional prosecutor issued a warning on August 31 to RUSAL CEO Deripaska on the inadmissibility of breaching federal law." RUSAL's board has approved a long-term program to reduce primary aluminum production at four smelters by 275,000 tonnes. Earlier, the company said the high power tariffs at the Bogoslovsk...
Russian aluminum company Rusal has said it earmarked more than 200 million rubles ($6 milllion) to modernize an aluminum smelter in the Urals in the next two years, following demonstrations over the weekend about the future of the facility. The firm also said it had made "a principle decision" not to lay off workers at the Bogoslovsky Aluminum Smelter, as earlier planned, in comments made by Rusal's press service. The company has said Bogoslovsky, in the town of Krasnoturyinsk, has been unprofitable because of increased energy costs. The move comes after two separate rallies in the town on Sunday: one protesting cutbacks in production at Bogoslovsky announced by Rusal last week, and the other electricity cost hikes. In the statement, the firm also dismissed a threat by Krasnoturyinsk...
Qatalum, the organizer of the Arab International Aluminium Conference (Arabal 2012), which will be held in Doha from 20th to 22nd of November 2012, has remarked that the aluminium industry within the GCC region is increasingly attracting high levels of official interest, as well as acquiring a large portion of the region's industrial expansion plans and dominating a large part of the investment that is being injected to achieve economic diversification. Regional economies are striving to diversify sources of income through a strong focus on the industrial sector, which is considered to be one of the most important requirements for optimum utilization of the abundant natural resources the region is blessed with. The development of the industrial sector, in general, and aluminium industry,...
Rusal has launched an online trading platform for its suppliers so contractors are now able to obtain comprehensive information regarding competitive selections and place their bids via the company's website, the Russian aluminium producer said Monday. "The main goal of Rusal's production strategy is to increase the production volume and broaden the range of value-added products tailored for our customers' needs and expectations," said Egor Ivanov, Rusal's director for control, internal audit and business coordination, in a statement. "We can achieve this goal only through cooperation with reliable and highly professional partners. The 'Suppliers' system provides full and easy access to information, which is a key prerequisite for competitive bidding process, resulting in guaranteed...
Emirates Aluminium has completed two full years representing over 10 million work-hours, with zero Lost Time Incidents (LTI). The outstanding workplace achievement at the Al Taweelah aluminium smelter highlights the success of EMAL’s culture of ‘Safety First, Last, and Always’, which has been a core value since the project began. EMAL President and CEO, Saeed Fadhel Al Mazrooei, said: “EMAL’s excellent LTI safety record demonstrates our commitment to deploying high safety standards across all departments. This proactive approach has established our new facility as a global aluminium industry leader in health and safety. All EMAL employees deserve great credit for this significant achievement.” Mazrooei added: “The achievements we have made so far will encourage and drive us forward as we...
