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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Investment bank Dahlman Rose said Tuesday it had lowered its price target on major US aluminum producer Alcoa to $13 from $14.65/share to reflect lower 2013 LME aluminum price estimates. Dahlman lowered its LME aluminum price estimate for 2012 to $0.91/lb from $1/lb and for 2013 to $1/lb from $1.10/lb "in response to recent macroeconomic developments and price action," the bank said. Dahlman also lowered Alcoa's 2013 earnings per share estimate to 70 cents/share from 95 cents/share, but said the company's productivity gains would help offset these declines. "Management has successfully implemented efficiency and productivity gains across each segments, buoying performance during a period of depressed LME prices," Dahlman Rose said. "Though we realize the limitations inherent in cost...
New Zealand's biggest power user, the Aluminium smelter at Bluff has cut production by 15% as world Aluminium prices slump and the company faces pressure from a high New Zealand dollar. International commodity prices across the board have been hit hard by the ongoing European sovereign debt crisis. The smelter company posted a return to profit in the past financial year to the end of 2011, from a loss in the year before but only because of a one off gain. The smelter was put up for sale by Australian miner Rio Tinto Alcan last year but world Aluminium prices have slumped 29 per cent in the past 12 months and Rio Tinto says it is in no rush to sell. The smelter is a significant exporter and employs about 800 people. Mr. Paula Checketts acting GM of New Zealand Aluminium Smelters said that...
Aluminium prices fell by 0.43% to Rs 105.20 per kg in futures trade today as speculators offloaded their positions tracking a weak trend in overseas markets. At the Multi Commodity Exchange, aluminium for delivery in July declined by 45 paise, or 0.43%, to Rs 105.20 per kg, with a business turnover of 2,986 lots. The August contract traded lower by 30 paise, or 0.28%, to Rs 107 per kg, with a business turnover of 171 lots. Market analysts attributed the fall in aluminium futures to a lower trend in overseas markets. Meanwhile, aluminum declined by less than 0.1% to USD 1,911 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange.
Global miner BHP Billiton has appointed advisers to explore a sale of aluminium assets in Brazil, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. BHP declined to comment on the report that it was considering selling its stakes in the Alumar aluminium and Mineracao Rio do Norte bauxite joint ventures. BHP owns 36 percent of the Alumar refinery and 40 per cent of the Alumar smelter, both operated by Alcoa. Mineracao Rio do Norte is 14.8 percent owned by BHP, with several other owners, led by Brazil's Vale, Alcoa and Rio Tinto . Now is a tough time to be selling aluminium assets, with producers worldwide having slashed output to help support the market and with Rio Tinto still looking to hive off most of its Australia and New Zealand assets. Rio Tinto flagged last October that it plans to jettison...
Alcoa Inc. has offered a Bahrain-controlled company at least $45 million to settle a federal lawsuit that alleges Alcoa-related firms paid millions in bribes that resulted in the other company overpaying for raw materials. Attorneys for Aluminum Bahrain BSC, also known as Alba, did not immediately return calls and emails for comment Tuesday on the settlement offer disclosed in Alcoa's latest earnings report on Monday. "We continue to maintain that the facts do not support the claims brought by Alba. ... However, we are open to settlement to avoid the time and expense of complex litigation," Alcoa spokeswoman Libby Archell said in a statement. Alba's attorneys did not immediately respond to calls and emails seeking comment on Alcoa's settlement offer. Alcoa, in the earnings release, said...
Two foreign firms plan to develop projects worth Rp 45 trillion (US$4.76 billion) in East Kalimantan, the province’s top official says. The projects will be funded by Rhas Al Khaima, a United Arab Emirates-based coal mining company, and National Aluminium Co. (Nalco), an Indian-based manufacturer and distributor of aluminum products, East Kalimantan Governor Awang Faroek said in a telephone interview recently. “The projects will cover constructions of a railroad, a coal terminal, a steam power plant and a smelter. All of these will be built in East Kutai regency,” Awang said. The governor said that he had signed separate memorandums of understanding (MoU) with the companies on the projects. The first agreement was signed by Awang and a representative of Ras Al Khaima during the 2009 World...
Qatalum's state-of-the-art environment-friendly smelting technologies will attract the attention of manufacturers and delegates attending 16th Arab International Aluminium Conference (ARABAL 2012) to be hosted by Qatar, the smelter has said. ARABAL 2012 will be held at the Grand Hyatt here in Doha from November 19 to 21 under the patronage of HE the Minister of Energy and Industry, Chairman and Managing Director of Qatar Petroleum Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada, Qatalum said. ARABAL is the premier trade event for the Middle East's aluminium industry. The conference, which will focus on the future of aluminium and manufacturing industries, market, technology and recycling, gives the Qatari smelter an opportunity to showcase its plant which has a production capacity of 585,000 tons of...
Alcoa Inc.’s executive vice-president and chief financial officer Chuck McLane believes that aluminium prices should be trending up if the fundamentals are any indication. But his firm reported average aluminium realizations in the June quarter to be down by 4% sequentially and by 17.7% year-on-year. That has affected its performance, though factors such as currency movements, rising regional premiums (on shipments to certain markets), and productivity improvements were mitigating factors. A large producer of aluminium, the firm has multiple revenue streams, including basic products such as alumina and aluminium, and value-added ones under its global rolled products and engineered products divisions. Early with its results, Alcoa sets the tone for earnings expectations from industrial...
Russia exported in January-May 1.572 million metric tons of aluminum, 17% more than in the corresponding period last year, the federal customs service reported Tuesday. The exported aluminum was worth $3.171 billion, compared with $2.801 billion a year ago. Aluminum exports to countries outside the Commonwealth of Independent States increased by 16% on the year to 1.545 million tons worth $$3.104 billion, and export to CIS states more than doubled to 27,800 tons worth $67 million.
Aluminium stocks held at three major Japanese ports came to 232,900 tonnes at the end of June, up 4.3 percent from 223,200 tonnes a month earlier, trading house Marubeni Corp said on Tuesday. The stocks at the end of June were up 1.9 percent from 228,600 tonnes in the same month in 2011. Marubeni collects data from the key ports of Yokohama, Nagoya and Osaka.
The sharp contraction in Chinese imports in June pushed the US dollar index to test resistance at 83.5, weakening momentum of commodities. LME aluminum struggled at the 5-day moving average without any breakthrough, hitting a high of only USD 1,930.5/mt. The light metal retreated to losses at the tail of trading, settling down USD 16.3/mt or 0.84% at USD 1,910/mt. Latest LME aluminum stocks were down 6,000 mt at 4,822,850 mt. Sluggishness in demand and global economies has empowered shorts. LME aluminum is expected to struggle at USD 1,900/mt and move between USD 1,885-1,915/mt today. The most active SHFE aluminum contract for October delivery should open lower near RMB 15,520/mt and hover within RMB 15,450-15,580/mt, with stronger pressure expected at the 5-day moving average. Spot...
Canadian Helicopters Group Inc. says its Australian subsidiary has inked a deal to renew its contract with mining giant Rio Tinto, with contract revenues expected to be at least A$125 million. The Montreal-based helicopter company's subsidiary Helicopters Australia Pty Ltd. said it will replace two Eurocopter EC 145 helicopters with the first of three new helicopters beginning in March 2013. The helicopters will continue to provide a pilot transfer service for Rio Tinto's iron ore carriers at ports in Australia. All three helicopters are expected to be in service by September 2013. The new contract is for a 10-year-period. "We are extremely pleased to continue our long-standing relationship with Rio Tinto in Western Australia. In partnership with Rio Tinto, we have continuously sought...
The energy conservation efforts at Dubai Aluminium ("DUBAL") - the wholly state-owned corporation that operates a one million metric tonne per annum primary aluminium smelter, the world's largest using pre-bake anode technology - continue to achieve good results. A member of the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy ("DSCE"), DUBAL has implemented the directives issued to all DSCE member companies in April 2011 to minimize energy consumption in fulfilment of the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030. In the first nine months of implementing the directives (April to December 2011), DUBAL saved 6,942,760 kWh. A further 4,458,316 kWh has been saved in the first six months of this year (January to June 2012), bringing the total savings over the 15-month period to 11,401,076 kWh, which as reduced...
AS METAL markets enjoyed a once-in-a-generation party over the past decade, aluminium was the proverbial wallflower. At most, its price rose 143 per cent, and it now sits 38 per cent above where it stood 10 years ago. Compare that to copper, which peaked with a gain of more than 500 per cent and is still up by 357 per cent. Global demand for aluminium is strong: It rose 10 per cent last year, says Alcoa, which reported quarterly results Monday. Problem is, unlike copper, where resources are genuinely constrained, aluminium's raw materials are relatively abundant. As Michael Widmer at BofA Merrill Lynch puts it, aluminium is "capital driven", with supply more a function of financing a smelter and energy costs. That is precisely what has happened in China. This year, Alcoa expects China to...
Rising 0.5 percent, the cash price of Indian primary aluminum experienced the biggest change on our daily aluminum price index for July 9, 2012. Conversely, the primary aluminum cash price saw a 0.2 percent decline on the LME to $1,910 per metric ton. Also on the LME, the 3-month price of aluminum showed little movement yesterday, hovering around $1,948 per metric ton. Chinese aluminum closed mixed yesterday. Chinese aluminum billet gained 0.3 percent, and the Chinese aluminum cash price also finished the market day up 0.3 percent per metric ton. Chinese aluminum scrap stayed flat at below $2,100 per metric ton. For the fifth day in a row, the price of Chinese aluminum bar remained essentially flat at above $2,200 per metric ton.
United Co. Rusal (486), the largest maker of aluminum, plans to halt a Siberian smelting line built during World War II that’s too old to modernize to increase efficiency. “The company is studying a plan and the timelines to close the first production site at the smelter,” Rusal said today by e-mail. The line built in 1942 has a 70,000 metric-ton capacity. The line in Novokuznetsk makes up 1.5 percent of Rusal’s aluminum capacity and employs about 550, who will move to other sites. Lost production will be regained when Rusal starts the Boguchansk smelter in Krasnoyarsk region next year, it said. Aman Tuleyev, governor of Kemerovo region where the line is located, asked Rusal to close its smelter’s oldest facilities as they damage the environment, his press office said yesterday on its...
Alcoa Inc. should benefit from slightly higher aluminum prices this year and next year, but analysts disagree how much that will affect profits. After the markets closed Monday, Alcoa reported it slid to a second-quarter loss from a year-ago profit due to weak aluminum prices and hefty quarterly charges. Excluding special charges and other items, however, Alcoa earned an adjusted $61 million, or 6 cents a share. That's better than the 5 cents per share that analysts had expected. On Tuesday, Jefferies analyst Peter Ward cut profit estimates for the New York aluminum maker to 40 from 70 cents per share for 2012 and to 80 from 90 cents per share in 2013. Persistently high aluminum inventories should keep a lid on price increases this year, Ward said. Ward expects aluminum prices to increase...
S S Mahapatra, Director (Production), National Aluminium Company Limited ( NALCO), the country's largest state owned aluminium producer, has been elected as member of the Managing Committee and Vice-Chairman of Standing Committee for Non-Ferrous Mineral Industries of Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI). Coming into existence in 1966, FIMI is now a 350-member body, representing the entire non-fuel mining and mineral processing activities of the country. With his vast experience, Mr Mahapatra is likely to contribute a great deal in FIMI's endeavour to promote sustainable development through scientific mining and optimal utilisation of natural resources in the country. FIMI envelopes in its fold mining, mineral processing, metal making, cement and other mineral-derived industries...
