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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National Aluminium Company Ltd (Nalco) plans to increase its stake in the nuclear power joint venture with Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL). Nalco currently holds 26 per cent in the joint venture — NPCIL Nalco Nuclear Power Co Ltd. Nalco is slated to have 49 per cent. The joint venture agreement, signed earlier, had the provision for the stake hike by Nalco. Confirming this to Business Line, Mr B.L. Bagra, CMD of Nalco, said the Department of Atomic Energy was expected to clear NPCIL's proposal soon. The new joint venture, incorporated on March 2, has already taken up assignment of setting up 1,400 MW (700x2) Kakrapar units III and V in Surat district of Gujarat as its first project with an estimated project cost of Rs 11,500 crore. According to the arrangement, the joint...
U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs on Monday lowered its 3-month price targets for base metals, citing weaker than expected consumption and a stronger U.S. dollar against the euro. Recent trips across North America confirmed a near complete lack of conviction in the very short-term outlook for metals prices, with market participants generally paralysed by the banking and sovereign crisis in Europe, Goldman said. Views on the outlook for Chinese metals demand in 2012 were polarized, with many expecting a continuation of weakness in the housing sector and policy easing, the bank added. Goldman cut its 3-month price targets on copper to $8,000 per tonne, aluminium to $2,200 per tonne, nickel to $17,000 per tonne and zinc to $1,950 per tonne. In the second half of 2012 Goldman expects the...
On June 8, 2012, the Indian aluminum cash price fell by 0.7 percent, making it the day’s biggest mover on global aluminum markets. The cash price of primary aluminum moved up 0.5 percent on the LME, landing at $1,946 per metric ton. The 3-month price of aluminum finished the day on the LME at $1,986 per metric ton following a 0.4 percent increase. Chinese aluminum prices, meanwhile, were flat for the day. The Chinese aluminum cash price remained essentially flat, holding above $2,500 per metric ton. The price of Chinese aluminum scrap showed little movement last Friday below $2,600 per metric ton. Chinese aluminum billet held its value last Friday above $2,500 per metric ton. And the price of Chinese aluminum bar continues hovering around $2,200 per metric ton for the fifth day in a row.
Century Aluminum will spend $12.5 million in cash to acquire a Dutch production facility that belonged to the former Zeeland Aluminum Co. The facility in Vlissingen, The Netherlands, which is currently closed, makes anodes, the carbon blocks used in the aluminum smelting process. Those anodes will be used at Century's smelter in Grundartangi, Iceland, and the facility may eventually supply a smelter project in Helguvik, Iceland, the company said. Century plans to spend about $45 million to modernize the facility and have it running in the third quarter of next year. Shares of Century Aluminum Co. fell 11 cents to $7.23 in morning trading.
Emirates Aluminium Co. expects to close financing for a $4.5 billion expansion as it builds the world’s biggest smelter of the lightweight metal. “We are looking at the end of this year to wrap it up,” Chief Executive Officer Saeed al-Mazrooei said in an interview in his office. “We’ll see what terms and conditions the market is offering, and based on that we can sit down with our shareholders and say these are the best options we have.” The company, known as Emal, plans to boost annual output to 1.3 million metric tons by 2014 from 800,000 tons as countries in the oil-rich region use access to cheap fuel to diversify away from crude. Aluminium Bahrain BSC (ALBH) last week said it would spend $2.5 billion to raise capacity about 30 percent by 2015. Oil royalties and taxes in the United...
Parts of bankrupt Dutch aluminium producer ZALCO will be bought by a Dutch and a U.S. company, which will continue casting and anode production but smelting operations will cease, the Dutch buyer and an administrator said on Monday. ZALCO, which had a production capacity of 275,000 tonnes per year of aluminium, filed for bankruptcy in mid-December. Its plant at the port of Vlissingen in the southwest of the Netherlands, which employed 600 people, was shut a few days later due to a lack of funds to pay energy suppliers. Dutch steel and machinery wholesaler UTB Industry bought the smelting operations and will dismantle the machinery because this business was no longer viable, UTB said in statement, without revealing financial details. UTB plans to resume production of finished or...
Bloomberg reported that Aluminium Bahrain BSC will spend USD 2.5 billion by 2015 to increase output betting prices of the metal and will rebound from 30% slump in the past year that’s forcing US and European rivals to shutter plants. Mr Laurent Schmitt CEO of Alba said that “Prices reflect the balance of supply and demand in the short term but they will come back to normal. Alba, as the company is known, plans to invest the money on adding a potline to produce 400K tonnes a year boosting total capacity by about 30% to 1.3 million tonnes. It will also include power generation for the development. The producer is seeking to begin a feasibility study before the end of the year and is in discussions with the Bahraini government over allocating energy to the development.” Alba is among Middle...
MCX Aluminium buoyed by 0.5% or R 0.5 at R 108.9 per kg on Friday, 8th June and tested an intraday high of R 108.95 per kg and low of R 108 per kg. Bargain hunting with 10% dip in its open interest to 1900 lots lifted up the metal. The contract traded below 9-day EMA and RSI stood at 38.13. Aluminium was finding strong support at R 108 per kg and R 107.5 per kg and resistance at R 109.7 per kg and R 110.5 per kg on Monday, 11th June. At LME, Aluminium shed by 0.7% at $1973 per tonne on Friday. The woes pertaining to the Chinese economic growth conspired with the festering Spain's banks hampered the metal. But, the decline in aluminium inventories and higher premiums pared huge losses in the metal.
The discrepancy between low London Metal Exchange aluminum prices and record premiums for the metal will be among some of the topics discussed at a major metals conference taking place in Chicago next week. Consulting firm Harbor Intelligence is sponsoring its annual aluminum outlook conference in Chicago June 11-13, which will draw industry attendees from all sectors, said Jorge Vazquez, managing director and founder of Harbor. This is the fifth year Harbor has sponsored the aluminum conference, and between 225 and 250 people have registered. That’s a record, beating last year’s record attendance of 200, he said. Speakers and attendees range from banks, producers and consumers and include firms such as Novelis, Macquarie Bank and Aluminio Brasileiro. Vazquez said the conference will...
LME aluminum hit a low of USD 1,968/mt and almost recovered later supported by bargain-hunting, settling down a slight USD 2/mt or 0.1% at USD 1,986/mt on Friday. The wait-and-see sentiment was strong before delivery of Chinese economic data for May and as European leaders stepped up efforts on aid for Spanish banks. Latest LME aluminum stocks were down 11,175 mt to 4,864,200 mt. China inflation in May dropped more than expected, laying the foundation for subsequent easing policies. But at the same time, industrial production also contracted heavily. The poor economic situation also to a certain extent curbed market optimism. So today aluminum will exhibit a slight rebound. LME aluminum is expected to try standing above the USD 2,000/mt mark and test pressure at the 20-day averages as it...
Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) is actively taking part in educating the underprivileged students of Nigeria. Fifty-one students drawn from Ikot Abasi, Mkpat Enin, Eastern Obolo and Oruk Anam Local Government Areas of Akwa Ibom State have benefitted from a scholarship programme initiated by the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) as part of its community assistance programme. Similarly, the scholarship scheme has also been extended to students from Opobo/Nkoro and Andoni Local Government Areas in Rivers State. Anatoly Polovov, managing director of the company, while presenting the scholarship to the students, said it was meant to focus on improving the standard of education in the Niger Delta region, noting that the beneficiaries were selected after “a rigorous...
This week (11-13 June) senior industry representatives from around the world are gathering at the 2nd Annual Aluminium Summit in New York to share and debate ideas for advancing the aluminium industry and its supply chain. A panelist at the event, Khaled Salmeen, Executive Vice President of the Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (Kizad), is inviting companies involved in producing aluminium goods and components to consider setting up business in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in a move that could signal a change in the geography of world metal production as the economies of the Middle East grow and diversify away from oil. In Abu Dhabi, Kizad is building a massive industrial development that it claims is the first in the world to be based on vertically integrated "clusters" serving...
Aluminium stocks held at three major Japanese ports came to 223,200 tonnes at the end of May, down 4.9 percent from 234,800 tonnes a month earlier, trading house Marubeni Corp said on Monday. The stocks at the end of May were down 1 percent from 225,400 tonnes as of the end of May 2011. Marubeni collects data from the key ports of Yokohama, Nagoya and Osaka.
The short to medium term risk reward for aluminium is attractive from current price levels, Goldman Sachs said in a research note Monday. Although the investment bank has lowered its near-term three-months aluminium forecast to $2,200/mt from $2,400/mt, its current base case remains solid on the upside and the bank is forecasting a potential increase of 11% from current price levels. The bank has left its six- and 12-month aluminium forecasts unchanged. Goldman Sachs is recommending reduced downside risk on expectations that policymakers will be able to contain the eurozone crisis and that the US and China will support global economic growth of 3.3% in 2012. "With commodity markets pricing a far more negative outlook than this, we expect that as policymakers continue to address the...
The National Aluminum Company Limited (Nalco), which is proposing to set up a smelter and captive power plant in Indonesia with an investment of Rs 16,500 crore, is yet to select a location for its aluminium complex. "The Indian public sector major aluminium company is looking for a suitable site for setting up the plant," said Indonesian Ambassador to India Andi M Ghalib. Nalco is looking for a site nearer to a port as the unit would heavily depend on export of aluminium, he said. Nalco has signed a non-binding MoU with the Government of Kalimantan to develop the project in East Kalimantan province of Indonesia. Since the port is far away from this location, Nalco is still on the lookout for a suitable plant site. Nalco has proposed to set up a 0.5-million-tonne-per-annum smelter plant...
Anil Agarwal of Vedanta has found an ally in Larsen & Tourbo (L&T) to bail himself out of the raw material crisis ailing his flagship Odisha aluminium project. The London-listed Vedanta, promoted by Agarwal, has entered into a tripartite agreement with L&T and its partner Dubai Aluminium Company (Dubal) to buy them out from their aluminium venture in Odisha, called Raykal Aluminium. Raykal was the SPV (special purpose vehicle) floated by the two partners. In a filing with the US regulator, SEC, Vedanta has said it has already acquired 24.5 per cent stake in Raykal for Rs 200.70 crore and has the right to acquire the entire 100 per cent over a period of time for a total consideration of Rs 1,811 crore, “subject to certain milestones being achieved.” Analysts say the company’s value will...
Alba's position as one of the world's leading aluminium smelters was bolstered with the recent replacement and upgrade of the indirect coke cooler at the Alba Petroleum Coke calciner. A ceremony was held at the Alba Petroleum Coke to mark this accomplishment which is expected to generate greater efficiency and increased productivity as well as enable the company to meet its operational plans. The event was attended by chief executive Laurent Schmitt, chief operations officer Isa Al Ansari, chief finance and supply officer Tim Murray, along with calcining and marine manager Prakash Kumar Jha, other managers as well as staff of the calciner and marine department. The indirect coke cooler had exceeded its design service life by three years and a replacement was necessary. The new equipment -...
Alcoa announced today that Christian Jepsen will join Alcoa as Vice President, Corporate Development this summer. He will be responsible for developing and implementing Alcoa's portfolio growth strategies, including merger and acquisition, and divestiture activities. Jepsen will also serve on the Alcoa Executive Council, the senior leadership team that sets strategic direction for the company. Jespen comes to Alcoa from FLSmidth, a global engineering company headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, that serves the cement and minerals industries. His most recent position was Group Executive Vice President and CEO of the company's $3 billion global minerals business. During his 22 years with FLSmidth, he has served as Chief Financial Officer in several of the company's larger businesses both...
