Century Aluminum’s proposed USD 4 billion primary aluminum smelter in Inola, Oklahoma, is “moving forward on all fronts” as the company prepares for construction, despite local opposition and legal challenges, CEO Jesse Gary said during the company’s third-quarter earnings call. Developed jointly by Century Aluminum and Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA), the project is designed to produce 750,000 tonnes of primary aluminum annually, potentially doubling U.S. primary aluminum production. The facility is expected to create thousands of direct and indirect jobs and add USD 1.5 billion to Oklahoma’s gross domestic product, according to company estimates. The partners had targeted construction to begin by the end of 2026. However, local restrictions and permitting challenges have affected the...
LME aluminium stocks declined by more than half during the first nine months of 2026, falling by 267,875 tonnes from 509,250 tonnes on January 2 to 241,375 tonnes on September 30 (52.6 per cent). The decline continued throughout the period, with average warehouse inventories falling each month. Compared with the same period in 2025, monthly average stocks were lower across all nine months, with the gap widening in the third quarter. Q1 LME aluminium stocks fall 18.2 per cent LME aluminium inventories continued to decline during Q1 2026. Month-end stocks fell from 495,725 tonnes in January to 465,550 tonnes in February, before dropping further to 416,775 tonnes in March. Monthly average inventories stood at 498,670 tonnes in January, 481,801 tonnes in February and 440,710 tonnes in March....
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Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX), a company whose shares are moving quickly, is trading 2.8% lower to $10.60. The S&P is trading lower by 0.7% to 1,307 and the Dow is trading 0.7% lower to 12,578. In the past 52 weeks, Century Aluminum share prices have been bracketed by a low of $7.25 and a high of $20.76 and are now at $10.60, 46% above that low price. In the last five trading sessions, the 50-day moving average (MA) has fallen 0.2% while the 200-day MA has slid 1.8%. Potential upside of 5.3% exists for Century Aluminum, based on a current level of $10.60 and analysts' average consensus price target of $11.17. The stock should find resistance at its 200-day moving average (MA) of $12.21, as well as support at its 50-day MA of $9.38. Century Aluminum Company produces primary aluminum, in...
Alcoa (AA 0.00%) is a business that is highly susceptible to global economic conditions. Decline in aluminum demand led to a fall in spot prices in the fourth quarter of 2011. Consequently, the market has been quite harsh on the company's stock, pushing it down into single digits. We have taken these factors into account in revising our price estimate for Alcoa from $16 to $14, which is approximately 40% ahead of the current market price. Alcoa still stands behind its earlier forecast of aluminum consumption doubling by 2020, which translates into a 6.5% annual growth over the next nine years. Global economic uncertainty may not allow aluminum to recover during the next six months, but we believe that Alcoa's restructuring efforts and initiatives to develop high-end engineered products,...
Premiums for physical aluminium in Europe are set to rise further over the next few months as the impact of recent smelter shutdowns is felt in the market, raising costs for automakers and packaging companies. The closures will add to increasing pressure on premiums from financing deals, in which traders buy physical metal and simultaneously sell it forward at a profit, while striking a warehouse deal to store it cheaply in the interim. The deals, which have tied up most of the record 5 million tonnes of London Metal Exchange stocks, have recently become more profitable as the difference between nearby and forward prices has widened. "I think premiums are up because of the spreads and because of the cutbacks that have been announced in the UK, Spain and Italy. Over the next few months I...
On Dec. 18, a dozen retirees, men and women in their 60s, 70s, even 80s, began occupying a median strip along Route 33 in front of the closed Century Aluminum smelter in Ravenswood, W.Va. In tents and under tarps, a small group stays overnight, despite hypertension, arthritis and other old age ailments. One has suffered a stroke. These vulnerable people expose themselves to weather extremes although some have no health insurance at all. Century cancelled it. That's why they're occupying Century. The retirees labored their entire lives for wages and pensions comparably lower than those of other aluminum workers. They did it believing they made those sacrifices in exchange for good, lifelong health coverage. Over the past two years, however, Century evicted them, about 540 retirees...
The debt of a failing aluminum complex in Montenegro is threatening the tiny Balkan state with economic collapse, reported Radio Television Serbia (RTS) on Saturday. The Aluminum Plant Podgorica (KAP) is jointly managed by the Montenegrin government and the Central European Aluminum Company (CEAC) controlled by Oleg Deripaska, a Russian billionaire, each with roughly 30 percent of the shares. According to Minister of Economy Vladimir Kavaric, the Montenegrin government would likely assume payment of the first tranche of 22 million euros due to the Deutsche Bank in February. He said this could "lead to the collapse of the financial system" as the creditors for the remaining debt of 131 million Euros come due: Hungary's OTP Bank in April and the Russian VTB Bank in 2014. In the past two...
Miner Vedanta Resources posted a 5 percent dip in core profit its December quarter, hit by weaker performances at its aluminium and Zambian copper operations. The India-focused miner said earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) came in at $848.4 million for the third quarter, including $131 million from its majority stake in Cairn India, acquired last year. Zambia, the focus of market attention as Vedanta's listed subsidiaries have already reported, posted results well below market expectations, hit by a drop in production, weaker copper prices and a provision for higher power costs. The Zambian copper operations posted core earnings of $67.7 million, compared to $134.4 million a year ago. Aluminium was also badly hit by lower market prices and by the...
Russian aluminum company UC Rusal is prepared to buy the Bogoslovsk Combined Heat and Power Plant (CHPP), but only if IES (the plant's beneficiary) does not insist on a price higher than a level that covers costs. "If somebody decides that this is a good opportunity to sell it to us and get a profit out of it, then I would like to stress that this is not what we agreed upon with the prime minister," Rusal's First Deputy General Director Vladislav Solovyev said in an interview with Interfax. The agreement lies in "selling the plant at a fair price that covers costs, so that we can supply the plant with electricity and heat ourselves at cost," he said. Solovyev said that "purchasing the CHPP is not an end in itself." Rather, "it is the only way to save aluminum production at the Bogoslovsk...
Aluminium prices rising modestly to an average of $2,250/tonne in 2012, but significant downside risks clearly exist, said a 2012 first quarter Metals Review by Natixis Commodity Markets Ltd. According to Natixis, despite a rapid increase in demand for aluminium, a sustained increase in supply kept the market in substantial surplus in 2011. With aluminium prices depressed and costs of production rising, Natixis would expects a shutdown of higher cost facilities to bring the market slowly back into balance. Much depends upon China, however, where substantial surplus capacity still exists. For us, it makes sense for China to shift towards becoming a net importer of metal from cheaper production locations (with lower energy costs), but although there were some signs of the country moving...
The Tiwai Point smelter has hit a record in production after 354,030 tonnes of saleable aluminium was made last year. New Zealand Aluminium Smelters general manager Ryan Cavanagh announced the record today, the highest level since 2007 when 352,976 tonnes was produced. "This is an achievement every employee should be very proud of and it demonstrates the dedication of the NZAS team,'' Mr Cavanagh said. The record is more than four times the amount of aluminium produced at the smelter in the year following its opening in 1972, where 85,272 tonnes was produced.
Aluminum Corporation of China Limited (Chalco) said on Monday it estimates profits for 2011 will decrease over 50 percent from the year earlier, in an announcement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Chalco said major reasons for the fall in profits were a sharp drop in the price of aluminum in the fourth quarter, caused by the European debt crisis, and a hike in the price of electricity, which increased production costs. These factors generated a loss fourth quarter loss, which has affected the company's overall profits. Chalco did not provide an estimated result, but said its profits for 2010 were 778 million yuan ($123 million). ($1 = 6.339 Chinese Yuan)
LME aluminum previous dipped to an intraday low of USD 2,223/mt on Monday due to European debt worries. Bargain hunting by longs helped the metal return above the 5-day moving average and close USD 5.8/mt or 0.25% higher at USD 2,274.3/mt despite the US dollar’s index’s return to above the 79 mark. Aluminum is the only metal that gained among all LME base metals on Monday. Bearish market sentiment has prevailed in both domestic and overseas markets. Light trading volumes, however, had limited the moving band. SMM expects LME aluminum to struggle at the 5-day moving average and move between USD 2,230-2,280/mt during today’s trading. The most active SHFE aluminum contract for delivery in April is expected to move between RMB 16,250-16,400/mt. Low downstream buying interest and active goods...
Japanese major general trading house, Sumitomo Corporation forecasted world primary aluminum demand would increase by 5.5% to 45.681 million tonnes in 2012 compared with the level in the previous year while world supply would increase by 3.8% to 46.622 million tonnes. The oversupply would narrow to 941,000 tonnes in 2012 from 1.61 million tonnes in 2011. World demand growth would slow down to 5.5% in 2012 compared with 6.7% in the previous year mainly due to economic deterioration along European financial crisis. Meanwhile, the economic trend is expected to improve in the second half of 2012. World aluminum supply would not significantly increase when major smelters are moving to output reduction. Sumitomo Corp. pointed out major smelters have accelerated output reductions since 2009...
Aluminium production in the Gulf currently exceeds 7 per cent of the world’s total aluminium production; and is set to increase to 10 per cent by 2020, said an expert. “The aluminium industry in the Gulf has developed over the years into a substantial hub in global terms,” said Abdulla Kalban, chairman of the Gulf Aluminium Council, the coordinating body that represents, promotes and protects the interest of the aluminium industry in the Gulf. “Not only has production capacity been established and expanded in various GCC countries, but also diverse downstream industries have emerged over the years,” he added. Kalban also announced that over 200 chief executive offices and senior officials from organisations that have aluminium business interest in the Gulf will meet at an exclusive event...
Aluminium Bahrain B.S.C. (Alba)’s support for organisations that strengthen linguistic ties between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Republic of France was given a boost on Monday, January 23, 2012 when it welcomed a 20-member delegation from the Bahrain French Speaking Society to the Alba plant. Alba’s Chief Executive Officer, Laurent Schmitt received the delegation led by Eric Dunand; then gave them an insight on the aluminium production process followed by a presentation about Alba since it started its operations. The delegation was also given a tour around the Alba plant. Commenting on this visit, Alba’s Chief Executive, Laurent Schmitt said: “Alba values the strong cultural, economic and social ties that exist between Bahrain and France, and is confident of its potential for continued...
Aluminium smelters are being closed across the globe. And there is the prospect of more to come from the industry's majors as well as its minors. Intended or not, the closures have helped reverse the metal's price decline of the past year. How many more closures might be needed to turn the price is another matter. Towards the end of last April, when hopes were rising that the recession might be licked, the spot price of a ton of aluminium was peaking at about $2760. Just before Christmas, the metal was trading at little more than $1950. Now it's almost back to $2200. But that recovery has not prevented at least one big producer from hastening to reassure shareholders and customers that its smelters could continue to operate profitably when prices were as low as $1900. Alcoa, the world's...
Below are the three companies in the Aluminum industry with the highest free cash flow per share. FCF/share is a valuable metric signaling a company's ability to facilitate growth in the business. Noranda Aluminum (NYSE:NOR) is highest with FCF per share of $4.07. Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp is an integrated producer of aluminum products, as well as rolled aluminum coils. The Company produces aluminum products in the form of billets, rods and sows, used mainly for building construction, architectural and transportation applications. Noranda also produces foil and light gauge sheet products from its rolling mills. Noranda Aluminum has traded 23,000 shares thus far today, vs. average volume of 303,000 shares per day. The stock has underperformed the Dow (-1.8% to the Dow's -0.5%) and...
Russia's UC RUSAL , the world's largest aluminium producer, said it could cut output by 6 percent in the next 18 months, confirming comments by its chief executive reported in the media on Friday. "It may be up to 6 percent, which we expect may happen in the next 18 months," Chief Executive Oleg Deripaska told Bloomberg Television, according to a company spokeswoman. The company, which accounts for about 10 percent of primary global aluminium output, said last week that it had no plans to follow U.S. rival Alcoa Inc's lead in cutting production. Aluminium, which has a wide range of industrial applications in sectors such as aeronautics and automobile production, is a key indicator of global manufacturing demand. RUSAL said last week that its smelters could continue operations even if...
The dark clouds hovering over the economies of southern Europe are moving north, with the building and construction industries feeling the brunt of the manufacturing industry’s pain, says the chief executive of the region’s largest aluminum producer, Norsk Hydro. “We have our facilities all over Europe so we have a specific feel not just for the global economy but also the European situation, and we really see that the dark clouds from the south are moving north,” Svein Richard Brandztaeg says. “If you look at the total market, it’s not the same situation as in the 2008 crisis because that was global, but if the euro fails and Europe fails to deliver against expectations for a long-term solution, then I cannot rule out a really difficult and long-term difficult situation in Europe. The...
