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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Shanxi Guanlv Co. Ltd., part of China Minmetals Corp. and Shanxi Province's largest nonferrous smelter, expects to return to profit in 2011 after three consecutive years of losses, thereby avoiding a delisting from the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, according to a Jan. 9 filing. The aluminum product maker anticipates yearly earnings of RMB 10 million ($1.58 million) to RMB 12 million ($1.90 million) on the back of higher aluminum ingot prices in the first half, lower overheads and improved performances from subsidiaries, including the Shanxi Huasheng Aluminum Co. Ltd. joint venture. The filing comes despite hikes in national and regional power tariffs on Dec. 1 which the firm said would shave some RMB 4 million ($632,910) from its annual earnings in a press release dated Dec. 14. Weaknesses in...
Rio Tinto’s hopes of selling its aluminum assets, possibly via an initial public offering or to a trade buyer, have taken a knock after a rival cast a spotlight on the headwinds facing the sector. Burdened by a strong Australian dollar and a soft macroeconomic environment, Norsk Hydro said Wednesday it could reduce production at its Kurri Kurri aluminum plant in Newcastle, which employs around 500 people and has a total annual production capacity of 180,000 metric tons. “We will continue to stay in close dialog with all affected stakeholders, including employees, unions and the local community throughout this process,” executive vice president of Hydro’s Primary Metal business area Hilde Merete Aasheim said in a statement, before adding that ongoing customer demand will be served through...
New Zealand Aluminium Smelters is reassessing the way it ships dangerous goods after 21 of its containers are believed to have sunk with the container ship Rena. Pacific Aluminium spokesman Anthony Havers yesterday said the company was reviewing its shipping processes following the Rena grounding and breaking up off the coast of Tauranga. Pacific Aluminium owns the Tiwai Point smelter. Twenty-one containers from the smelter containing cryolite, a product used in the smelting process, are believed to be on the sea floor after Rena's stern sank yesterday. However, the smelter had received expert advice the material in the containers had low potential for environmental harm to the marine environment, Mr Havers said. He was unsure how long it would take to reassess the processes. Grant Dyson,...
Locked-out workers at Rio Tinto Alcan's smelter in Quebec will have to continue to limit their numbers on the picket line until at least early April. Rio Tinto Alcan was able to renew its injunction in Quebec Superior Court on Tuesday limiting the number of picketing workers allowed near the company's aluminum processing plant, about 225 kilometres north of Quebec City. The injunction allowing 20 picketing workers to demonstrate at a distance of 150 metres from the front door will have to be considered again by the court on April 2. Justice Gratien Duchesne refused to grant a permanent injunction but he removed the legal requirement of the locked-out workers of having to keep the peace while picketing. About 800 unionized employees were locked out on New Year's Day and the company was...
A further drop in China’s CPI growth and successful Spanish and Italian debt sales overnight boosted market confidence. An unexpected surge in unemployment claims later in the US to nearly 400,000, however, weakened such support. LME aluminum hit an intraday high of USD 2,197/mt overnight, but finally closed down 0.53% lower at USD 2,160.5/mt as aluminum stocks surged again by over 10,000 mt and New York crude plunged below USD 100/bbl, outweighing support from aluminum output cuts. Weak aluminum consumption led to higher LME aluminum stocks and again dragged the metal to the downward track. SMM expects LME aluminum to test support at USD 2,100/mt and move between USD 2,100-2,160/mt during today’s trading. The most active SHFE four-month aluminum contract is expected to test support at...
Two aluminium smelters in the Hunter Valley are set to axe 250 jobs. Norwegian aluminium giant Norsk Hydro is blaming the high Australian dollar for plans to cut production at its Kurri Kurri smelter, with the loss of about 150 jobs. The company says the strength of Australia's currency relative to the US dollar combined with low metal prices has hurt the company Richard Downie from the Australian Workers Union says he has also been told Tomago Aluminium's much larger smelter will cut 100 jobs. "At this stage I'm not clear on when that will occur, but the clear difference here is that Tomago are going to maintain their current production," he said. Mr Downie says the jobs lost at Kurri Kurri come on top of 40 positions cut by Norsk Hydro before Christmas. He says he believes the latest...
Alcoa (NYSE: AA) announced today that the Company intends to curtail operations at three European aluminum smelters as part of a previously announced restructuring in its Global Primary Products business. The restructuring will reduce the Company's global smelting capacity by 12 percent or 531,000 metric tons. Operations at Alcoa's Portovesme, Italy, as well as La Coruña and Avilés, Spain, smelters are designated for curtailment, with the intended actions to be completed in the first half of 2012. The facilities are among the highest-cost producers in the Alcoa system. Last week, Alcoa announced the permanent closure of the Company's smelter in Alcoa, Tennessee, and two potlines at its Rockdale, Texas, smelter. At Portovesme, Alcoa will begin the consultation process to permanently close...
Aluminum giant Alcoa announced Monday that it will cut production at three European plants, sparing the 30-year-old Berkeley County plant that's locked in power-cost negotiations with state-owned utility Santee Cooper. The three affected smelting operations are in Italy and Spain. Last week, Alcoa said it would close a smelter in Tennessee and close two of six potlines at a Texas plant. The plant in Italy will be shut down while two in Spain will undergo partial and temporary curtailments. "In today's rapidly changing global economy, it is imperative to respond quickly to maintain competitiveness," said Chris Ayers, Alcoa executive vice president and president of Alcoa Global Primary Products in a release. "This decision was made after thorough analysis of all the possible alternatives....
Aluminium Bahrain BSC, the second- largest producer of the metal in the Middle East, forecast that prices will recover this year as some suppliers cut output. “Less-competitive smelters will have to reduce their production capacity or even shut down” in the first half of 2012 because of low aluminum prices, Chief Executive Officer Laurent Schmitt said in an e-mailed response to questions. That would re-balance the demand and supply of aluminum “and lead to the recovery of LME prices,” he said. Aluminum for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange, the benchmark price on the world’s largest metals bourse, averaged $2,115 a metric ton in the fourth quarter. The metal traded at $1,956 on Dec. 14, a 17-month low and 30 percent less than the 2011 high of $2,803 on May 3. Alcoa...
A PROTRACTED union battle and soft aluminium prices could pose a tough year for Rio Tinto's Bell Bay operation. The company wouldn't say whether the aluminium smelter was profitable but said there were no plans to downsize the 550-person workforce or cut production. Plans to offload the ageing smelter - as part of Rio's Pacific Aluminium business - are also on hold until the market picks up. ``In the meantime, it is business as usual at Bell Bay,'' a Rio spokeswoman said. For aluminium prices it's far from business as usual. Since the global financial crisis aluminium prices have dropped 15 per cent contrasting with other metals such as copper and magnesium, the latter having soared by nearly 200 per cent. The Bell Bay smelter is also old and small meaning a higher operating cost,...
Norsk Hydro ASA is considering curtailing production at its Kurri Kurri aluminium plant in Australia. A consultation process has started with the local employees. "In response to the demanding situation, we are considering reducing aluminium production at Kurri Kurri. We will continue to stay in close dialog with all affected stakeholders, including employees, unions and the local community, throughout this process," says Hilde Merete Aasheim, executive vice president of Hydro's Primary Metal business area. This is a response to the weak macro-economic environment, with low metal prices and uncertain market outlook. In addition, Kurri Kurri is suffering from a strong Australian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar. In case of a curtailment at Kurri Kurri, Hydro is confident that customer...
Aluminium giant Alcoa kicked off the latest earnings season for America's biggest companies by reporting its first quarterly loss in more than two years. The $191m (£123m) fourth-quarter loss from Alcoa is the first evidence of the shadow that Europe's debt crisis is casting over the profits of America's multi-nationals. Aluminium, which is used by manufacturers from aircraft makers to car makers, ended the fourth quarter 11pc lower than the same quarter in 2010. The company made a profit of $248m in the fourth quarter of 2010. Alcoa said last week that it planned to shrink its global smelting capacity by 12pc in an effort to revive profits as prices decline. "You will see more supply coming out of the market if metal prices stay at these levels," said Kuni Chen, an analyst at CRT...
Norwegian metals group Norsk Hydro is considering cutting production at its Kurri Kurri aluminium plant in Australia because of depressed metal prices, the company said. A consultation period with employees and union representatives at the 180,000-tonnes-per-year facility north of Sydney was underway, Norsk said in a statement. "This is a response to the weak macro-economic environment, with low metal prices and uncertain market outlook," the company said in a statement received by Reuters. "In case of a curtailment at Kurri Kurri, Hydro is confident that customer commitments will be served through its global metal products supply system," it said. Last week, Alcoa Inc, the largest U.S. producer of aluminium, was the first to announce a cutback in response to steep aluminium price falls,...
January is off to a strong start in the North American billet market as producers report a pickup in inquiries from customers looking for additional spot metal following an abnormally slow contract season. The mating season for the 2012 contract year was unusually sluggish this fall as cautious customers were wary about locking in long-term metal in an uncertain market (AMM, Nov. 21). That pullback in contract buying has prompted the increase in spot deal inquiries seen so far this January and could lead to more spot activity in coming months, producers said, noting that any prolonged pickup could help support premiums. "The billet folks did not contract aggressive supply for this year. They were worried," the second producer said. "I think you’ll start seeing some aggressive spot...
Swiftness of recovery in demand during CY10 significantly reduced the gap between global production and consumption of aluminium. The earlier fall in global metal demand, which prompted many companies to idle their capacities; gave an opportunity to the same players to restart their operations either fully or partially. In line with the robust growth in demand, the industry also witnessed a substantial increase in global production of aluminium. CY10 recorded a rise in primary aluminium production by about 11% when compared with CY09. CARE Research's report on the Aluminium Industry' is an analytical study of the industry, which rationally discusses the past and the current performance of the industry, and gives an insight of trends that will emanate in future. The report provides a...
Despite a stalemate on solving the European debt crisis, rumors of aluminum output cuts across the globe had driven up LME aluminum a little bit on Wednesday. The metal closed overnight at USD 2,172/mt, up USD 14/mt or 0.65% from the previous trading day. Positions for the metal dropped further below 920,000 lots. China’s CPI data for the past December will come out today. SMM expects LME aluminum to test support at USD 2,150/mt and to challenge USD 2,200/mt with the support of output cut rumors during today’s trading. The most active SHFE four-month aluminum contract is expected to open at RMB 16,250/mt and meet resistance at RMB 16,300/mt due to weak demand. Low interest for spot aluminum is thought to keep spot discounts over the SHFE current-month aluminum price above RMB 50/mt, but...
Canada produces 2 9 million tons of aluminum per year of which 2.6 million tons are produced in quebec.. Even if production is cut by 20 %, Quebec will need Alumina to produce 2.1 million tons of alumina which equates to + or - circa 4 million tons of alumina. Considering that Alumina can be produced and shipped cheaper by Orbite when starting from Zip, does anyone believe that the production cuts will affect Orbites attempts in getting SGA Alumina being shippped within the same province ??? Funny thing is alcoa is expanding production in this province...I guess at the cost of production being cut elsewhere such as in the states. as announced. I would also think going forward, Aluminum may very well be used in infrastructure projects in the future as the Governments tendering process for...
The supply of aluminum is being crimped, but demand remains the key for the market, said Goldman Sachs in a briefing. According to Goldman, more than 4% of global aluminum capacity is likely to be lost due to the combination of low prices, along with non-market factors such as disruptions in power supplies, over the last three to four months. Further, there is scope for further supply cuts, with some Chinese output losing money and costs expected to keep rising. But while supply cuts are important, Goldman said its mildly bullish first-half view on aluminum is predicated primarily on rising global demand. “We assume an end to de-stocking in Europe, a re-acceleration of Chinese aluminum end-use growth, and moderately higher U.S. demand, which has been reinforced by recent good macro data...
