
Europe’s recycled aluminium industry is an important component of the global secondary aluminium supply chain, with Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom (UK) representing key national markets. Production across the European region stood at nearly 6 million tonnes in 2023, supported by established scrap recovery systems, industrial recycling capacity and demand for recycled metal. Russia also contributes to the regional landscape through secondary aluminium production units concentrated in several industrial centres. According to AL Circle’s analysis in its report, “ World Recycled ALuminium Market Analysis Industry Forecast ”, the four countries present different market structures, from Germany’s substantial recycling capacity and Italy’s scrap-based production to the UK’s organised...
According to SMM survey statistics, the operating rate of the secondary aluminium alloy industry in September was 35.0 per cent, up 3.1 percentage points M-o-M but down 6.7 percentage points Y-o-Y. Industry production continued its recovery trend, but the overall operating level remained below the same period last year. On the demand side, September marked the traditional peak consumption season, with downstream orders recovering from August. End-use demand from automobiles and other sectors improved marginally, but the peak season effect has yet to fully materialise. According to CAAM data, automobile production in September was 2.99 million units, up 11.4 per cent M-o-M but down 8.7 per cent Y-o-Y. NEV production was 1.814 million units, up 12.2 per cent Y-o-Y. CAAM noted that China's...
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The economy of Croatia is a developing high-income service-based economy and with the tertiary sector accounting for 60% of total gross domestic product (GDP). The Croatian economy is one of the strongest economies in Southeast Europe. COVID-19 Pandemic has caused more than 400.000 workers to file for a minimum net wage of 3,250 HRK given by the Government of Croatia as an aid to firms and companies for them not to fire their workers. The export goods of the nation comprise of transport equipment, machinery, textiles, chemicals, foodstuffs, fuels. Croatia’s aluminium scrap export data reveals that during 2017-19 the export volume reached to 88,826 tonnes and the revenue earned stood at $90.80 million. The projected export volume for 2020 has been analysed at 42,002 tonnes and the revenue...

Thailand’s imports of aluminium scrap from the US stood at 5,880 tonnes in March, an increase of 569.7% from 878 tonnes in March 2019. On a month-on-month basis, imports registered a rise of 11.36% from 5,280 tonnes in February, as updated by the US Census Bureau. In the first quarter of 2020, Thailand imported 16,200 tonnes of aluminium scrap, from 2,340 tonnes imported in the first quarter of 2019. This marked an increase of 592.31% year-on-year. Thailand’s imports of total aluminium (semi-finished products, crude metals and alloy and scrap) from the US stood at 5,980 tonnes in March 2020, a rise of 448.62% from 1,090 tonnes in March 2019. Imports increased by 10.33% from February’s imports of 5,420 tonnes. In Q1 2020, total imports came in at 16,500 tonnes, an increase of 455.56% from...

India’s imports of aluminium scrap from the US stood at 34,100 tonnes in March, with a month-on-month increase of 3.65%. India had imported 32,900 tonnes in February 2020. On a yearly basis, imports increased by 31% from 26,100 tonnes in March 2019, as updated by the US Census Bureau. In the first quarter of 2020, India imported 95,900 tonnes of aluminium scrap, from 61,700 tonnes imported in the first quarter of 2019. This marked an increase of 55.43% year-on-year. India’s imports of total aluminium (semi-finished products, crude metals and alloy and scrap) from the US stood at 34,300 tonnes in March 2020, a rise of 30.42% from 26,300 tonnes in March 2019. Imports increased by 3.94% from February’s imports of 33,000 tonnes. In Q1 2020, total imports came in at 96,300 tonnes, an increase...

According to Shanghai Metals Market, operating rates across China’s secondary aluminium industry increased 1.6 percentage points month-on-month to stand at 48.69 per cent in May. In April, China’s secondary aluminium industry’s operating rates were 47.08 per cent, lowering 0.22 percentage point from the previous month. However, year-on-year, China’s May secondary aluminium operating rates inched down by 5 percentage points, showed the SMM data. The month-on-month hike in Chinese secondary aluminium operating rates in May could be attributed to the ramp-up of operations with the slight improvement of auto sales amid the government’s stimulus efforts. Industry data showed China’s production and sales of automobiles recorded double-digit growth in May from a year ago. On the other hand, the...

Shanghai Metals Market reveals that China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment has issued the eighth batch of copper and aluminium scrap quotas for 2020 on Tuesday, June 16. The authorities confirmed that the eighth batch of metal scrap quotas would allow additional 5,840 tonnes of high-grade aluminium scrap to enter China. This marks a significant rise of 4,360 tonnes from 1480 tonnes allowed in the seventh batch . While in the sixth batch, the ministry had granted 1,030 tonnes of additional imports to China. Thus, with the latest expansion, the cumulative quotas for this year have reached 483,999 tonnes, according to Shanghai Metals Market. China is expanding its aluminium scrap import quotas anticipating the usage of secondary aluminium to replace the primary metal. At China Aluminium...

The United Kingdom-based waste management company Viridor has once again bagged the contract, worth £10 million, to process Ealing Council’s dry mixed recycling, with effect from June 6. As per the contract, Viridor is accountable for processing around 24,000 tonnes of dry recycling annually collected in Ealing for the next five years. Recycling would include aluminium cans, glass, paper, card, and plastics, and the processing would be done at Viridor’s Crayford Materials Recycling Facility (MRF). Earlier, Viridor won the same contract in 2016 and processed Ealing’s recycled material for the past four years, following Ealing Council’s decision to move to a comingled recycling collection service. Crayford Materials Recycling Facility currently receives 300,000 tonnes of comingled dry...

The German-based Scholz Recycling Group and Shandong Weiqiao Pioneering Group Co. have signed a memorandum of understanding to build a recycling industrial park in the Chinese City of Binzhou. Scholz Recycling Group plans to expand its recycling business in China. Rafael Suchan, Chief Executive Officer at Scholz and its parent company Chiho Environmental Group, signed MoU together with Shandong Weiqiao Pioneering Group Co., Ltd.. “This signature hopefully marks the next step for Scholz and shows that our unique recycling know-how is crucial for securing supply chains sustainably – especially in those difficult times”, Mr Suchan SAID. The industrial recycling park will source more than 200,000 tonnes of aluminium scrap for Hongqiao, a Weiqiao subsidiary. This will further reduce emissions...

The Environment Agency reported that 17,066 tonnes of aluminium packaging were collected for recycling in the UK in May. Recycling rates was up 48% year-on-year. Aupro executive director Rick Hindley said: “The UK’s PRN data for May shows a dramatic increase, both month-on-month and year-on-year, in aluminium packaging recycling rates. “Alongside greater public awareness about the benefits of recycling and an increase in the number of companies – including incinerator bottom ash processors – accredited for reprocessing, impressive rates can be attributed to the Covid-19 lockdown and resulting increase in household recycling volumes. Over the past three month, some 38,014 tonnes of aluminium packaging were collected for recycling, from 25,986 tonnes of packaging were collected last year....

The economy of Lebanon is classified as a developing, upper-middle-income economy. The nominal GDP was estimated $54.1 billion in 2018, with a per capita GDP amounting to $12,000. Government spending amounted to $15.9 billion in 2018 or 23% of GDP. The major industries of the country are banking, tourism, real estate and construction, food processing, wine, jewellery, cement, textiles, mineral and chemical products, wood and furniture products, oil refining, metal fabricating. The aluminium scrap export of Lebanon in 2017 was recorded only 6319 tonnes and the revenue income stood at $9.09 million, whereas in 2018 the aluminium scrap export saw growth by 237.63%, as the total export volume reflected at 21,355 tonnes with Y-o-Y excess volume of 15,016 tonnes and the revenue generation...

At China Aluminium Processing Industry Summit 2020, Racket Hu, Vice President of SMM, said the usage of recycled aluminium in place of primary metal would continue in the long term, given the advantages of recycling in terms of cost and environment-friendliness. Speaking at the summit in Yantai, Hu noted that China’s demand for aluminium scrap would recover in the next decade. His prediction came just when Chinese aluminium users found their alternative in primary metal due to shortages of scrap and sharply lower primary aluminium prices on the back of the lockdown restrictions imposed by several countries outside China in late March. According to SMM data, China's secondary aluminium casting plants increased their usage of primary aluminium to a ratio of 20 per cent from earlier 2 per...

A start-up renewable energy company has invented a low-cost, zero-emissions solution to the problems that occur while the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. In contraction, the more the world grabs clean energy like solar and wind, the more it must support something remarkably less-clean—diesel fuel or batteries. In a building cut-off from a reliable grid powered by fossil fuel, diesel generators might be used to cover the hours of darkness when solar panels cease providing electricity. An alternative to this is to store the energy generated from the sun during the day in batteries, but along with representing a serious recycling problem, batteries require rare-earth minerals that are obtained from environmentally-destructive mining operations. Jonas Eklind, CEO of Azelio said:...

European aluminium scrap suppliers need to expand their customer base to maintain healthy business levels as manufacturing industries slow against recessionary forces driven by the COVID-19 epidemic. However, it will be a difficult venture with so many consumers facing uncertain futures. Murat Bayram, Director and Head of European Non-Ferrous business at EMR Ltd. said: "Space is limited on the yard and if the metal isn't flowing out anymore, you have to do something," director of European Metal Recycling's (EMR) European non-ferrous business. We will see problems on the aluminium side, not only in autos but in aerospace and others too." The lockdowns imposed in Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic, reflected scrap generation decline as factory activities remained suspended and third-party...

Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro) has reportedly signed a deal with Resource Efficient Data to have access to the Cardiff-based data start-up’s UK waste data platform. The platform houses open source data from Waste Data Flow, which is a web-based system for municipal waste data reporting used by local authorities. Rick Hindley, executive director of Alupro, said: “We immediately saw the benefit and ease of use of using Resource Efficient Data’s platform of UK waste data. It will help us to analyse and compare data even further, in particular with our MetalMatters programme we run with our local authority partners.” MetalMatters is an industry-funded programme aimed at increasing the capture rate of metal packaging collected for recycling at the kerbside. Mr Hindley also...

Taiwan’s imports of aluminium scrap from the US stood at 3,480 tonnes in February, with a month-on-month decrease of 1.97%. Taiwan had imported 3,550 tonnes in January 2020. On a yearly basis, imports reduced by 47.7% from 6,650 tonnes in February 2019, as updated by the US Census Bureau. In the first two months, Taiwan imported 7,030 tonnes of aluminium scrap, from 14,500 tonnes imported in the first two months of 2019. This marked a drop of 51.5% year-on-year. Taiwan’s imports of total aluminium (semi-finished products, crude metals and alloy and scrap) from the US stood at 4,100 tonnes in February 2020, a decrease of 41.68% from 7,030 tonnes in February 2019. Imports inched down by 1.2% from January’s imports of 4,150 tonnes. In January-February, total imports came in at 8,250 tonnes,...

As the United States Geological Survey found, Canada’s aluminium scrap imports from the US extended growth in February by 4.03 per cent month-on-month. In January 2020, Canada imported 6,950 tonnes of aluminium scrap from the US, which in February increased to 7,230 tonnes, according to the data released by the USGS. The imports in January had grown by 9.11 per cent from 6,370 tonnes in December 2019. In November, Canada’s aluminium scrap imports from the US were 7,550 tonnes, meaning the imports in December were down by 15.63 per cent. Year-on-year, Canada’s aluminium scrap imports from the US in February 2020 were almost flat compared to 7,270 tonnes of imports during the same period last year. Canada’s total aluminium scrap imports from the US during January-February 2020 were 14,200...

Switzerland, a country that espouses neutrality, is a prosperous and modern market economy with low unemployment, a highly skilled labour force, and a per capita GDP among the highest in the world. The economy of Switzerland is one of the world's most advanced free-market economies. The service sector has come to play a significant economic role, particularly the Swiss banking industry and tourism and industries like machinery, chemicals, watches, textiles, precision instruments, pharmaceuticals also has a vast contribution towards the economy of the country. The aluminium scrap import of Switzerland in 2017-19 reflected an enterprising market as the total import volume recorded at 181,190 tonnes and the expenditure recorded was $344.12 million. But the projected for 2020 import has been...

Tasmania will be hosting the southern hemisphere's first production of lucrative aluminium fluoride. The project can crop up the possibilities to deliver an annual revenue stream of about $20 million, and that too before its potential expansion. The initiatives for a production facility at Bell Bay were augmented by the recent results of chemical analysis from The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), an Australian federal government agency responsible for scientific research. ALCORE Limited is an 89% owned subsidiary of Tasmanian miner Australian Bauxite Limited. It stated: “CSIRO laboratory results showed aluminium fluoride produced by its research centre in New South Wales was of commercial chemical grades.” ALCORE said: “Its method involved the world's...

South Korea's imports of aluminium scrap from the US stood at 23,700 tonnes in February, with a month-on-month increase of 6.28%. South Korea had imported 22,300 tonnes in January 2020. On a yearly basis, imports increased by 0.42% from 23,600 tonnes in February 2019, as updated by the US Census Bureau. In the first two months, South Korea imported 46,000 tonnes of aluminium scrap, from 43,900 tonnes imported in the first two months of 2019. This marked an increase of 4.78% year-on-year. South Korea's imports of total aluminium (semi-finished products, crude metals and alloy and scrap) from the US stood at 26,000 tonnes in February 2020, a decrease of 1.52% from 26,400 tonnes in February 2019. Imports increased by 5.26% from January’s imports of 24,700 tonnes. In January-February, total...