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 United States Geological Survey found incessant drops in America’s aluminium scrap exports to China over the months. As September was not an exception, it saw a decline of 26 per cent month-on-month amounting to 19,600 tonnes. In August 2019, the United States’ aluminium scrap exports to China were 26,500 tonnes after declining by 15.33 per cent from 31,300 tonnes in July. In June, the export volume was 31,800 tonnes, which represents the fact that July saw a drop of 1.57 per cent. This shows the United States aluminium scrap export drop has been growing month on month since July. Year-on-year, the US aluminium scrap exports to China stood lower by 23.73 per cent in September 2019 from 25,700 tonnes, according to the USGS data. In the total nine months of the year, China secured...
City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council has reportedly launched a marketing campaign to encourage residents to recycle aluminium foil trays and family wrapping foil of their gray recycling bin. Besides, different metallic packaging resembling meals/drink cans and empty aerosols are also being encouraged to recycle through this camp. It’s stunning how a lot of foil is utilized in our properties, from preparing meal and takeaway trays to chocolate wrapping and the lids on dairy merchandise, said the Council. The Council urged to empty foils from any meals residue before disposing of in the gray recycling bin. Smaller items of foil usually used in dairy lids or chocolate foil are urged to be scrunched collectively to make a bigger ball of foil before being disposed of, in a bid to...
According to a recent report, the slowdown in the automobile sector in India could not resist the rise in aluminium scrap imports during April-September of the financial year 2019-20. As per the data submitted to the Ministry of Finance, citing figures from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the imports have risen by 6.5 per cent, while the Indian auto sector’s production tumbled 13 per cent. “In the garb of imports for the auto sector, scrap is being consumed in other sectors like electrical transmission and utensils. But the use of scrap in such sectors is detrimental and only primary aluminium should be used,” said an industry source. The Aluminium Association of India (AAI) feels the benign import duty of 2.5 per cent on scrap is unable to restrict inbound...
According to the United States Geological Survey, the country in the first month of Q4 2019 (September) exported 155,000 tonnes, down 6.06 per cent from 165,000 tonnes in August 2019. The export volume in August was, however, higher month-on-month by 8.5 per cent from 152,000 tonnes in July. In June, as the United States’ aluminium scrap export volume was 159,000 tonnes, the export in July saw a drop of 4.4 per cent. The above data represents the fact that since July, the United States’ aluminium scrap exports have been seeing declines in alternate months. Year-on-year, the country’s total exports in September 2019 were up by 9.92 per cent from 141,000 tonnes. Also, the total scrap exports from January to September came in higher this year from 1.25 million tonnes during the same period...
According to the latest report from United States Geological Survey for aluminium, total aluminium recovered from scrap (recovery from purchased, tolled, or imported scrap) in September 2019 stood at 284,000 tonne, slightly less than the amount in August 2019. The volume is 9% less than the amount in September 2018, and 6% less than that in September 2017. Of this, 159,000 tonnes of aluminium were recovered from new scrap and 125,000 tonnes were recovered from old scrap. For the first nine months of 2019, total aluminium recovery from scrap stood at about 2.56 million tonnes, down 8.5% from 2.8 million tonnes in the same period of 2018. Of this, 1.4 million tonnes of aluminium were recovered from new scrap and 1.14 million tonnes were recovered from old scrap. Aluminium recovered from...
Shanghai Metals Market survey found Chinese secondary aluminium producers operating rates continued to increase in November amidst rising demand from downstream automakers at year-end. According to the data, the operating rates across Chinese secondary aluminium producers rose to 62.57 per cent in November, up 0.05 percentage point month on month and 1.05 percentage points over the year. In October, the operating rates were 61.52 per cent after recording a rise of 0.83 percentage point from September and 4,71 percentage points from October 2018. Large-scale secondary aluminium producers contributed to most of the rise in operating rate. Also, improved orders from carmarkers boosted operating rates at some major producers of secondary aluminium to the highest level this year. However, the...
According to a recent report, the Aluminium Association of India has urged the government to raise basic customs duty across all aluminium products in a range of 2.5 per cent to 5 per cent for restricting metal scrap imports. The association suggests the duty to be incorporated in the upcoming Union Budget for the financial year 2020-21. The association has pointed out that despite sufficient domestic capacity of scrap, India imports 60 per cent of its consumption, primarily from China, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and West Asia. “These countries support their aluminium industry and provide concessions/subsidies with low interest rate loans, cheaper power tariffs, preferential gas allocation, raw materials availability, tax benefits and export tax incentives bringing...
Novelis, the world leader in aluminium rolling and recycling, emphasized its commitment towards shaping the future for mobility at today’s Volvo Cars Sustainability Dialogue 2019 in Gothenburg, Sweden by highlighting the closed-loop recycling system it implemented with Volvo Cars in 2019. Through the closed-loop system, the companies work together to take back Volvo’s production scrap which allows for significant CO 2 saving and minimizes the primary aluminium input. This reduces the CO 2 footprint of the aluminium sheet delivered to Volvo Cars by 78% and secures that their production scrap remains in the value-chain and is transformed in the same high-quality products infinitely. Closing the loop also involved introducing greener logistics: Shifting transportation of the aluminium sheet...
Singapore exports substantial amount of aluminium scrap globally and has a huge demand in various countries in India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Thailand. India has been the top importer of aluminium scrap from Singapore. According to recent estimates, Singapore’s exports to India stood at 40564 tonnes in 2018, an increase of 224.23% or 28053 tonnes from 2017’s exports of 12511 tonnes and 937.18% or 36653 tonnes from 2016’s exports of 3911 tonnes. This trend is likely to continue in 2019. Export to India is estimated to rise to 57222 tonnes this year, with a year-on-year increase of 41.07% or 16658 tonnes. According to recent estimates, Singapore exported about 7352 tonnes of aluminium scrap in 2016. In 2017 and 2018, the amount inched up by 169.02% and 184.19% year-on-year to...
Significant growth in the use of aluminium in transport and packaging industries in the US has resulted in the increasing availability of aluminium scrap and thereby, encouraging recyclers to expand their capacity. Those who are already expanding include Novelis, Matalco, and JW Aluminium. Novelis last month had announced its plan to invest $36 million to boost and upgrade recycling capacity at its Greensboro facility in the US. The project is expected to complete during the second half of 2021. Matalco is also planning a new $80 million aluminium recycling facility in Wisconsin, while JW Aluminium is expanding its facility in Goose Creek in South Carolina. The increasing availability of aluminium scrap in the US has lowered the price, on the other hand. A proxy for auto scrap is the...
Indonesia’s imports of aluminium scrap from the US stood 17.85% higher month-on-month in August. Scrap imports amounted to 9,440 tonnes as compared to 8,010 tonnes in July. Compared to June, imports registered a growth of 35.05% or 2,450 tonnes. Aluminium scrap imports in August inched up by 7.76% from May’s import of 8,760 tonnes and 1.72% from April’s import of 9,280 tonnes. Indonesia imported 69,600 tonnes of aluminium scrap from the US in the first eight months of 2019, as updated by the US Census Bureau. Total aluminium imports (crude metals and alloys, semi-finished, and scrap) totalled 9,540 tonnes in August and 69,800 tonnes in January-August. On the export side, Indonesia exported 5,290 tonnes of aluminium semi-finished products to the US in August, from 5,970 tonnes exported in...
Japan, a key producer of aluminium semi-finished products, which procures its aluminium through import and secondary recovery produced 67,000 tonnes of secondary aluminium in the month of September, Japan Aluminium Association data shows. Japan produced 596,000 tonnes of secondary aluminium in the first nine months of 2019. The production dropped 2.3% from 610,000 tonnes produced in the same period of 2018. For the whole year 2018, Japan produced 827,000 tonnes of secondary aluminium, which was about three per cent more from 2017. Based on the current rate of production, total secondary or recycled aluminium production in Japan is likely to stand at about 800,000 tonnes in 2019. The major part of recycled aluminium is produced from domestically procured scraps coming from its growing...
Aluminium scrap exports from Mexico to the United States continued to fall month-on-month in August by about 19 per cent, found the United States Geological Survey. From 12,800 tonnes in July, Mexico’s exports to the US declined to 10,400 tonnes in August. In May and June, on the other hand, the country's exports were 15,100 tonnes and 14,500 tonnes, respectively, representing the fact that Mexico’s aluminium scrap exports to the US had been decreasing since May. While in June the amount decreased by 4 per cent, in July it dropped by 12 per cent month-on-month, which indicates another fact that the declining rate in exports has been increasing over the months. Mexico’s total aluminium scrap exports to the US during May-August came in at 52,800 tonnes and since January 105,000 tonnes. This...
China issued a fresh batch of import quotas for aluminium scrap for 2019 on Tuesday, with the quota volume declining sharply as expected. The China Solid Waste and Chemicals Management Bureau, a unit of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, issued import quotas for another 9,844 mt of aluminium scrap. The latest batch of quotas was allocated to 15 companies, which have obtained 13,834 mt of import quotas for the fourth quarter, down 70.52% from 46,930 mt from Q319. China has granted three batches of import quotas of a cumulative total of 68,549 mt for aluminium scrap for Q4, down 83.09% from 405,416 mt in all the four batches of quotas for Q319. Data from China customs showed that about 459,000 mt of foreign aluminium scrap was imported into China in July to October, after restrictions...
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has approved Alliance Metals’ application for an air quality permit for its proposed US$30 million secondary aluminium smelting plant in La Paz County, Arizona, a local media report says. Loren Barton, vice president of Miami-based Alliance Metals USA said that the smelter will include "state-of-the-art technology, infrastructure and mitigation controls to contain emissions and protect air and water quality." A meeting today, at the proposed site for the facility in Wenden, Arizona, will consider Alliance Metals' request to rezone the land from a “rural area” to an “industrial planned development” area. The facility would recycle aluminium scrap to produce aluminium ingots for the auto, aerospace or military industries. The facility is expected...
Trailblazers Life Choices has been saving pull tabs from beverage cans for various charities to aid in the purchase of wheelchairs. The organization has been already successful in its efforts. Trailblazers is a non-profit agency dedicated to supporting adults living with disabilities operating since 2005. According to Shasta Fisher of Trailblazers Life Choices, a basic wheelchair costs $6,000, which can be procured in exchange for 95,000 pounds or 10 million aluminium tabs. "There is approximately 1,500 tabs to a pound, which is worth $60," Fisher explained. Trailblazers purchased three wheelchairs for its clients from their collection of pull tabs in 2019, Fisher said. "People drop off anything — from Ziploc bags to carloads," she said. Tabs may come from food cans as well as drink cans....
Co-op has teamed up with the Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro) to encourage the recycling of aluminium over the Christmas period. Co-op and Alupro have urged all UK local authorities to accept aluminium foil for recycling along with food cans and glass bottles. Michael Fletcher, Chief Commerical Officer at Co-op commented: “How we do business really matters. The world is experiencing a climate crisis and we need to work together to avoid it. Accelerating action is the only way to mitigate and reduce impacts on our natural world, and to ensure stable food supply chains in the future. “We are committed in helping our members and customers to make environmentally friendly choices and reducing the environmental impact of products is and always has been at the core of Co-op....
Followed by the invitation issued by Nespresso in late March 2019 to join its recycling programme, Dutch beverage brand Jacobs Douwe Egberts (JDE) has recently stepped forward and formed an alliance with Nespresso for recycling aluminium coffee capsules in France. The news came as Arnaud Deschamps, Managing Director of Nespresso in France, said: “It is our aim to ensure that all aluminium capsules in France are recycled. Given that aluminium is 100 per cent recyclable, it is our responsibility as a company to establish a system to ensure it is recycled effectively.” Nespresso had issued an invitation urging portioned coffee manufacturers to join its recycling programme aimed at improving the accessibility and convenience of aluminium capsule recycling. Nespresso and JDE are now reportedly...
