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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Alcoa Inc. and Boeing Co.announced Wednesday at the Paris Air Show that they will be teaming up to form a closed-loop program aimed at significantly increasing the recycling of internal aluminum aerospace alloys used in the production of Boeing airplanes. Alcoa said the program will entail intermodal transport of aluminum alloy scrap material from Boeing's facilities in Auburn and Wichita, as well as third-party processors in Auburn, to Alcoa's Lafayette, Ind., facility for melting and recycling into new aerospace materials. The company said the program lays the framework to expand recycling to a broader supply chain and all forms of aluminum. Alcoa predicts that at the outset of the program, approximately 8 million pounds of aluminum will be recycled annually. “This program will maximize...
The fee buyers pay to obtain aluminum in the U.S. climbed to a record amid longer waits for warehouse supplies and reduced availability of scrap metal, Harbor Intelligence said. The so-called Midwest premium is 12 cents to 13 cents a pound, an all-time high, according to Harbor Intelligence, an Austin, Texas-based researcher. The fee was 11.75 cents to 12.5 cents earlier this month. The surcharge is added to the price of aluminum for immediate delivery on the London Metal Exchange. “A steady supply of metal is getting into warehouses and lengthening queues,” Jorge Vazquez, a managing director at Harbor, said in a telephone interview. “We’re also seeing tighter markets for scrap and off-grade metals, as well as a slight pickup in physical demand outside the LME.” Orders to remove aluminum...
Russian AK5M2 aluminum alloy offers were holding at $2,000-2,040/mt CFR Japan Friday, flat day on day, despite falling US scrap prices and lower London Metal Exchange aluminum prices, Japanese buyers said. AK5M2 alloy, or melted scrap aluminum, is used as feedstock for ADC12 secondary aluminum alloy production in Japan and southeast Asia. One Japanese aluminum smelter source said offers for AK5M2 with 1% zinc and 0.85% magnesium were at $2,000-2,040/mt CFR Japan for July-August loading for 20-80 mt volumes, flat week on week. In the US, the spot price of old cast - feedstock for secondary aluminum alloy production - fell to 69-71/lb on a delivered basis Thursday, from 71-73 cents/lb Monday, according to Platts assessments. Platts price assessments for other scrap also fell by 1-4...
European secondary aluminium ingot notched up higher prices on Friday June 14, as producers secured higher prices even as London Metal Exchange aluminium prices faltered during the last week. Earlier, DIN226 pressure diecasting ingot prices increased to €1,740-1,780 ($2,778-2,838) per tonne from €1,730-1,800, though usually ingot prices dip as the LME prices fall. On June 13, three-month aluminium settled at $1,855.5/856 per tonne, after ticking at $1,968/68.5 per tonne last week. Aluminium prices rose as the consumers following media reports on the loss-making operations of ingot producers and the imminent curtailment in operation led the consumers for long term purchases of the material. “Consumers have low stocks and have been buying hand-to-mouth to grab the lowest prices,” a producer...
Government “meddling” in the form of bans and other restrictions on nonferrous scrap exports reflected the influence of consumers “who falsely believe that scrap processed within their borders by us is inherently theirs to consume, regardless of its origin,” BIR Nonferrous Metals Division President Robert Stein of U.S.-based Alter Trading told the divisional meeting in Shanghai on May 27. Stein’s comments came at the end of a month in which the Indian government had raised the basic customs duty on aluminum scrap imports to 2.5 percent and had re-imposed the 4 percent special additional duty of customs on brass scrap imports—moves he described as “yet another obstacle to the natural flow of metals around the world.” “The markets are the best at determining where our scrap is shipped; the...
Novelis on Wednesday celebrated the roofing of its $250 million aluminum recycling and casting center at its plant in Nachterstedt, Germany, with building construction partner Köster GmbH. Located adjacent to the company’s existing aluminum rolling mill, the new center will produce up to 400,000 metric tons of aluminum sheet ingot from recycled material annually, and is projected to be the world’s largest aluminum recycling center. “Installation of the roof is an important milestone for this major project, which remains on track for completion in July 2014,” said Erwin Mayr, President, Novelis Europe. “Interior work will begin immediately and equipment installation will begin this fall.” The new center will support the company’s drive to increase end-of-life recycling in Europe, where...
Wells Fargo Capital Finance, part of Wells Fargo & Company, announced it acted as left lead arranger, book manager, and administrative agent on a $1 billion, multi-currency, senior secured revolving credit facility for Novelis, Inc. The credit facility refinanced Novelis’ existing credit facility, and funded working capital needs, capital expenditures and general corporate purposes. “We are pleased to have been able to complete such an important financing for Novelis as their business continues to grow around the world,” said Henry Jordan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Wells Fargo Capital Finance. “By utilizing the expertise of our London business unit, Burdale Financial Limited, this transaction demonstrated the expanding capabilities that Wells Fargo Capital Finance offers its...
The German recycling company ALBA Group, based in Cologne, has agreed to expand its recycling business partnership with China’s Jiangsu Miracle Logistics System Engineering Co. Ltd. The expansion was commemorated with a signing ceremony meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the new Prime Minister of China, Li Keqiang. In a press release, Alba notes that the two companies have cooperated in scrap car recycling in Tongling (Anhui Province) since August 2012. In the expansion of its partnership arrangement ALBA says that its recycling operations with Miracle Logistics will now include nonferrous scrap recycling. “We are very pleased that we are able to further expand our cooperation with Miracle. Our long-term goal is to work together with the Miracle Group to establish a model...
Showa Denko K.K. and its Group companies continued to perform their aluminum can recycling activities in fiscal 2012, collecting approximately 5.69 million cans: equivalent to around 92 tons of aluminum when converted at the rate of 16.2 grams of aluminum per can. Showa Aluminum Can Corporation, a consolidated subsidiary of SDK, started aluminum can recycling activities in 1972. The activities spread across the Showa Denko Group in 2001, continuing until today. In fiscal 2012, a total of 8,721 employees, or 95.1% of all Group employees in Japan, participated in the activities. While the rate was the highest on record, the Group is working further to achieve participation by all employees. The collected aluminum cans are used by Showa Aluminum Can Corporation to produce aluminum beverage...
METEF organizes tenth edition of ITA – METEF/FOUNDEQ/METALRICICLO at Veronafiere, Italy, from 11 to 13 June 2014. The three day event is dedicated to the aluminium and innovative metals production chain. METEF will present opportunities for visibility and business at Veronafiere, one of the top exhibition centres in the market and will continue to have the support and expertise of Alfin-Edimet, founder and promoter of the event since 1997. Conceived as the exhibition dedicated to the aluminium industry, over the years, METEF has completed the business sectors represented, including all metals and completing the production chain with: FOUNDEQ – international foundry equipment exhibition, METALRICICLO, dedicated to the industrial recovery and recycling of materials, and present for the...
Global trading house Trafigura AG/Nems (USA) Inc. is considering an entry into the U.S. secondary aluminum market, market sources said. To date, Trafigura’s only known involvement has been as a trader of the London Metal Exchange's North American special aluminum alloy contract (Nasaac), a secondary aluminum alloy that is similar to the free-market A380.1 specification alloy, largely used in the automotive sector. However, some sources suggest that Trafigura is now considering participation in the aluminum scrap market, although it is still unclear whether this would entail taking physical positions on scrap for later trading or acquiring scrap for conversion into ingot. A Trafigura spokesman declined to comment, but a source familiar with the development said the company is looking at...
Mill-grade aluminum scrap prices strengthened on May 30, in step with an increase in primary metal on the London Metal Exchange. Prices for 5052 segregated low-copper alloy clips rose to 88 to 90 cents per pound from 87 to 89 cents, 3105 clips increased to 80 to 82 cents per pound from 79 to 81 cents, mill-grade mixed low-copper alloy clips edged up a penny to 78 to 80 cents per pound from 77 to 79 cents, and painted siding strengthened to 74 to 76 cents per pound from 73 to 75 cents previously. "This market has been range-bound for a while now," one scrap trader said. "Give this thing a couple of days, and everything will head back down. I think that for prices to really increase, we would have to see some very positive news coming out of Europe or China." The cash primary aluminum...
Danieli Centro Recycling, based in Buttrio, Italy, a division of Danieli Group, has announced several recent recycling equipment projects. In the recent development, the company announced that it has been awarded a contract to supply three DCR 1822 aluminum shredding recycling lines with downstream processes to Novelis Nachterstedt in Germany. Novelis is currently building one of the world’s largest aluminum recycling facilities in Germany.
Novelis Inc., is expanding its Korean operations to meet growing industrial demand for a variety of aluminum sheets. Using its success here as a springboard, it has made inroads into China and Southeast Asia to become an industry leader in rapidly growing areas. Novelis, which is based in Atlanta, is one of few multinational companies that operate its Asia-Pacific headquarters out of Korea. The company entered Asia’s fourth-largest economy more than 20 years ago and currently runs two plants in the southeastern part of the country, employing nearly 1,400 workers. “We have been in Korea for over two decades operating an aluminum rolling plant in Ulsan and an aluminum can recycling plant in Yeongju,” Novelis Asia CEO, Shashi Maudgal said. “The nation is a key market for us with a...
Some grades of secondary smelters’ aluminum scrap fell on May 28, as market participants said that scrap supply continued to loosen over the past week. Prices for old sheet, which serves as a primary feedstock for the production of aluminum alloy A380.1, fell a penny to 67 to 69 cents per pound from 68 to 70 cents per pound May 23. "People are acting like there is plenty of scrap to go around," one scrap trader said. "I am not sure that that opinion is entirely true. We are still seeing some overall tightness in terms of supply." Used beverage cans followed trends in terminal markets on May 28, with prices moving to 73 to 75 cents per pound picked up from 74 to 76 cents. The cash primary aluminum contract on the London Metal Exchange ended the official session at $1,808 per tonne (82...
Indian foundry units are facing a severe threat of losing USD 1.95 billion of exports business to competing countries like China and Taiwan due to the recent levy of import duty on metal scrap - the only raw material for producing critical equipment for the heavy-engineering sector. Effective May 8, the government levied 2.5 per cent of import duty on all types of scrap imports, including aluminium, stainless steel, iron and steel. Also, four per cent of special additional duty (SAD) was levied on brass scrap -used for manufacturing brass artifacts, popular in developed countries. Since, India does not generate adequate metal scrap to meet the annual requirements to produce 10 tonnes of castings, it imports it from other countries. "The import duty on scraps of iron and steel, stainless...
Intensive use of aluminum in vehicles is growing more than 25% a year, signalling "a gigantic and permanent change" in the automotive industry, spurred on by new regulations on fuel economy and carbon emissions, the chief executive officer of a major aluminum sheet producer said. While aluminum today accounts for a small percentage of vehicles' body structure, at 1%, this could more than double to 2.5% by the end of the decade, in addition to the already extensive use of aluminum castings in vehicle engines, Mr. Martens said. "Total tonnage of sheet aluminum today used in the automotive sector is 450,000 tons a year," Mr. Martens said. "This will probably grow three-fold by the end of the decade." In response to accelerating demand, Novelis is currently investing more than $400 million in...
Novelis Inc. is adapting its plant in Goettingen, Germany, to meet growing demand for recyclable aluminum automotive sheet. The Goettingen plant will produce 20,000 tonnes of automotive sheet per year following the first phase of its expansion and double that capacity in a planned second phase. Currently, Novelis’ European operations only produce automotive sheet in Nachterstedt, Germany, and Sierre, Switzerland. "The increased production at our Goettingen plant is part of our global expansion plan in the automotive sector," Erwin Mayr, senior vice president of Novelis and president of Novelis Europe, said in a statement. The Goettingen plant currently produces high-quality sheet for the lithographic and packaging markets, as well as painted sheet for a variety of applications. It also...
