Aluminium’s trade map is no longer drawn by smelters alone. Scrap flows, power contracts, industrial policy and specialist grades now shape who secures metal, at what cost and under whose rules. Ten recent developments across Europe, the US, Australia, Japan and Mexico show how recycling, energy and regulation are becoming the new levers of aluminium competitiveness. They also show where traders, exporters and policymakers may need to adjust. Scrap tug-of-war: the US pull, Europe’s leak and the recycling base at stake The pull starts with price. The US UBC scrap benchmark averaged USD 2,322.89 a tonne in July, USD 2,491.22 in August and USD 2,602.51 in September. That is a 12 per cent climb, and it came after a July that opened at USD 2,464.98 and fell to USD 2,270.76 within two days....
Nespresso is expanding its aluminium coffee capsule recycling network across New Zealand, adding 25 JB Hi-Fi stores as collection points and bringing the total number of participating retail locations to 138. The move gives coffee drinkers more places to return used capsules, helping make recycling a little easier after that final, satisfying sip. The new collection points join existing locations at Briscoes and Noel Leeming stores. The expansion also complements other return options available through Nespresso, including its boutiques, public collection points, NZ Post drop-off locations and courier collections from customers’ homes. The aim is to make returning used capsules more convenient, recognising that a single collection method will not work for everyone. For those who enjoy...
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The order is for new investments in Stena Aluminum’s smelter in Älmhult, Sweden. Nederman will supply the plant with solutions for the filtration of the fumes generated in the smelting of returned aluminium products. Mr Staffan Persson MD of Stena Aluminum said that “Our operations are important especially for the environment but there is also a growing industrial demand for recycled aluminium. It is therefore a major advantage that we are now almost doubling our production. The investments mean that the impact we have on the environment, despite increased production will be lower than it is today and we will also remove the local discomfort of ours from production.” The smelter is the only one in Sweden that produces aluminium from recycled materials and Stena Aluminium is investing...
Higher aluminum scrap prices are expected next year, according to 67% of participants in the Harbor Aluminum outlook conference in Chicago survey Wednesday. Of those survey participants, 48% say scrap prices are strategic to their bottom line. Structural Shift To Tighter Scrap Spreads – Harbor (Kitco News) — Record-low metallic recovery combined with more use of aluminum in cars and a rebound in the auto sector is causing scrap prices to rise, says Jesus Villegas, senior aluminum analyst, Harbor Intelligence. The auto sector has rebounded 57% from two years ago, while aluminum used in cars has risen 138% from 1986 to 2010. Further, more scrap is being shipped to China. This leads to a structural decline in scrap supplies. He spoke at the Harbor Aluminum outlook conference in Chicago....
The US recycling rate for aluminum beverage cans reached 58.1% in 2010, slightly above the 2009 used beverage can recycling rate of 57.4% and marking its highest rate in over a decade. Nearly 56 billion aluminum cans were recycled in 2010, the Aluminum Association, Can Manufacturers Institute and Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries said last week in a statement. Steve Larkin, president of the Aluminum Association, praised the industry's accomplishment, but called for an even higher UBC recycling rate. "Of course we must do more at the federal, state and local levels to enact recycling policies and awareness, and this is a task we continue to pursue aggressively," he said. "We continue to look for partners who are also sincere about making a real change in how we approach recycling in...
Aleris has named Steven A. Faas senior vice president and chief information officer (CIO). Faas joins the company today and will lead all Information Technology (IT) activities for the company, including global enterprise resource planning. Faas joins Aleris from Cerberus Operations and Advisory Company, LLC, where he served as CIO/IT Operations executive since 2008. Before joining Cerberus, he was a consultant with the IT Turnaround Services practice at AlixPartners, LLP. Prior to that, Faas was vice president and CIO for ITT Corporation. He began his career at General Electric Company, and served for 18 years in Finance, Human Resources, Operations and IT roles, including as CIO for GE Energy Products. "Steve brings a wealth of experience in IT to this important role," said Steven J....
Mr Tetsu Takahashi senior MD of Japan’s Kobe Steel said that Japan’s aluminum can industry has recovered from the disaster. Also, the country’s beverage can producers have resumed the production after the disaster. According to data, Japan’s rolled aluminum production was 225,000 tonnes which were sold during April to September. However, the aluminum plants have been forced to reduce the production due to the power supply limitation in the Q3. Nevertheless, aluminum can producers have planned to raise the production in the Q2 and sell them during June and July.
Helsinki, Finnland -- Stora Enso and its partner Alucha Recycling Technologies have been granted the 'Best of the Best' LIFE Environment Project award for 2010. This award is granted by the European Union to recognise projects that have a positive impact on the environment. Stora Enso and Alucha Recycling Technologies received the award for developing and investing in innovative recycling technology in Stora Enso's Barcelona Mill. The new technology separates plastic-aluminium laminate from recovered beverage cartons by a process that enables both fibre and aluminium to be fully reused, and the plastic to be utilised to generate energy in the mill. “Fibre-based beverage cartons are a great packaging product because it is a natural material with a low carbon footprint that comes from...
The Aluminium Packaging Recycling Organisation (Alupro) has given a cautious welcome to yesterday's Waste Policy Review announcement, but has said that Government must go further to meet its zero-waste economy ambitions. Commenting on the review, Alupro executive director Rick Hindley said: "It's great that the Waste Policy Review commits to prioritise recycling materials like aluminium that can bring the biggest environmental benefits, but there is little actual policy to make sure that this happens." He added that many of the ambitions outlined in the review are in line with the metal packaging industry's own ambitions. "We are delighted to see the review's endorsement of industry programmes such as Every Can Counts and metalmatters," he said. "However, the industry cannot continue to...
The U.S. recycling rate for aluminum beverage cans has reached its highest level in a decade, with 58.1% of all cans recycled last year—a rate that is more than double that of any other beverage container, the Aluminum Association, Can Manufacturers Institute (CMI) and Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) announced today. Nearly 56 billion aluminum cans were recycled in 2010, leading to a used beverage container (UBC) recycling rate of 58.1%—the highest in 11 years. Because it takes 95% less energy to produce a can from recycled material, the high recycling rate also resulted in significant energy savings. The amount of energy saved just from recycling cans in 2010 is equal to the energy equivalent of 17 million barrels of crude oil, or nearly two days of all U.S. oil imports....
Aleris today announced that it has expanded and moved its Asia-Pacific regional office in Shanghai to Unit 4, 28/F, Wheelock Square, No. 1717 Nanjing Road West. This office is the headquarters for Aleris (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd. activities and serves as Aleris's corporate office in the Asia-Pacific region. The company also announced that it has opened a new sales office to better serve customers in northern China, the Aleris (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Beijing Office, located at Room 2929, 29F, Block C, Central International Trade Centre, 6A Jianguomenwai Avenue. "The growth of our current business in China dictated the need for more office space," said Roeland Baan, Aleris executive vice president and chief executive officer, Europe and Asia. "These new offices also provide a base...
It is reported that DIN 226 recycled aluminum alloy price dropped to EUR 1,880 per tonne to EUR 1,930 per tonne from previous EUR 1,950 per tonne to EUR 2,000 per tonne in Europe. The price drop mainly resulted from current slow demand and recent weak LME aluminum prices coupled with high stock level. EU buyers will start to negotiate the third quarter contract with aluminum producers starting from middle June. It’s said that the some Spanish and Italian aluminum producers have sent the quotation to their buyers in Scandinavia because of slow demand in domestic market.
Worldal reported that Novelis Inc set a corporate wide commitment to reduce its carbon footprint. Their new sustainability commitment calls for an intensified focus on expanding the use of recycled materials, increasing post consumer recycling of aluminum products and accelerating the development of new, high recycled content alloys. The company reported that it would increase the amount of recycled metal it uses in its rolling operations, and committed that 80% of its products will be made from recycled metal by 2020. Recycled metal currently accounts for 34% of all material used by Novelis and the company estimates that the projected increase to 80% will remove 10 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually from the aluminum product value chain. This Novelis Sustainability...
Novelis Inc. set a corporate wide commitment to reduce its carbon footprint. Their new sustainability commitment calls for an intensified focus on expanding the use of recycled materials, increasing post-consumer recycling of aluminum products, and accelerating the development of new, high-recycled content alloys. The company reported that it would increase the amount of recycled metal it uses in its rolling operations, and committed that 80 percent of its products will be made from recycled metal by 2020. Recycled metal currently accounts for 34 percent of all material used by Novelis, and the company estimates that the projected increase to 80 percent will remove ten million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually from the aluminum product value chain. This Novelis...
A Bahrain company has won a $25 million contract to process dross from an aluminium smelter in New Zealand that could transform the way that waste from smelters across the world is recycled. Bahrain-based Taha International Corporation has won the pilot project at the New Zealand International Smelters plant in southern New Zealand at Tiwai from Rio Tinto, one of the world's largest mineral companies. If it proves a success, then the Taha process could be rolled out across the world. Taha has developed its process working closely with Gulf Aluminium Rolling Mills Company (Garmco) in Bahrain and is currently in talks with smelters in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Alba about introducing its system. Traditionally aluminium is extracted from dross left over from the smelter process by using...
China's decision to raise retail power prices by around 3% from Wednesday for non-residential users is unlikely to push up aluminum product prices in the domestic market although energy is a key input in the production of aluminum, accounting for about 40% of the production cost. A majority of Chinese aluminum producers use captive power generated at their own facilities and won't feel the impact of the price hikes, analysts said Tuesday. China Monday said it will raise retail power tariffs for non-household users in 15 provinces starting June 1, the first increase since 2009 as the country tackles its worst power shortage in seven years. Tariffs for industrial, commercial and agricultural will rise by an average CNY0.0167 a kilowatt-hour, the central government said in a report on its...
Richard Dewayne Johnson, 34, of North Seventh Avenue faces a charge of theft by receiving and failure to register as a sex offender. According to information released by the Greene County Sheriff’s Department, Johnson sold “a large bundle of aluminum cans that were already bundled as though they had been sold to a recycling plant” on Thursday. A local recycling company confirmed they had a large bundle of can stolen the previous night. When questioned, Johnson said he had received the bundle of cans from a Willie Tucker, 32, of Vance Street and his girlfriend Nikki. Investigators arrested Tucker on Friday and he faces a theft of property charge. He also has three outstanding warrants from the city of Paragould. Paragould police will seek failure to register charges against Johnson because...
ET reported that shares of Hindalco Industries were the biggest Sensex gainer after the company's US arm Novelis posted a turnaround in its Q4 earnings. The stock rose 5.8% to 197.50. But investors are not willing to bet on the stock in the long term. Investors are turning cautious on commodities, including metals, as the Fed's second bond buyback program comes to an end in June. With global liquidity expected to dry up post QE2, analysts expect fund flow into global commodities to recede. China's policy rate tightening measures to cool inflation and demand will also impact metal prices. Analysts don't rule out a sharp correction in metals mainly aluminum. Aluminum constituted 32% of Hindalco's operating profit in 2011 to 2012.
Novelis Inc, which recycles beverage cans to make aluminum products, is expanding its sheet metal capacity to handle an expected increase in worldwide demand from automakers, the company said on Thursday. Novelis said it will build a new plant in North America to increase total North American aluminum capacity by 20 percent, and is expanding its plant in Brazil to increase aluminum production for cans. The company estimates capital expenditure of $550 million to $600 million in fiscal 2012, and a total of about $1.5 billion in the next three years. "Over the next five years, we expect the global automotive sector to grow more than 25 percent, electronics to grow 10 to 15 percent, and can demand to remain solid, up 4 to 5 percent annually," Chief Executive Officer Philip Martens told Wall...
Harsco Metals, based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, provides specialized solutions in resource recovery, logistics and product quality for the global metals industry. With operations at more than 160 locations in over 30 countries, Harsco follows the footprint of the metals industry across the globe. Harsco is also engaged in a systematic process of continuous improvement of operations along 'Lean' principles, seeking out cost efficiencies throughout the entire life of the customer relationship. Given the importance of onsite logistical efficiency, Harsco has developed item marking and tracking systems which have the potential to optimize customer’s raw materials or product inventory management. Mr Steve Larkin president of Association said that “We are pleased to welcome Harsco Metals into...
