China continues destocking, coupled with recovering peak-season demand; aluminium prices are expected to consolidate at highs with an upward bias next week
1. Macro perspective The US-Iran conflict escalated sharply. On September 9, Iran's Revolutionary Guard struck multiple oil tankers and merchant vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, causing a significant drop in strait traffic. Brent crude broke through USD 100 per bbl, closing at USD 101.21, while WTI...
ADC12 consolidates on a strong note as costs rise and orders see marginal improvement
Aluminium scrap: This week, China's aluminium scrap market price centre edged up alongside primary aluminium. As of September 10, SMM A00 aluminium prices closed at RMB 24,560 per tonne, up RMB 210 per tonne from RMB 24,350 per tonne last Thursday. Domestic aluminium scrap prices followed with...
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Research on Alcoa Inc. and Century Aluminum Co. -- Aluminum Industry Steady Despite Recovery Slowdown
Aluminum companies have come down a little during the economic recovery's latest stumble. Demand from several industries has softened slightly but does remain strong in other areas. Demand for aluminum is still expected to grow 12% in 2011. Despite some recent headwinds, several companies still...
SMM Morning Review – 2011/7/19 Aluminum Market
Though Euro zone leaders tried to avoid a selective default or default by Greece, the second round of bailout plan for Greece still has not been reached. Therefore the European debt crisis continued with default risk rising. In addition, US default risks increased since no resolution in raising the...
LME Establishes Aluminum Load Out Rule – New Buying Strategies Needed?
Late last week the London Metal Exchange announced a rule change impacting any warehouse holding over 900,000 tons of inventory. The new rule would require those warehouses, beginning in April of next year, to load out a minimum of 3000 tons per day rather than the current 1500 tons per day. The...
Alcoa Inc. – Alcoa Inc.’s Profits Are On The Rise
World’s Aluminum Demand The aluminum’s increase in prices is coupled by the rising demands of consumers, as the law of demand dictates. Demands in London and the other countries in the east are ever more increasing. China, the top aluminum consumer of the world for its manufacturing industries, and...
Alcoa Inc. – Alcoa Inc.’s Profits Are On The Rise
The Largest Aluminum Producer Of The U.S. – Alcoa Inc. Due to the increasing demand for aluminum and lightweight metals of the U.S. and neighboring countries, Alcoa Inc., the third largest producer of aluminum in the world, reached remarkable increase in profits. The aluminum company obtained a...
SMM Morning Review – 2011/7/18 Aluminum Market
On July 15, the US Department of Labor announced that June CPI was down 0.2% MoM, worse than the expected 0.1%. Later US FED announced June industrial production growth was 0.2%, lower than the expected 0.3%. As weak US economic data and spreading European debt crisis dampened investor risk...
China H2 Aluminum Output to Raise 8% on H1 - Report
China's production of primary aluminum is likely to rise at least 8% in the H2 of the year from the first, thanks to new capacity and steady prices that prompt smelters to use idle capacity. Industry sources said that H2 output would not be hurt by Beijing's tighter curbs on new projects because...
Pricing change happening in the alumina market
The preliminary snapshot of the June trade figures doesn't include bauxite imports but they recorded consecutive fresh all time highs above 4 million tonnes in both April and May. Cumulative January to May imports of 17.3 million tonnes were up by 56% YoY. In other words, China is swapping one...
Pricing change happening in the alumina market
The emergence of China as the single biggest buyer of both raw materials was an underlying driver of the changes to pricing in both markets. But while the country continues to suck in huge amounts of iron ore to feed its ever expanding steel sector it seems to be moving towards self sufficiency in...
Alba sales soar 4pct in the H1 of 2011
Aluminum Bahrain has delivered another progress its sales figures for H1 2011 rose by 4.3% from H1 2010 to 445,370 tonnes ahead of the company's own forecast for the period and exceeded the sales figures from the previous year with 18,305 tonnes.
LME rule disappoints aluminium consumers
Some of the world’s largest buyers of aluminium reacted with disappointment on Friday to a long-awaited decision by the London Metal Exchange to change its warehousing rules. General Motors, one of the world’s largest automakers, and Novelis, a leading aluminium processor, told the Financial Times...
ALUMINIUM-Major market developments in June
PRICES Aluminium prices ended June at $2,532 a tonne, down from $2,675 the previous month. After an early high of $2,695, the market tended to have a downwards bias through to the end of the month as global demand worries weighed. In early May, the market hit $2,803, its highest since August 2008....
ALUMINIUM-Major market developments in June
Aluminium prices lost ground in June and while they may drift lower as demand softens for seasonal reasons, the market is expected to hold firm in coming months even though it is on course for another year of supply surplus. "Demand has slackened a bit, but we expect it to accelerate after the...
Century Aluminum (CENX) Showing Bearish Technicals But Could Fall Through $12.80 Support
Century Aluminum (NASDAQ:CENX) closed Thursday's directionless trading session at $13.70. In the past year, the stock has hit a 52-week low of $8.70 and 52-week high of $20.76. Century Aluminum (CENX) stock has been showing support around $12.80 and resistance in the $15.40 range. Technical...
Metal Manufacturers Turn To Scrap For Savings
Strong demand lifts scrap metal prices faster than prices of "virgin" or new metal --Price gap between Comex copper and high-grade scrap copper shrank to 31 cents a pound from 49 cents a pound at the start of 2011 --Asian demand strains U.S. scrap supply NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Metal manufacturers...
Asia Pacific region's alumina weakened by unplaced cargoes
Platts alumina price benchmark closed Thursday at $378.50/mt FOB Australia, dropping $1.50/mt on Wednesday from unplaced cargoes. A consumer reported receiving an unsolicited offer at below $380/mt FOB Australia, for shipment in the second-half of August, for which it was likely to turn away. A...
SMM Morning Review – 2011/7/15 Aluminum Market
On July 14, while the US announced better-than-expected data that June retail sales increased by 0.1% MoM, core PPI rose by 0.3% MoM and unemployment claims fell to 405,000 during the week from July 4 to July 9, investor risk appetite still fell due to ongoing European and US debt issues. Later...
Alcoa Profit Doubles as Aluminum Price Gain Outweighs Costs
Alcoa Inc., the largest U.S. aluminum producer, said second-quarter profit more than doubled after higher prices for the lightweight metal outweighed increasing raw-material costs. Net income rose to 28 cents a share from 13 cents a year earlier, New York-based Alcoa said yesterday in a statement....
