AL Circle Analysis: Import rise meets demand growth on aluminium extrusion chessboard
Aluminium’s downstream trade network is getting more fragmented as import dependence, changing end-use demand and trade-policy interventions reshape regional markets. From North America and Europe to Asia-Pacific, the aluminium industry is navigating a market where access to supply, competitive...
US industrial policy needs to be systematic, not just ad hoc – Part 2
Our current approach can win economic skirmishes, but not the geopolitical conflict. – Part 2 Impact #5 of ad hoc industrial policy: Failing to use all required tools Industrial policy is often caricatured as just tariffs and subsidies. Mis-framed debates that evaluate the merits of tariffs in...
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Sapa (Norsk Hydro joint venture) reports improved earning in Q2 2016 sequentially and YoY
Sapa (Norsk Hydro joint venture) has announced the results for the second quarter of 2016. Higher demand for Sapa products and stronger margins during the quarter accounted for a rise in Underlying EBIT in comparison to the first quarter of 2016. Sapa also reported an increase in underlying EBIT...
Japan-based auto supplier expands Indiana manufacturing
Ryobi Limited will expand its operations in Shelby County, IN, creating up to 150 new jobs by 2018. The company will invest $97.5 million into its U.S. subsidiary Ryobi Die Casting USA, purchasing and equipping a 350,000-square-foot facility adjacent to its campus in Shelbyville. The facility,...
Aluminium trade restrictions on China will not bring smelting back to the US – UNO
The slow death that the US primary aluminium industry has been dying cannot be attributed only to China’s somewhat overambitious aluminium trade policies, said leading consultancy UNO International Trade Strategy. The consulting body warned that the ‘onerous and misplaced barriers will only damage...
Sapa receives Ford Motor Company’s Q1 Award
Sapa’s Cressona plant in Pennsylvania has become one of the first in the aluminium extrusion industry to receive Ford Motor Company’s Q1 Award. “This is an awesome achievement by our employees in Cressona and our Ford program team,” says business area president Charlie Straface, who leads Sapa’s...
Gränges wins auction in process to acquire aluminium business in the US
Gränges AB has emerged as the winner in the court supervised auction to acquire Noranda Aluminum Holding Corporation’s downstream aluminium rolling business in the United States. The final bid values the business and related assets to USD 324.2 million on a cash and debt free basis (Enterprise...
Transportation and environmental leaders discuss fuel economy regs
To discuss critical issues surrounding the upcoming Midterm Evaluation of 2025 fuel economy and emissions regulations, former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Aluminum Transportation Group chairman Tom Boney of Novelis, and the following panellists of transportation and environmental...
Nanshan Aluminum eyeing automotive and aerospace aluminium plate market
Nanshan Aluminum Co. has made progress in automotive aluminium plate production and will also focus on aircraft-use medium-thick plate. The company’s annual capacity for automotive aluminium plate and high-end aircraft-use aluminium semis is 150,000 tonnes and 50,000 tonnes, respectively. It has...
Century reaches new market-based power agreement for Mt. Holly Smelter
Century Aluminum Company announced today that it has renegotiated a market-based agreement with a third-party supplier to provide approximately 75 per cent of the power requirements for the Mt. Holly, South Carolina smelter. The remaining 25 per cent of Mt. Holly's power requirement will continue...
U.S. aluminium net shipments in May up 2.4% YoY
Aluminium net shipments (including exports) by domestic U.S. and Canadian facilities totalled an estimated 1,967 million pounds during May, up 2.4 per cent over the May 2015 total of 1,922 million pounds. Shipments of aluminium mill products decreased six-tenths of one percent from the previous...
Brady provides Aleris with leading Cloud solution for its metal hedging and risk management
Brady plc, the leading supplier of trading and risk management solutions for commodities, energy and recycling, announced today that Aleris has selected Brady’s Cloud-based solution to manage its global metal hedging and risk management, supporting the enterprise’s drive for growth. The Brady...
Constellium's new manufacturing facility in Mexico to supply automotive structural components
Constellium N.V. announced today that it intends to open a new manufacturing facility in Mexico to produce aluminium automotive structural components. This plant, located in San Luis Potosí, will allow Constellium to respond to increasing demand for lightweight, high-strength aluminium Crash...
Republic Services' recycling program to boost aluminium recycling in Missoula, Mont.
Republic Services in Missoula in the U.S. state of Montana, recently announced it is expanding its curbside recycling program. That should help the city boost its plastics, glass, tin, and aluminium can recycling rates. The “All-In-One” program was rolled out in May, and already roughly 400...
Ford edges out General Motors in pickup truck sales
Ford Motor Co. narrowly beat General Motors Co. in sales of full-size pickup trucks during the half of this year. Ford’ F-Series pickup sales rose 10.7 percent to 395,244 through the end of June, according to industry data issued Friday. GM, by comparison, sold a combined 382,134 Chevrolet...
Ball Corp. becomes world's largest beverage can maker- finalizes Rexam acquisition
Ball Corp. on Thursday finalized its $6.1 billion acquisition of British competitor Rexam, making the Broomfield-based company the largest (aluminium and tinplate) beverage can maker in the world. Ball also assumed $2.4 billion of debt in the deal. The combined company accounts for 60 percent of...
Total aluminium scrap recovery in the US reaches 292,000mt in April
According to the latest Mineral Industry Surveys data published by the USGS, total aluminium recovered from scrap in April 2016 was 292,000 metric tons (t), 3 per cent less than that recovered in March but the same as that in April 2015. Of this, 164,000 t of aluminium was recovered from new scrap,...
US aluminium ingot price rises 2.58% MoM in April
Following recent smelter shutdowns, only two companies in the US reported domestic production of primary aluminium, noted US Geographical Survey in their latest issue of Mineral Industry Surveys. Consequently, beginning in February 2016, monthly production data were withheld to avoid the release of...
Alcoa files an initial Registration Statement on Form 10 for separation of Upstream business
Lightweight metals leader Alcoa has announced a major milestone in connection with its pending separation into two strong standalone, publicly-traded companies. Alcoa Upstream Corporation (to be renamed Alcoa Corporation prior to separation) has filed an initial Registration Statement on Form 10...
POWER Engineers help AEP replace 240 circuit-miles line with energinzed aluminium conductor
POWER Engineers Inc. has helped American Electric Power successfully complete the longest replacement of energized conductor (with aluminium composite core) in the United States and bring more reliable power to the residents of South Texas. Now that landmark project has earned AEP the electric...
