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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Philippe Couillard launches the first Québec Aluminium Development Strategy
Québec Premier Philippe Couillard, accompanied by Minister of the Economy, Innovation and Exports Jacques Daoust and the Parliamentary Assistant to the Premier for the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region and Member for Dubuc Serge Simard, has announced the launch of the Québec Aluminium Development...
Pembroke Auto Parts hosts aluminum clinic at Algonquin College
Owners, managers and techs in the Ottawa area had chance recently to get up to speed on aluminum welding techniques when Algonquin College and Pembroke Auto Parts hosted a clinic to teach the new techniques necessary to repair aluminum bodied vehicles. Aluminum welding and repair techniques are...
Aluminum Precision Products pounds out 50 years of metal service
Satna Ana-based forging company Aluminum Precision Products, founded in 1965, will celebrate its 50-year anniversary in October. As the aerospace industry took off back then, APP opened its doors to booming opportunities. It started out as an 8,000 square foot plant with 10 employees and now has 21...
US Aluminum Consumption up 8.1% YTD in April
Demand for aluminum semi-fabricated (mill) products in the United States and Canada (measured in shipments by domestic producers plus imports) totaled an estimated 1,527 million pounds in April, increasing 7.8 percent over the April 2014 total of 1,416 million pounds. Aluminum sheet and plate...
Aluminum scrap exports in US up 11.7% in April
The U.S. aluminum industry purchased1 an estimated 775 million pounds of aluminum scrap during March 2015, according to aluminum recycling statistics published by the U.S. Geological Survey, Department of Interior, up five-tenths of one percent over the March 2014 total of 771 million. USGS...
North American aluminium production down 0.6% in May
The Aluminum Association, in cooperation with the Aluminum Association of Canada, reported primary aluminum production in North America (U.S. and Canada) was at an annual rate of 4,489,865 tonnes during May 2015, down 26,621 tpy (-0.6%) from the previous month's rate of 4,516,486 tonnes. The annual...
Two Voith SafeSet Couplings to be installed at Novelis facility in Oswego, New York
Two Voith SafeSet Couplings are scheduled for installation at Novelis's recently-expanded Oswego, New York facility later in 2015. The couplings will be applied with a 120 inch wide aluminum hot strip reversing roughing mill powered by two 4000HP motors that produces rolled aluminum products. The...
Aluminum Industry reacts to new heavy-duty truck fuel economy standards proposed by EPA
On June 19, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed new regulations to cut greenhouse gas emissions from heavy-duty trucks, requiring that fleet fuel economy increase up to 24 percent by 2027. While these proposed rules will first enter public comment period before the final version is...
Gateway Extrusions expands its Union facility
Gateway Extrusions, a fast-growing extruder of small diameter aluminum profiles, has embarked on a significant expansion of its Union facility. The company recently purchased the 129,000-square-foot production plant that it had been leasing in the Union Industrial Park, as well as adjacent...
Total Merchant Ltd. to purchase Metalico
The board of directors for Cranford, New Jersey-based Metalico Inc., which operates scrap metal recycling facilities primarily in the eastern Great Lakes corridor, has agreed to sell the company to Total Merchant Ltd. for a total purchase price of approximately $87 million. According to a news...
New Aluminum Association office to showcase dynamic, growing aluminum industry
The Aluminum Association announced that it will move its headquarters to 1400 Crystal Drive in Arlington, VA effective June 22, 2015. The new building is aluminum-clad and is certified Gold by the U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) standards. The...
New chief dust extractor makes repairing aluminum less explosive
Chief Automotive Technologies introduces a dust extractor that collects and contains the harmful aluminum particles released when aluminum vehicle body panels are sanded. The dust extractor features all-stainless steel construction and high-efficiency immersion separation technology, which make it...
Noranda obtains project financing to complete New Madrid rod mill
Noranda Aluminum Holding Corporation announced today that it has obtained $15 million of project-specific financing that will allow it to complete a state-of-the-art redraw rod mill at its aluminum smelter in New Madrid, Missouri ("New Madrid"). The new rod mill will increase Noranda's production...
Rio Tinto launches C$12 million project to develop AP44 technology at its Alma aluminium smelter
Rio Tinto will launch a C$12 million project aimed at enhancing the aluminium smelting technology currently employed at several of the company's plants to drive productivity gains. The project will be conducted by Rio Tinto's aluminium technology teams at the Arvida Research and Development Centre...
USW Ratifies New Contract at Hawesville, Kentucky Smelter
Century Aluminum of Kentucky General Partnership, a subsidiary of Century Aluminum Company, announced today that a new, five-year collective bargaining agreement was ratified by the United Steelworkers Local 9423 on June 11, 2015 for the Company's Hawesville, Kentucky smelter. The new contract is...
Orbite provides update on financing and HPA construction
Orbite Aluminae Inc. provides an update on the construction and financing of its high purity alumina plant (HPA) located in Cap-Chat, Quebec on Friday June 12. Financing • The Company recently received confirmation from its tax consultants that it should be eligible to receive up to $7.5 million in...
USW to vote on Century Aluminum latest contract to end deadlock at Hawesville operations
The union members belonging to United Steelworkers will vote today on the tentative agreement put forward by the company as a solution to end the one-month long lockout at Century Aluminum’s Hawesville, Kentucky smelter. If ratified by the union, workers are expected to return to work on Monday. A...
Management and union reach possible agreement at Century Aluminium; work likely to resume
A tentative agreement at an aluminum smelting plant has been reached, potentially ending a work stoppage affecting roughly 560 employees at the Century Aluminum facility in western Kentucky. The Gleaner reports Allison Beck, acting director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service,...
