Week in Review: How acquisitions and installations affected downstream aluminium industry

<p>With news coming up every day on downstream aluminium industry, AlCircle makes sure you&rsquo;re informed on the latest acquisitions, installations, expansions and future outlook of the companies. Through this article, let&rsquo;s revisit some of the news that you need to know from the downstream aluminium industry.</p> <p><strong>China Zhongwang&rsquo;s profit in 2016 up 12.1% on healthy automotive demand</strong></p> <p>According to an SMM report, China Zhongwang posted a 12.1% rise in net profit to 3.14 billion yuan in 2016. The rise in profit was primarily driven by rapid expansion in the automotive aluminium market in Asia, North America and Europe. The result was published in the company&rsquo;s 2016 earnings report.</p> <p><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/Zhongwang.jpg" alt="news" width="517" height="226" /></p> <p><strong>Midwest Steel and Aluminium to expand its operations to Rogers</strong></p> <p>Midwest Steel and Aluminium is moving its operations to Rogers, Arkansas, USA in order to implement its $5.2 million expansion that will enable the company to double its space and hire 15 more people over its current capacity of 22 employees.</p> <p><strong>Rusal forms JV to produce high-tech aluminium paste &amp; powders in India</strong></p> <p>Rusal inked a Joint Venture (JV) agreement with Runaya Metsource on equal terms to produce high technology aluminium paste and powders in India. Runaya Metsource is a Mumbai-based company promoted by the shareholders of Vedanta. The project is likely to begin in 2017 and commencement of commercial production in 2018. Presently, these products are imported in order to meet the demand in India.</p> <p>{googleAdsense}</p> <p><strong>UC RUSAL acquires share of aluminium alloy car wheels manufacturer LMZ SKAD</strong></p> <p>UC RUSAL, a leading global aluminium producer, acquires share of the foundry and mechanical production facility SKAD (SKAD), which is a producer of aluminium alloy car wheels, located in Krasnoyarsk. RUSAL will own a stake in the authorised capital of LMZ SKAD LLC and its founder, Idris Zakriev, will remain as Chief Executive Officer of the production facility.</p> <p><img style="vertical-align: middle; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="http://www.alcircle.com/uploads/images/SKAD.jpg" alt="news" width="517" height="226" /></p> <p><strong>Arconic brings advanced stretcher online</strong></p> <p>Arconic announced that the installation of its new manufacturing technology &ndash; the Very Thick Plate Stretcher (Stretcher) &ndash; is complete. The Stretcher produces highly-differentiated aerospace and industrial plate. The investment in the Stretcher is backed by customer contracts, including one with&nbsp;Airbus, valued at approximately $1 billion.</p> <p><strong>Vikram Solar installs 20mW solar power unit for Jindal Aluminium&rsquo;s extrusion plant in Bengaluru</strong></p> <p>India's leading aluminium extrusions manufacturer Jindal Aluminium Limited has signed a contract with Vikram Solar to install a 20 megawatt solar power unit to power its plant near Bengaluru in Karnataka. The project covering 97-acres of land area with over 73,000 solar modules will deliver power output measuring up to 23,000 kWp.</p>