Severe power shortages in China’s southwestern Yunnan province are likely to cut aluminium production in the country’s fourth-largest producing province, analysts and producers said, but weak demand will cap price rises. Yunnan, which accounts for about 12% of China’s aluminium capacity, has forced electrolytic aluminium producers to reduce their power usage since September last year after unusually low rainfall reduced...
Aluminium news
Rio Tinto begins construction of its new billet casting centre in Quebec
Rio Tinto has begun construction to increase its capacity to cast low-carbon, high-value aluminium billets by 202 000 t at its Alma, Quebec smelter. The existing casting centre will be expanded to include new state-of-the-art equipment such as furnaces, a casting pit, coolers, handling, inspection, sawing and packaging systems. Commissioning is scheduled for the 1H25. The CAN$240 million investment will...
Alcoa Expands its EcoSource™ Low-Carbon Alumina Brand to Include Non-metallurgical Grade Alumina
Alcoa has announced the expansion of the Company’s EcoSource™ low-carbon alumina brand to now include certain grades of non-metallurgical alumina. First launched in 2020 for smelter-grade applications (SGA), EcoSource is the world’s first and only low-carbon alumina brand. Now, it is also being offered in non-metallurgical (NMA) grades, including hydrates and calcined materials. Hydrates are primarily used in municipal water...
Global aluminium producers offer Q2 premiums of $125-$145/T
Global aluminium producers have offered Japanese buyers premiums of $125-$145 per tonne for April-June primary metal shipments, up 45%-71% from this quarter, five sources directly involved in quarterly pricing talks said. The offers, if agreed by buyers, would mark the first increase in six quarters and the highest level since the October-December quarter in 2022, reflecting a view from producers...
FICCI seeks increase in import duty on aluminium and aluminium products in Indian Union Budget 2023–24
India’s industry body FICCI has called for an increase in the import duty on aluminium and aluminium products to at least 12.5% in the upcoming Union Budget 2023–24. The move is aimed at curbing the dumping of aluminium products and encouraging the growth of the domestic manufacturing and recycling industry. The current import duty on aluminium and aluminium products is...
Aluminium Dunkerque restarts idled production capacity
Aluminium Dunkerque, one of Europe’s largest aluminium smelters, has begun to relaunch production capacity that was idled last year due to soaring electricity costs. According to a spokesperson for the company the site, which halted around a fifth of its output in the fourth quarter, should reach full capacity by the end of May. The move follows an easing in...
New copper centre to boost cable recycling in Finland
A new recycling facility is set to turn the Finnish town of Heinola into an aluminium and copper processing hub. The plant, whose construction costs are estimated at 7 million euros, will begin operating next year. The facility consists of a pre-crushing line and a separation line. The operations will have a production capacity of about 2.5 tons per hour,...
New aluminum technology brings hope for lighter electric vehicles
Impression Technologies Ltd (ITL) and fischer group have presented novel forming solutions for ultra-high-strength aluminum structures. The developments have the potential for widespread application in automotive production, especially in electric vehicles. Who Since becoming ITL’s first globally accredited HFQ (Hot Form Quench) partner in December 2020, fischer has invested in a dedicated state-of-the-art high volume HFQ manufacturing line in Achern,...