The squeeze caused by rising petcoke prices may have an unwitting victim. As we have been reporting to our clients, Chinese oil refineries have been cutting back throughput in response to the lacklustre economy. That has created a shortage of petroleum coke, especially for export orders, and producers have been seeking higher prices as … Continue Reading
PBoC getting ready to act?
China business circles are rife with rumours that the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) is getting set to release more credit into the economy. According to what we are hearing, China’s central bank will revise the rules for savings banks and the definitions of which funds can be counted towards meeting their minimum holdings. As … Continue Reading
Floods in Malaysia to hit bauxite exports
You may have seen media reports of major floods occurring in Malaysia, as the rainy season reaches a peak. According to some reports, the floods are the worst on record, despite the country being well used to the seasonal rains that occur at this time each year. The thing to note is that these floods … Continue Reading
Petcoke price to go down, but not substantially
Petcoke is the byproduct or residual of crude oil refining process, which is usually featured as a black solid product, and it is the major raw material in producing carbon anodes, which are consumed in producing primary aluminium. We’ve done research on how petcoke price will move and consequently find out the price will possibly go … Continue Reading
Make bricks without straw of the war between aluminium and coke
China aluminium production continued to increase in November, up 9% to 2,128kt, which didn’t include unreported production of 300kt. (IAI uses the unreported production number as provided by CNIA, and the figure was increased from 250t per month to 300kt to reflect Weiqiao’s increased capacity. Weiqiao makes up the lion’s share of unreported production. But … Continue Reading
December World Aluminium Monthly out now
AZ China has published its latest World Aluminium Monthly. This report examines the change of direction for the LME prices, bauxite and alumina supply for China, the growth of semis exports, and several other hot topics. Will China’s economy move to a more balanced growth, and if it does, what does this do for … Continue Reading
Spare a thought for Hindalco
Hindalco, one of the big 3 in India’s aluminium industry, finds itself in a difficult position thanks to a recent government ruling. Hindalco has a joint venture with Essar Power limited to mine coal at the Mahan coal block. Hindalco built its smelter and Essar its power station several years prior and had been mining … Continue Reading
Breakthrough at the North Pole
In news just in, Alcoa has announced that Santa’s sleigh will be converted to an all-aluminium chassis and body commencing 2017. Alcoa President Klaus Kleinfeld commented that his metallurgists had been working closely with Santa’s North Pole engineering team over several years. “We started with the runners and other extruded parts, but the real challenge … Continue Reading
Raw aluminium export tariff
China’s export (and import) tariff schedule for 2015 has been released, but with no mention of any change to aluminium tariffs. There had been a lot of talk in the market recently about the possibility that China would remove the 15% export tariff on raw aluminium. The rumours started in LME week, when one particular … Continue Reading
Solving the mystery of China’s domestic bauxite production
AZ China has today published a new Client Briefing Note which explores China’s domestic bauxite production growth. Analyst June Wang has conducted a deep dive analysis of the data surrounding the industry in China. China does not publish domestic production data, but June has been able to build a pretty convincing case that shows quite … Continue Reading
Recent Comments