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COMPANY NEWS<br />
people and recor<strong>de</strong>d 2006 revenues<br />
of 34 million euros.<br />
Bright i<strong>de</strong>as from Novelis Europe<br />
Novelis Inc. has introduced a new<br />
line of bright finish aluminium sheet<br />
products from its Bresso plant in Milan,<br />
Italy, and is working on further<br />
expanding its offerings using fusion<br />
layering technology. The new product<br />
range inclu<strong>de</strong>s lacquered and<br />
uncoated <strong>special</strong>ty bright sheet in a<br />
number of alloys with thicknesses<br />
ranging from 0.25 mm to 1 mm and<br />
widths of up to 1250 mm.<br />
Bright finish aluminium sheet is<br />
used in applications in which high<br />
reflective qualities and image clarity<br />
combined with strength and lightweight<br />
are important. Such material<br />
is used in lighting, cosmetics packag-<br />
ing, automotive, ceilings, refrigerators<br />
and packaging closures.<br />
Alcoa and Sapa get<br />
clearance from EU<br />
The European Commission has<br />
cleared the creation of the soft alloy<br />
extrusion joint venture announced<br />
by Alcoa and Sapa late last year. The<br />
commission has conclu<strong>de</strong>d that the<br />
transaction would not significantly<br />
impe<strong>de</strong> effective competition in European<br />
Economic Area or any substantial<br />
part of it. The joint venture was announced<br />
in November 2006 as part of<br />
a downstream restructuring by Alcoa<br />
which has 22 facilities in eight countries<br />
and about 6,400 employees. Sapa<br />
will contribute 18 facilities in twelve<br />
countries and about 6,000 employees<br />
to the joint venture. �<br />
The Author<br />
The author, Dipl.-Ing. Rudolf P.<br />
Pawlek is foun<strong>de</strong>r of TS+C, Technical<br />
Info Services and Consulting, Sierre<br />
(Switzerland), a new service for the<br />
primary aluminum industry. He is also<br />
the publisher of the standard works<br />
“<strong>Alu</strong>mina Refineries and Producers of<br />
the World” and “Primary <strong>Alu</strong>minium<br />
Smelters and Producers of the World”.<br />
These reference works are continually<br />
updated, and contain useful technical<br />
and economic information on all alumina<br />
refineries and primary aluminum<br />
smelters of the world. They are available<br />
as loose-leaf files and/or CD-roms<br />
from the <strong>Alu</strong>minium-Verlag, Marketing<br />
& Kommunikation GmbH in Düsseldorf<br />
as well as by online or<strong>de</strong>ring via www.<br />
alu<strong>web</strong>.<strong>de</strong> (<strong>Alu</strong>-Bookshop) from Giesel<br />
Verlag GmbH.<br />
Chinese aluminium production growth slows slightly<br />
<strong>Alu</strong>minium production growth<br />
rates in the rest of the world are<br />
nothing compared with those<br />
in China. The country’s production<br />
was growing by 38.8% to<br />
2,859,000 tonnes in the first quarter<br />
of this year. However, there are<br />
some very tentative signs that this<br />
super fast growth rate is starting to<br />
lose momentum.<br />
Production growth in March itself at<br />
37.1% was off the pace of February’s<br />
40.3% and January’s 39%. There are<br />
expectations that the surge in production<br />
growth in China, caused by the<br />
country’s accelerated alumina output<br />
growth and the resulting drop in<br />
alumina prices in 2006, will become<br />
more muted as this year unfolds. There<br />
are also hopes that the Chinese authorities<br />
will make some progress on<br />
slowing down this breakneck speed<br />
of production growth. The powerful<br />
state planning body, the National Development<br />
and Reform Commission,<br />
has just issued an Emergency Circular<br />
on Curbing Rebound of Investment in<br />
<strong>Alu</strong>minium Industry. Although many<br />
of the measures inclu<strong>de</strong>d are simply a<br />
reiteration of past attempts to control<br />
blind investment in the smelter sector,<br />
Beijing seems more intent than<br />
ever on pushing its message down to<br />
the provincial level. It is also sending<br />
out teams to oversee local implementation<br />
of its or<strong>de</strong>r that provincial governments<br />
suspend preferential power<br />
tariffs to local energy-intensive industries<br />
in a tacit acknowledgement that<br />
Beijing’s best intentions have ten<strong>de</strong>d<br />
to foun<strong>de</strong>r on implementation at the<br />
local level.<br />
On the other hand there are still no<br />
signs of any slowdown in the breakneck<br />
speed at which Chinese production<br />
of alumina is growing. Production<br />
in March was 1,658,200 tonnes, up<br />
65.3% year-on-year. Cumulative production<br />
in the first quarter of 2007<br />
was up by 53.7% year-on-year at<br />
4,274,800 tonnes. Annualised alumina<br />
production in March was 19.5 million<br />
tonnes, compared with just 11.9<br />
million tonnes in March 2006. Both<br />
the China Nonferrous Metals Industry<br />
Association and the Antaike research<br />
have forecast production to rise to 20<br />
million tonnes in 2007 from 13.2 million<br />
tonnes in 2006 but those forecasts<br />
are already starting to look too conservative<br />
while the sort of the growth<br />
rate is maintained. China’s alumina<br />
production is expected to reach 27.7<br />
million tonnes by the end of 2007 and<br />
China will still need to import 4 to 5<br />
million tonnes of alumina this year.<br />
paw<br />
88 ALUMINIUM · 6/2007
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