Australia’s move to ban alumina exports to Russia is heaping more pressure on Moscow-based aluminum giant United Co Rusal International PJSC and pushing up prices of the so-called everywhere metal.
Aluminum jumped and Rusal shares tumbled as Rio Tinto Group, operator of the Queensland Alumina Ltd joint venture with the Russian company, said it would comply with all of Canberra’s directions.
Rio reiterated that it was in the process of terminating its commercial relationships with Russian businesses following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Rusal holds a 20 percent stake in the Queensland joint venture.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that a ship due to dock this week to collect a load of alumina — the key ingredient used in making aluminum — bound for Russia would not deliver its cargo as he announced the ban on Sunday.
KEY SUPPLIER
Australia supplies nearly 20 percent of Russia’s alumina and its exports of aluminum ores, including bauxite, to Russia have also been prohibited.
Supplies of aluminum — used in everything from cans to airplane parts and window frames — were running low even before war in Europe threw global commodity markets into turmoil. This latest development threatens to add even more inflationary pressure to the global economy.
Russia is a key supplier of aluminum to markets including Turkey, China and Japan.
The metal rose to US$3,554 a tonne on the London Metal Exchange as of 1:48pm in Singapore and is up about 27 percent this year.
Rusal said in a statement that it was evaluating the impact of the ban. Rio plans to stop supplying bauxite to, and buying alumina from, Rusal’s Aughinish plant in Ireland, people familiar with the matter said earlier this month.
While aluminum has not been targeted by global sanctions, Rusal — which needs bauxite and alumina to feed its plants — is facing disruption to its supply chains as companies pull back from doing business with Russia.
The company has also slashed output from its Nikolaev alumina refinery in Ukraine due to logistical and transport challenges arising from the war.
CARGO SWAP?
Australia said the ban would apply to “all relevant shipments” to Russia. It is common practice for alumina producers to swap cargoes with other suppliers in different locations to save on freight costs.
However, it is unclear if Rusal would be able to get around the prohibition by doing this with shipments from its Queensland plant.
Rusal was founded by Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska, who retains an interest via his shareholding in Rusal’s majority owner En+ Group International PJSC.
The Australian government last week announced a new round of sanctions against oligarchs close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, including Deripaska.
EN+ Group earlier this month said it was considering a potential carve out of Rusal’s international business, creating a new company to house its alumina, bauxite and aluminum assets across the globe, which would no longer have any Russian ownership.
When an apartment comes up for rent in Germany’s big cities, hundreds of prospective tenants often queue down the street to view it, but the acute shortage of affordable housing is getting scant attention ahead of today’s snap general election. “Housing is one of the main problems for people, but nobody talks about it, nobody takes it seriously,” said Andreas Ibel, president of Build Europe, an association representing housing developers. Migration and the sluggish economy top the list of voters’ concerns, but analysts say housing policy fails to break through as returns on investment take time to register, making the
‘SILVER LINING’: Although the news caused TSMC to fall on the local market, an analyst said that as tariffs are not set to go into effect until April, there is still time for negotiations US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that he would likely impose tariffs on semiconductor, automobile and pharmaceutical imports of about 25 percent, with an announcement coming as soon as April 2 in a move that would represent a dramatic widening of the US leader’s trade war. “I probably will tell you that on April 2, but it’ll be in the neighborhood of 25 percent,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago club when asked about his plan for auto tariffs. Asked about similar levies on pharmaceutical drugs and semiconductors, the president said that “it’ll be 25 percent and higher, and it’ll
CHIP BOOM: Revenue for the semiconductor industry is set to reach US$1 trillion by 2032, opening up opportunities for the chip pacakging and testing company, it said ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest provider of outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services, yesterday launched a new advanced manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, aiming to meet growing demand for emerging technologies such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) applications. The US$300 million facility is a critical step in expanding ASE’s global footprint, offering an alternative for customers from the US, Europe, Japan, South Korea and China to assemble and test chips outside of Taiwan amid efforts to diversify supply chains. The plant, the company’s fifth in Malaysia, is part of a strategic expansion plan that would more than triple
Taiwanese artificial intelligence (AI) server makers are expected to make major investments in Texas in May after US President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office and amid his rising tariff threats, Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association (TEEMA, 台灣電子電機公會) chairman Richard Lee (李詩欽) said yesterday. The association led a delegation of seven AI server manufacturers to Washington, as well as the US states of California, Texas and New Mexico, to discuss land and tax issues, as Taiwanese firms speed up their production plans in the US with many of them seeing Texas as their top option for investment, Lee said. The
RSS