Investing in viable solutions
(Nov. 20, 2003) The amount of money invested in producing and recycling aluminium is expected to double over the next 10 years, as the recycling business becomes more global.
 LEADER: Hydro Aluminium is devoted to building a global secondary aluminium network. |
| |
The continued tightness in the secondary metal market is forcing the industry to develop new ways of sourcing material, says Hydro Aluminium strategy and industry analyst Birgitte Grundfor.
"There needs to be a strengthening cooperation with customers to close loops to get hold of scrap," she says.
Grundfor, speaking at Metal Bulletin's 11th International Secondary Aluminium Conference, presented The remelt business - not all plain sailing. Her presentation is enclosed below, at the bottom of the page.
Metal Bulletin's annual conference, which was held this year on November 12-14 in Paris, was split into three sessions:
- Automotive: Bugbear or bounty?
- Scrap and the recycling process
- New influences, new directions
China is expected to grow its secondary aluminium production capacity in the next few years to become the third-largest secondary alloy producer by 2010, claims the Chinese think-tank Metrust Consulting.
Metrust's Li Hongwei also told conference participants that China would probably account for 20-to-22 percent of global secondary aluminium consumption from 2004. However, China's secondary producers are relying heavily on imported scrap. Only 400,000 mt of scrap is domestically sourced, says Li.
He adds that China has about 2,000 small-scale secondary plants in operation, of which about 30 have annual production capacity above 10,000 mt.
Similar growth in the secondary industry is also expected in Russia, says Alexandra Parkhomenko, who is head of marketing for the Russian secondary aluminium producer BMC. She told participants that improvements made by domestic producers would result in cost cuts, better utilization of production capacities, reductions in fuel and energy use, and improved alloy quality.
| 