Silicon metal highlights

摘要

The US silicon metal market is suffering sluggish demand from one of its key end-use sectors, the secondary aluminium industry. US aluminium alloy producers are facing soft demand from consumers, reflecting a slowdown in the automotive industry, as well as rising costs as booming demand for aluminium scrap in China is driving up scrap costs for US smelters. The combined impact of sluggish demand and higher costs is leading to producers exiting the sector. Primarily, aluminium producers such as Alcoa and Alcan, who were at least temporarily active in the market, have now exited the secondary aluminium sector, as have traditional secondary producers. Vista Metals, which was believed to have been producing around 100m lbs per annum (45,000 tpy), recently halted aluminium alloy production and reportedly has no plans to resume output. According to data from the USGS, US secondary aluminium smelters produced just 628,000 tonnes of aluminium alloys in the first nine months of 2003, a 12.0 percent year-on-year decline from 714,000 tonnes produced in the same period last year. With production of high-silicon containing alloys particularly hard hit, silicon metal consumption at the smelters fell 14.2 percent over the period to 27,800 tonnes from 32,400 tonnes previously.