MES participated in the Aluminum Symposium 2016

MES participated on January 20-22 in one of the largest international metals events, the Aluminum Symposium 2016, organized by Platts under the theme ‘Outlook for Aluminum in 2016’. As our company expands its global commitment in China, India and Mexico while stabilizing its position on the American market, we are determined to coin our strategy in accordance with the metal industry synergies. We constantly try to understand the pain points of our clients and address them as deep in the value chain as possible.  Our people make it their job to be present in those events that would benefit our stakeholders, be they upstream or downstream.

The symposium was a success, with key speakers addressing the worries of the industry about the aluminum supply and demand, the plunging prices, the future of scrap, the developments of Russia and CIS market, China’s economic slowdown and Mexico’s rise as a supplier for the US manufacturing industry. The emphasis was laid on the smelter curtailments and industry consolidation, the urgency to destock, the ability of China to reduce supply and the overall impact of the Chinese RMB on the price of the commodity.

However, while the picture was not painted very brightly for the smelters, there was a lot of good news for downstream manufacturers, especially those serving the growing automotive, truck, aerospace and construction sectors. In fact, most of the demand is expected to be driven by the automotive industry which, in its search for energy efficiency is looking to expand the percentage of aluminum used in vehicles. The latter is also driving the R&D in the industry, with special alloys being developed for better strength, fatigue resistance and corrosion resistance.