, spelled aluminum in US English, is an element, also called a chemical element, which is ordinarily classified as a metal. The name aluminium originates from the Latin word alum or alumen, meaning bitter salt.
Quick Overview of Aluminium
✔️A brief overview of aluminium (AL) ✔️History of aluminium ✔️Production of aluminium How to trade aluminium What determines and affects the price of aluminium? Applications of aluminium Conclusion
A brief overview of aluminium (AL)
It is classified into group 13 - the boron group - of the periodic table. Other elements belonging to the boron group are boron (B), gallium (Ga), Indium (In), thallium (TI), and nihonium (Nh). Aluminium, denoted by the symbol ‘AL,’ has the atomic number 13. An element’s atomic number, identified by the letter Z, refers to the number of protons in the nucleus of every atom of the specific element. It has a silvery-white colour, and in its purest form, it has the appearance of bluish-white. Aluminium starts to melt at 660° C (1 220° F) and has a boiling point of 2 467° C (4 473° F). Aluminium occurs in the outer crust (16 kilometres) of the earth, constituting 8.23% of the crust, making it the most widespread mineral on earth and the third most abundant element in the earth’s crust. As an element, it is only exceeded in amount by oxygen (46.1%) and silicon (28.2%). However, aluminium is rarely found in an uncombined form in nature. It usually occurs in combination with minerals such as cryolite and bauxite, referred to as aluminium silicates. Other minerals in which aluminium is present are micas, vermiculite, and feldspar, to name a few. Some of the qualities and characteristics of aluminium are:
- It is durable and functional, allowing aluminium to be used for a wide variety of purposes.
- Aluminium has a lower density than those other ordinary metals. For instance, one-third of the density of steel.
- In its purest form, it is a very ductile metal, which can be formed or pressed into another form or shape without fracturing.
- Aluminium is an excellent conductor of electricity.
- It has a relatively high thermal conductivity.
History of aluminium
Before the Common Era (BCE), the Mesopotamian people were creating fine pottery from clay that largely contained an aluminium compound. About 4 000 years ago, Egyptians and Babylonians made use of aluminium compounds to produce medicines and chemicals. The name ‘aluminium’ was given to the metal by Humphry Davy (1778 - 1829), an English chemist and inventor, who discovered in 1808 that aluminium could be manufactured by electrolytic reduction from alumina (an aluminium oxide). Although, he failed to prove the theory in practice. In 1825, the Dane, Hans Christian Oersted (1777 - 1851) succeeded to produce a small quantity of aluminium by heating aluminium chloride with potassium amalgam. However, the result was an aluminium alloy instead of pure aluminium. Friedrich Woehler (1800 - 1882), a chemist from Germany, continued Oersted’s work and managed to produce aluminium powder in 1827. It took him another 18 years of sustained research and experimentation to manufacture small balls of solidified molten aluminium in 1845. The process of Woehler was improved by the French chemist, Henri-Etienne Saint-Claire Deville (1818 - 1881), who developed an inexpensive process for the industrial manufacturing of aluminium. Deville and his partners at the production facility of Charles and Alexandre Tissier produced the first industrial aluminium in Rouen, a city in northern France, in 1856. A more cost-efficient process to produce aluminium was discovered independently and almost at the same time in 1886 by a student from America, Charles Martin Hall (1863 - 1914), and the French engineer, Paul Héroult (1863 -1914). This process is called the Hall-Héroult process. In 1888, Karl Josef Bayer (1847 - 1904), an Austrian chemist, invented the Bayer process of extracting alumina from bauxite.
Production of aluminium
The production of aluminium starts with the extraction of bauxite, a type of rock, from the earth. Bauxite consists of forty-five to sixty percent aluminium oxide, as well as a number of impurities such as silicon dioxide, iron oxide, and the clay mineral kaolinite. China is the biggest producer of aluminium, followed by India and Russia. The Chinese companies, Chinalco and the Hongqiao Group, are the two leading aluminium producing companies in the world. Producing aluminium from bauxite includes two processes, the Bayer process, and the Hall-Héroult process.
- The Bayer process
This process refines bauxite to obtain alumina, a white powder and also known as aluminium oxide. Two to three tonnes of bauxite are required to produce one tonne of alumina. Aluminium for Future Generations identifies the following eight steps in the Bayer process:
- Milling
- Desilication
- Digestion
- Clarification/Settling
- Precipitation
- Evaporation
- Classification
- Calcination
The alumina is then sent to smelters which use the Hall-Héroult process to smelt the alumina to produce pure aluminium.
- Hall-Héroult process
This is an electrolytic reduction process, referred to as smelting, in which the alumina is dissolved in special reduction cells with molten cryolite at 950° Celsius. Powerful electric currents at 400 kA or above are induced in the mixture, separating aluminium metal from the chemical solution, resulting in liquid aluminium that settles at the bottom of the reduction cells.
How to trade aluminium
Aluminium is one of the metals that can be directly traded on the London Metal Exchange (LME). However, there is a variety of other methods available to trade aluminium:
- Buying shares of companies involved in aluminium mining and processing
There are numerous companies involved in the mining of bauxite and other aluminium ores. The performance of their shares corresponds with the prices of aluminium and other metals. Popular mining companies, are, inter alia, Rio Tinto, Alcoa, and Hydro.
- Traders/investors can also trade aluminium by making use of different trading instruments like Aluminium ETFs (exchange traded funds), Aluminium Futures, and Aluminium CFDs (contracts for difference).
Trading with these types of instruments requires a trader to use a trading platform of a regulated commodity broker like Trading with these types of instruments requires a trading platform of a regulated commodity broker like AvaTrade.
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What determines and affects the price of aluminium?
Since 24 February 2026, when Russia started to wage a war against Ukraine, aluminium prices surged to a record high of $3 966 per metric tonne (MT) on 7 March. Russia is one of the largest aluminium producers in the world. The intensifying war and sanctions imposed by the USA, the European Union, and numerous other countries on Russia, severely disrupted the supply of aluminium. As of March 31, 2026, the bid price for aluminium was $3 502 per metric tonne (MT), and the asking price was $3 503 per MT on the London Metal Exchange (LME). Other important factors that influence the price of aluminium are, among others:
- Chinese demand
China uses more than 40% of the annual global supply of aluminium. A rising or declining Chinese economy will definitely affect the aluminium price positively or negatively.
- Demand changes in the aviation sector
Lighter composite materials seek to replace aluminium as the primary metal in the manufacturing of aircraft. Carbon fibre materials are making significant inroads in the aviation industry, which may cause a decline in the demand for aluminium.
- Production and transportation costs of aluminium
Aluminium prices include both the energy costs to produce the metal as well as the transportation costs to get the manufactured aluminium to its destination. The production of aluminium requires large amounts of electricity in the smelting process. Significant increases in the cost of fuel and electricity will definitely drive the price of aluminium higher.
- Strength or weakness of the US dollar
The prices of commodities, such as aluminium, are quoted in US dollars. The producers of aluminium receive more US dollars when the US currency is weak, and vice versa.
Applications of aluminium
The outstanding qualities of aluminium make it possible to use the metal in numerous ways. Aluminium is widely used in household items, the aviation industry, construction, and mobile phones, to name a few examples. The following list of aluminium applications shows why aluminium is one of the world’s fastest-growing metals.
- Households
Cooking utensils for the kitchen, furniture like aluminium beds, refrigerators, and air conditioners.
- Sport equipment
Lightweight bicycles and golf carts.
- Construction
In construction, aluminium is used as window and doorframes, facades, roofs, and curtain walls.
- Aviation industry
Due to its lightweight and strength, aluminium is the preferred metal in the manufacturing of aircraft. The estimation is that approximately 80% of all metal content in aircraft today is aluminium. Aluminium’s lightweight allows an aircraft to carry more weight, becoming more fuel-efficient. In addition, aluminium is highly resistant to corrosion, ensuring the safety of the aircraft and the passengers. Modern aircraft consist of 75 to 80% aluminium.
- Food packaging
The metal is used in recyclable food packagings such as cans and aluminium foil for kitchen use.
- Electrical applications
Aluminium is an exceptional conductor of electricity. Hence, it is found in wirings and is used for the transmission of electricity over long distances.
- Automotive industry
Several vehicle parts are being manufactured from aluminium. For example, wheels, bumpers, engine radiators, suspension parts, engine cylinder blocks, and body parts. The Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI) estimates that for every ten percent reduction in the weight of a vehicle, fuel economy increases by about seven percent.
- Recycling
Aluminium can be recycled indefinitely without a significant loss in quality. Ninety-five percent less energy is required to recycle the metal than to produce primary aluminium.
- Other usages
Mirror polishing, printing plates, pharmaceuticals.
- Aluminium sulfate
Aluminium sulfate, also called alum, is an aluminium salt consisting of aluminium, sulfur, and oxygen. Aluminium sulfate is used to treat water for human consumption, in the process of dyeing clothes, in medical applications, in the chemical industry, in the food industry, and in gardening.
In conclusion
Aluminium is not only the most widespread metal in nature, but it also plays a major role in our lives. Aluminium in alloys and aluminium sulfate can be found everywhere. For instance, in the planes, we fly in, in some of the food we eat, in our cosmetics, in our vehicles, in utensils in which we cook our food. Note: The intention of the article is to inform and not to provide investment or trading advice. Please obtain the advice of a professional and regulated commodity broker before making trading and investment decisions.
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