HAPPY NEW YEAR AND HAPPY “ALUMINIUM” IN 2012
Of course a Happy New Year in good health and full of successes is the most important wish for all readers, their families and their companies.
But, very important too, Happy Aluminium!
If fact, if aluminium is in good health, indirectly also our businesses and our companies will be in good health.
In 2011 aluminium has celebrated its 125th anniversary since two inventors, both at the same time, even though independently, invented the industrial process based on the electrolysis of alumina from fused salts. The two inventors were the French Paul Herault and the American Martin Hall. The process was called Hall-Herault process.
Since then aluminium, the third most abundant element present in the earth’s crust, has been increasingly used and applied in all industrial fields.
Will production of primary and recycled aluminium increase also in 2012? And in which countries? Some say in the so called BRIC countries (Brasil, Russia, India, China), in the Gulf Area, in many of the recently industrialized countries in Africa and in Central and South America besides China, Europe and North America?
Forecasts are still to be done by the experts, even if, recently, even the economic experts are in difficulty when it comes to reliable forecasts in this fast changing world.
Anyway trends and numbers are facts and the aluminium production has grown in the last 15 years from 20.000 million tons to 50.000 million tons at a rate of about 2.000 million tons per year.
Recent statistics about Africa say that only 1% of the total is consumed in Africa: what about the next 5 years since the GDP of many African countries is foreseen to grow at a rate of about 6-7% per year from today to 2015?
Due to these new prospects one of the themes of the 8th World Congress “Aluminium Two Thousand”, to be held in Italy in May 2013, will be “Aluminium for Africa and Africa for Aluminium”.
In a “global” world, also our aluminium market becomes “global” and exporters/investors have to look at the growing countries besides the home markets.
Anyway, our wish is that Aluminium can stay in good health in every country and in every industrial sector, but this target will be reached not only following the economy but also the innovation capacity of our industry, which must be capable of finding always new fields of application to extruded, rolled or cast products.
So Best Wishes also to all the investors in new technologies and new applications for aluminium products .
Walter Dalla Barba