Alcan prepared for rising demand

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32425, 12 October 1970, Page 20

Alcan prepared for rising demand

(By our commercial editor)

The Alcan share issue, opening on October 21, will enable the New Zealand investing public to acquire an interest in one of the largest and most dynamic aluminium producers in the world.

Alcan is the short name for Aluminium Company of Canada, Ltd, which was formed, I believe, when United States anti-trust , legislation broke up the Alcoa empire.

It would be about the third largest aluminium producer in the world, after Alcoa and Reynolds, and perhaps the most active internationally. In 1969 the group produced 1,692,000 tons of primary aluminium, 885,000 tons of semifabricated and finished products, 4,400,000 tons of alumina (aluminium oxide—the powdery substance from which aluminium is extracted), and 7,800,000 tons of bauxite (the ore from which alumina is refined.) In the same year nearly half of the free world’s exports of alminium came from Alcan.

72,000 stockholders

The company has bauxite deposits in nine countries, smelts aluminium in nine (smelting capacity almost 2 million tons), fabricates aluminium in 33 countries and has sales outlets in more than 100.

The ordinary shares of the parent company are listed on most American ami European stock exchanges—there are more than 72,000 shareholders.

Referring to Alcan’s New Zealand activities, the managing director (Mr A. H. Swift), said that the aluminium industry will be a frontrunner in the increasingly sophisticated industrial development of New Zealand during the foreseeable future. He forecast that. Alcan’s aluminium fabrication would move into new and much broader fields as New Zealand Industry's use of the metal became more advanced and specialised.

“Aluminium is used more than any other metal apart from steel and the patterns

s which have developed overF seas are certain to be fol- - lowed here,” Mr Swift said. i Among major growth prosi pects for aluminium use were: * (1) Transport developments, ■ including bulk cargo 1 equipment, the road tanker market, aluminium barges, coastal and other commercial shipping, containerisation, road ’ transport generally. F (2) In the packaging industry, butter for export and , domestic markets, toilettries, pharmaceuticals, confectionery, tea. i (3) In the electrical industry the development of aluminium foil-wound transformers, and . the exteni sion of aluminium, already used extensively in cable, into smaller gauge wiring for domestic and other uses. ’ (4) The growing demand for leisure and sporting uses of aluminium, including pleasure craft, caravans, garden furniture and camping equipment. Mr Swift said that Auckland’s proposed rapid-rail scheme would benefit from the use of aluminium coaches while the recent building of two One Ton Cup yachts in Auckland showed the versatility of the metal. One of the most important developments ahead was the rolling of the thinner grades of foil, which at present were imported. “The market for this material has been somewhat stifled in New Zealand because of import .licensing,” Mr Swift said, r ‘ “There is • ready ’ packaging and domestic market for it and Alcan is preparing to meet it.” Mr Swift said that new developments in the manufacture of aluminium were creating entirely dew uses for the metal. Aluminium ‘alloys were being tailored for specific purposes, one example of this being the superstructure of the new Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth 11. Although already a big user of aluminium sheet and section, it was obvious that the New Zealand building industry was going to be an even stronger factor jh Al-

can’s future growth because of its use of aluminium in joinery and for prestige building projects. “Alcan will be entirely prepared for growth in the New Zealand market,” Mr Swift said.

"Although our delivery time for standard extruded section is already down to three weeks, we are installing a second press to keep ahead of the market. “We have also fostered in New Zealand the establishment of distributors from whom standard sheet products are readily available exstock.”

Consistent with Alcan’s world-wide activities, the

management is international in composition. Mr Swift is It typical example of this. He io an Australian, who graduated from Cambridge University with an honours degree in engineering. He joined Alcan in London, in 1952, and spent eight years in SouthEast Asia, in various manageriel posts. He became managing director of Alcan New Zealand in 1968.