Aluminium has been bringing about a significant revolution in the automotive, aerospace, packaging and building and construction industry since the early 20^th century. The developed countries have long accepted Aluminium as the ideal material for building, architecture and infrastructure sectors. However, with the slowing down of economies, particularly in Europe, and flattening of demand in the Chinese markets, the global Aluminium industry had started working on developing contingency plans to sustain an overall economic growth rate of 2-3% for its survival on short terms. However, with a resilient performance of economies in India and South and Far East Asia where the GDP growth continued to maintain +5% PA rate,  the global aluminum industry, particularly the Aluminium Extrusion sector catering primarily to the building and architecture segments has been able to survive through the crisis period.

Designers and architects are increasingly experimenting with the metal for designing unique products and innovative structures which would be sturdier, lightweight, low on maintenance and more durable than iron and steel and plastics. The technological developments and innovations in the field of aluminium extrusions have made designing much simpler and hassle-free for the designers and architects.  Till the 1990s, the focus of innovation and product development for the global Aluminium extrusion industry had remained the west and the prosperous Asia-Pacific regions. The architectural features of building accessories and attachment in the tropical regions being different, it was only in early 2000 that attention was drawn to the specific needs of designing sections and coating qualities to serve the needs of the tropical climatic regions of SEA region.

Consumers all around the world are growing ecologically conscious and the trend is to invest on sensible, environmentally sustainable products. Along with this, rising incomes and demand for enhanced quality is driving innovation in building construction for both commercial and residential use. Aluminium extrusions are  being used to construct residential and shopping centres, stadiums and bridges, in restoring and reconstructing historical buildings and also in constructing large solar panels. And the demand is growing continuously despite the economic fluctuations.

Like any other field, the building and construction industry is also confronted with a number of environmental issues like impact on climate change; building materials; and methods of waste disposal and recycling etc. One very important aspect of using aluminium in building is the energy efficiency. Buildings account for over 40% of global energy consumption and it is here that aluminum extrusion has a major role to play. The use of aluminium extrusions puts the buildings on a low energy diet thereby contributing to the environmental cause. If we look at the safety side, aluminium extrusions are the key element in storm shutter systems in hurricane-prone regions. As the real estate sector is growing, consumers as well as builders are growing more concerned about the lifecycle of the building and its fittings and aluminum extrusions provide that durability without adding extra weight to the building base. Then there are other factors like design, functionality, space utility, finish and aesthetics, finance and profit etc., and considering all these, aluminium becomes the material of choice in this field.

If we look into the statistics, from the year 2005 to 2010, the global annual growth for aluminium extrusions was somewhere around 4.9 percent. US aluminum extruder Sapa expected North American aluminum extrusion market to grow 5-7% in the year 2012-13. In USA, the primary consumer of extruded aluminum products is the construction industry. The importance of extrusion industry can be evaluated from the fact that out of the total number of aluminum production firms nearly 36% are extrusion companies. Talking of the Chinese Aluminium Extrusion, it has seen a phenomenal growth in the last 15 years. China is performing well on the extrusion side — the industrial and commercial building and construction market are expected to see 10-15% growth. Surprisingly, U.K.’s per capita usage of extrusion is still less than 4kg, the lowest among the developed countries.

In India, per capita consumption of extrusion is amongst the lowest in the world. The total installed capacity for aluminium extrusions in India is around 400,000 tonnes.  However, since a large component of this figure is based on installation of used and reconditioned equipments, the actual rated capacity is anybody’s guess. There is also a large number of ‘backyard’ extruders using secondary metal and their capacity to produce and supply never gets reflected in the over demand and supply scenario. As everywhere else, building & construction industry is the major consumer of aluminium extrusions in India which also and accounts for over 60% of the overall consumption of extruded sections in the country. The next major consumer segment is the transport and related infrastructure segment. With the implementation of Rapid Transit Systems (RTS) in most metros in India, this segment is fast emerging as a consumer of aluminium extrusions in India.

The extrusion industry also has a lot of growth potential in the solar energy industry and the automotive industry.

Aluminium Extrusion industry worldwide is facing a number of challenges in a competitive building and construction sector. Pricing is a key driving factor and loosening the price sensitivity in the worldwide markets could result in eliminating reservations among the consumers of aluminium extrusions. It is not always appreciated, more so in the developing economies that quality extrusions will cost more, but they will pay in the long run by keeping building structures age-proof, cutting on the maintenance cost and improving energy efficiency.

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