US aluminum sector holds strong position despite global disruptions: panel

The US aluminum industry is still benefiting from bullish trends that promote regional supply and demand despite ongoing factors that are disrupting the sector in other parts of the world, Aluminum Association leaders said March 31.

Aluminum Association CEO Charles Johnson said the domestic industry had been partly shielded from the impact of the war between Russia and Ukraine since US stakeholders had steadily reduced business with Russia since 2017.

"Following previous actions in 2017 and 2018 in our industry affecting Russian metal moving into the US market, the US and North America markets diversified supplies of aluminum in many ways," Johnson said during a panel discussion at the association's spring meeting.

Russia's share of US imports has now fallen to about 5% from 13% before 2018, he said.

"Looking at that previous impact on the industry, we feel like we are in a relatively strong position in relation to other global regions," he added.

However, Johnson said previous and current supply chain disruptions always pose potential risks to the US industry, so the association is "continuing to monitor to see where we go in the future."

Global supply disruptions, particularly for primary aluminum, could even provide an additional boost for the US' booming secondary aluminum industry, said Buddy Stemple, CEO of Constellium Rolled Products and the chair of the Aluminum Association.

"You could take this into a positive for our industry because it just continues to drive recycling in the growth of the secondary side, so I see that as a land of opportunity in the years to come," he said.

Global aluminum demand is forecast to grow by nearly 40% by 2030, with the aluminum sector needing to produce an additional 33.3 million mt in that time frame to meet this demand, the International Aluminium Institute said in a recent report.

Specifically, estimated aluminum demand in North America was up 7.7% year on year in 2021, outpacing US gross domestic product growth, the Aluminum Association said in a report released March 31.

"We saw durable demand across several markets, and that's one of the reasons that we are so bullish for the aluminum industry in general," Johnson said.