US aluminum producers' hopes

The growing confidence among American aluminum manufacturers is driven by automotive demand, not what President Donald Trump is planning in terms of trade policy.

Novelis Inc., the largest manufacturer of flat-rolled products, announced last week that it plans to build a $ 300 million plant in Kentucky for automotive customers looking to minimize weight and fuel consumption. This comes nine months after Braidy Industries Inc. said it would build a $ 1.3 billion aluminum rolling mill for supply to the automotive and aerospace markets.

The fact that these decisions were made during the Trump administration sees restrictions on cheap metal imports overlap in many ways, the companies say.

“There will be winners and losers in this marketplace, but literally nobody makes big business decisions based on tariffs,” Braidy CEO Craig Bouchard said in a telephone interview.

While tariffs on metal imports could help American refiners like Century Aluminum Co. for those in the semi-finished business, the real triggers for building new plants in the US are a shift towards light vehicles and high automotive-like margins. and the aviation industry.

Demand for aluminum sheet used in automobiles is expected to grow 20 percent by 2020 from 2015, while light metal in aerospace demand is expected to surge 5 percent over the same period, according to Harbor Intelligence.