Contributor: Stephanie Ritenbaugh

Stephanie Ritenbaugh

Stephanie is an experienced business journalist, holding a variety of positions for trade publications and newspapers, including covering shale development for Gas Business Briefing/Platts and for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Union workers at Arconic authorize strike as contract nears expiration

The current contract expires on May 16.

Tariff hearing reveals concerns about unfair competition, mainly from China, but not just China

Meanwhile, this week, President Trump is in Beijing for a crucial series of meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Discussions are expected to include trade, the Iran war, technology and agriculture.

Aluminum stocks to stay in red, prices to stay high as Iran war continues

The LME price for aluminum spiked at the start of the US/Israel war on Iran and has lately hovered around $3,400-$3,600 per ton, not yet breaching $4,000.

Alcoa to upgrade Norway facility, increase scrap capabilities

The upgrades are expected to increase capacity by up to 75,000 metric tons, the company said in an announcement.

AKFA Aluminum Solutions breaks ground on Kentucky project

The Bowling Green operation will function as a full-cycle aluminum production site. Capabilities will include extrusion, anodizing, and finishing capabilities, allowing AKFA to perform multiple processing stages within a single US location rather than relying on external tolling or offshore finishing.

Iran war disruptions show importance of US smelters, Century says

“The timing of our Mt. Holly restart could not be better...providing additional American metal units to the domestic market,” CEO Jesse Gary said.

Iran war, tariff changes, project announcements and more

There’s a lot of news to keep track of, so we’re lending a hand with highlights from the past month and what they mean for you.

EGA expands recycling footprint with Eco Green stake

Emirates Global Aluminium plans to acquire an 80% stake in Italian aluminum recycling company Eco Green.The deal marks the latest expansion for EGA.

Constellium inks deal to supply Airbus

Under the deal, Constellium will supply Airbus with a wide range of extrusions manufactured using advanced aluminum alloys, and Constellium’s aluminum-lithium product, Airware.

Steel Dynamics produces aluminum from Mississippi as flat-rolled operations ramp up

Two of the three planned cold mills are ramping operations and producing prime products. A third cold mill is scheduled to commission in Q3’26.