America's aluminum story: Scrap savvy and tariff turbulence

Here are the numbers: According to the USGS, the U.S. produced about 670,000 metric tons (mt) of primary aluminum in 2024. That’s down 11% from the year before. Meanwhile, secondary aluminum – recycled content – totaled 3.6 million mt (2 million from factory scrap, 1.6 million from old scrap). Add in 4.8 million mt of imports, and total supply hit 9.07 million mt.

Now subtract 3 million mt of exports, tack on a minor 230,000 mt stock adjustment, and the final number we land on is 4.3 million mt of apparent aluminum consumption in the U.S.