Aluminum Scrap Markets
April 13, 2026
What Toyota's $1B US investment could mean for aluminum
Written by Nicholas Bell
Toyota Motor Corp.’s $1 billion investment in its Kentucky and Indiana plants aims to expand production of aluminum-intensive vehicles, particularly across high-volume models and future battery electric platforms.
Less visible in the announcement is how that demand is supported — through a regional supply chain that processes scrap aluminum and converts it into components within close proximity to assembly.
The company announced March 23 it will invest $800 million in its Georgetown, Ky, plant and $200 million in its Princeton, Ind., facility. The Kentucky investment will expand production of the Camry and RAV4 while preparing the site for a second battery electric vehicle. The Indiana expansion will increase output of the Grand Highlander alongside the Sienna and Lexus TX.
Both facilities rely on aluminum-intensive designs combining flat-rolled products for body structures with cast aluminum components used in engines, drivetrains, and structural applications.
Kentucky operations
At the center of that demand is Toyota’s Georgetown plant, the company’s largest global manufacturing site, which assembled 444,414 vehicles and produced 787,063 engine units in 2026, combining vehicle assembly with significant engine production.
Roughly 20 miles away, Kentucky Smelting Technology — associated with Toyota Tsusho, the Toyota Group’s raw material procurement arm — operates a secondary aluminum processing facility equipped with reverberatory and rotary furnaces.
The operation converts scrap aluminum into usable metal, positioning recycled material supply near one of Toyota’s primary assembly and engine manufacturing hubs.
Based on permit figures, the site’s two reverberatory furnaces alone imply maximum melt capacity of roughly 162,600 tons per year, adjusted for the plant’s 350-day operating schedule. Applying the company’s stated 70%-75% scrap mix, that points to potential scrap consumption of roughly 114,000-122,000 tons annually, excluding the rotary furnace.
The rotary furnace adds around 32,500 tons of on-site scrap and dross recycling capacity as well, which includes aluminum chips and wheel scrap.
That proximity points to a supply chain in which aluminum can move from scrap processing to component production within the same region, reducing reliance on primary metal inputs and long-distance logistics for casting applications.
Scrap-based production elsewhere
Toyota’s manufacturing structure in Kentucky mirrors broader practices across its US footprint, where casting operations are historically tied to engine production.
In Troy, Mo., Missouri Smelting Technology (MOST) operates alongside Toyota Motor Manufacturing Missouri, which produced about 2.3 million engine units 2025. A similar configuration exists in Jackson, Tenn., where MOST operates at the same site as Toyota Motor Manufacturing Tennessee, which produced roughly 2.4 million engine units in 2025.
Those sites illustrate how secondary aluminum processing is positioned within Toyota’s manufacturing network, adjacent to high-volume engine and component production. In some cases, operations are co-located, allowing scrap processing, remelting, and downstream manufacturing to occur within a single industrial footprint.
Indiana investment
Toyota’s $200-million investment in its Princeton, Ind., plant, which assembled 427,844 vehicles in 2025, will expand production of the Grand Highlander, alongside the Sienna and Lexus TX.
The Highlander platform remains one of Toyota’s highest-volume SUVs, second only to the RAV4 in US sales.
In recent years, those models have shared engine families with the RAV4 and Camry under Toyota’s TNGA platform strategy, linking the Indiana expansion to the same aluminum-intensive engine and component ecosystem centered in Kentucky.
Embedded aluminum system
As output increases at Toyota’s Kentucky and Indiana plants, demand for cast aluminum components is likely to rise in tandem, drawing on a supply chain that incorporates recycled material.
By positioning secondary smelting operations and scrap processing operations within its own manufacturing ecosystem, Toyota and its affiliates can source material more directly, reducing reliance on intermediaries and tightening the link between scrap suppliers and consumers.
If Kentucky Smelting Technology maintains a 70%-75% scrap mix while increasing melt output to support higher engine production, scrap demand would rise proportionally. Given that the processes third party scrap, recycled scrap ingot (RSI), and wheels, that increase could be a boon for scrap suppliers that provide those materials.
