Monthly Round-up
March 5, 2026
Smelter news, earnings and tariffs, of course
Written by Stephanie Ritenbaugh
Let’s kick off our look at February with the latest from Aluminum Market Update’s survey. Last month’s results showed some notable shifts across measured lead times and sentiment. We dig into where pressures are building and how they are moving through the value chain.
Will competitors find a way to work together? That’s what Century Aluminum and Alcoa hope as they sell idled smelters to data center companies.
AI usage has ramped up demand for electricity, with aluminum companies vying with data centers for competitively priced power. Century Aluminum is selling its idled Hawesville, Ky., smelter site to TeraWulf to redevelop the site into a digital infrastructure campus supporting high-performance computing and AI. Century will retain a non-controlling minority equity stake in the project.
And Alcoa is courting the data center industry for 10 sites it wants to put on the market. CEO Bill Oplinger said the company had already planned to sell the sites, but AI changed the game. “What we’re really trying to understand is the value in a data center world or an AI world of our individual sites.”
AMU also took a deeper look at the sites Alcoa is marketing.
Speaking of smelters, Century Aluminum took a 40% stake in Emirates Global Aluminum’s (EGA) smelter in Tulsa, Okla. We examine the rationale behind the deal.
AMU Explainer is a series where we demystify parts of the aluminum industry. This time, we sort through metal storage and why contango matters to traders.
Heating, ventilation and cooling rarely get top billing in aluminum demand discussions. But recent earnings from the largest publicly traded HVAC manufacturers offer some insights into how this end market is shaping up this year.
Oswego news
Ford Motor Co. is still dealing with the fallout of the fires at Novelis’ mill in Oswego, N.Y. Executives said the company lost about 100,000 units of production last year.
Meanwhile, Novelis executives expect to restart the Oswego rolling mill late in the second quarter.
“While analysis is ongoing, we believe several factors could have contributed to the September fire, including the composition and characteristics of the coil as well as lubricants in the mill and surrounding area,” Steve Fisher, president and CEO, said. The cause of the November fire is still under investigation, he noted.
Tariffs and trade
The US began collecting a new 10% global tariff under a new statute, days after the US Supreme Court struck down President Trump’s use of sweeping duties under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. (Those are the ones that are separate from the Section 232 and 301 tariffs targeting steel and aluminum.)
The US International Trade Commission has determined there is a reasonable indication a US industry is materially injured by imports of van-type trailers and subassemblies from Canada, China and Mexico that are alleged to be sold at less than their value and alleged to be subsidized.
Company news
AMU examines the deal between Rio Tinto and Aluminum Corporation of China Limited (Chalco) to acquire Votorantim’s 68.6% interest in Companhia Brasileira de Alumínio in Brazil. The move has left some people scratching their heads.
LS Cable & System USA is expanding its US manufacturing capabilities with a $50 million investment in North Carolina aimed at strengthening its position in the medium-voltage power cable market. The move comes amid sustained grid modernization, and data center-driven infrastructure growth across North America.
Howmet Aerospace’s CEO said the gas turbine market has been the “biggest change to my thinking.” The specialty engineering company is the largest manufacturer of gas turbine blades in the world, though it still makes up a smaller percentage of its business. Now it’s expecting that to grow.
Earnings roundup
Norsk Hydro’s fourth-quarter results showed relative stability upstream, while downstream extrusion activity remained uneven.
Kaiser Aluminum ended 2025 with lower shipments but higher conversion margins. Management now expects 2026 to mark a return to volume growth in aerospace and packaging, while automotive retools for specialty capacity.
Rio Tinto’s 2025 results, amid its other metals operations, show stable aluminum production, continued capital deployment in Canada, and higher segment EBITDA.
Century Aluminum reported lower fourth-quarter primary aluminum shipments after a transformer failure idled part of its Grundartangi smelter in Iceland. US operations held steady and slightly increased output.
Constellium reported rising shipments for the fourth quarter and full year. Quarterly shipments gained 11%, rising to 365,000 tons due to increases in each of its operating segments.
