Alcoa has maintained its 2025 production guidance for the March 2025 quarter amid navigating the recently introduced 25 per cent tariff on aluminium and steel imports into the US.
Alcoa saw soft decreases across its alumina and aluminium operations during the quarter, delivering 2.35 million tonnes of alumina – a one per cent decrease from the previous quarter.
The company produced 564,000 tonnes of aluminium, a one per cent decrease from the prior quarter. Alcoa cited the quarter having two less days, which was partially offset by continued progress on the Alumar, Brazil smelter restart as the reasons behind the decline.
Alcoa’s third-party alumina shipments decreased by eight per cent due to timing of shipments and decreased trading, and the company’s aluminium shipments decreased by five per cent due to the absence of Ma’aden offtake volumes and the timing of shipments.
Alcoa sold its stake in the Ma’aden joint venture to Saudi Arabian Mining Company (Ma’aden) for over $US1 billion in September 2024.
“During the first quarter, we maintained our pace of delivering on key operational and capital allocation objectives, including forming the joint venture to support our San Ciprián operations and repositioning debt in Australia,” Alcoa president and chief executive officer William F. Oplinger said.
“A positive aluminium market led to stronger results for the first quarter, while we continued to focus on safety, stability, and operational excellence amidst economic uncertainty.”
Since March 12, US President Donald Trump has imposed a 25 per cent tariff on all steel and aluminium imports coming into the US. The tariff impacts every country that exports steel and aluminium to the US.
Throughout the March 2025 quarter, Alcoa spoke with administrations, governments, and policymakers in the US and the rest of the world to outline the significance of aluminium to the US economy and the impact the tariffs will have on global trading.
The company also engaged with its customers, suppliers and logistics companies to avoid supply disruption.
Alcoa expects to incur $US90 million in costs during the June 2025 quarter due to the US aluminium tariff.
Alcoa closed the March quarter with $US1.2 billion in cash, approximately $US3.4 billion in revenue, $US548 million in net income, and $US855 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA).