Aluminum Association's latest white paper analyzes progress in the US sheet market for common alloy aluminium

Targeted Trade Enforcement in Action: Common Alloy Aluminum Sheet AD/CVD One Year Later, a new white paper from the Aluminum Association, examines progress made in the US common alloy aluminium sheet market one year after the Commerce Department issued antidumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) orders on certain common alloy sheet imports from 16 countries.

“We are gratified to see – once again – that targeted trade enforcement works. One year after the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission took strong action against unfair trade in the U.S. market, the domestic common alloy aluminum sheet market is showing signs of significant recovery,” said Charles Johnson, president & CEO of the Aluminum Association.

The Commerce Department's total AD and CVD margins vary from 3.2 percent to 242.8 percent, indicating the significant volume of unfair trade that had been occurring in the market. Between 2019 and 2021, imports of common alloy sheet from the targeted nations fell by two-thirds, with more than $300 million invested in the domestic market.

The following are some of the white paper's primary findings:

• A $207 million renovation of JW Aluminum's mill in Mt. Holly, SC, and a $100 million investment in Arconic's facility in Knoxville, TN, are two recent investments in the common alloy sheet market.
• While unfairly traded sheet imports from the 16 countries now subject to AD/CVD orders accounted for 62.7 percent of total U.S. imports in 2019, they only accounted for 25.2 percent of total U.S.
• According to Aluminum Association data, U.S. producer shipments of common alloy sheet increased by 24.4 percent from 2.69 billion pounds in 2020 to 3.34 billion pounds in 2021;

The Aluminum Association's Common Alloy Aluminum Sheet Trade Enforcement Working Group filed an AD/CVD action in March 2020 against 18 nations that were importing common alloy sheet at less than fair value and benefiting from actionable government subsidies. The US International Trade Commission (USITC) unanimously found that imports from 16 nations had significantly harmed US manufacturers in April of last year, and the Commerce Department issued AD/CVD decisions imposing taxes on imports from those countries.

This action was taken in response to a previous AD/CVD case involving common alloy sheet imported from China. Transportation, building and construction, infrastructure, electrical, and maritime industries all require common alloy aluminium sheet, which is a flat-rolled aluminium product.

The Aluminum Association published a new economic impact assessment earlier this year that found the sector supports 164,000 direct employment and $73 billion in direct economic effect. Furthermore, over the previous decade, the sector has committed or invested more than $4 billion in U.S. manufacturing, with approximately $1 billion in the last year alone.