Kentucky mill outage hurts Novelis' aluminum can sheet business

Leading aluminum can sheet producer Novelis Inc lost business to competitors after a three-week outage at its U.S. joint venture rolling mill in January, a company executive told reporters on Wednesday.

Vice President and General Manager Tom Boney said at a roundtable discussion that the outage at the Logan Aluminum mill in Russellville, Kentucky "created quite a gap in supply.

"Other industry participants were able to secure some of that business as well," Boney said, adding that there was no disruption to overall can production. "The industry was able to absorb that."

Novelis and Tri-Arrows Aluminum own the mill.

The Logan plant supplies more than one-third of the U.S. beverage can market, according to Novelis' website. The company incrementally ramped up beverage can sheet capacity at its Oswego, New York, plant during February and March to offset the losses, Boney said.

Novelis had said it imported sheet from its own operations in Asia and South America due to the unexpected outage, which was caused by a motor failure.

Novelis' competitors in supplying can sheet to beverage makers like Coca Cola Co include Constellium NV, which says it is the No. 3 North American producer of can body stock, and Alcoa Inc, which says it recycles enough aluminum to produce billions of new cans a year.

Can shipments accounted for nearly two-thirds of Novelis' flat rolled products in the fiscal year ended on March 31, 2014.

Boney's comments come after the surprise ouster of Chief Executive Officer Phil Martens on Monday.

Boney did not elaborate on Martens' departure during the Wednesday call in response to a reporter's question.

"The company has been performing rather well," he said. "The board has decided that this is the time to go with different leadership."

A spokesman had given the same reason but did not provide additional details.

Boney was speaking from the Aluminum Association's spring meeting in Dana Point, California.