Top five aluminium rolling mills in the world

Currently Aluminium flat rolled products accounts for about 32% of the global aluminium usage followed by extrusions at 31%, castings at 22% and wire rods at 8%.  Flat rolled products demand will continue to grow driven by substitution trend in transport and growth in packaging driven by can stock and foil in emerging markets. Aluminium FRP demand for cars is expected to grow from 1.5 million tonnes in 2018 to 3.5 million tonnes a year in 2025. That indicates the growing significance of rolling mills and more and more investments happening in Greenfield and Brownfield projects. Leveraging on the growing demand from automakers for aluminium sheet in Body-in White applications, the top aluminium downstream producers have invested heavily on rolling expansions.  We are listing here the top five rolling mills based on their estimated current capacity.

Aluminium Norf GmbH (“Alunorf”)

Aluminium Norf GmbH (“Alunorf”) is the world’s largest aluminium rolling and casting facility in Neuss, Germany with more than 2,200 employees producing more than 1,500,000 tons of rolled products per year and jointly owned by Hydro and Novelis.

Aluminium Norf GmbH was founded in April 1965 as a joint venture between these two companies as the biggest aluminium rolling and remelt plant in Europe, setting new standards for the processing of aluminium to sheet and plate for a wide range of applications. Aluminium Norf GmbH has undergone considerable expansion and modernisation since its foundation to cater to the growing demands of rolled aluminium products. With the biggest expansion between 1990 and 1994 Aluminium Norf GmbH – in short Alunorf – has become the world's largest aluminium rolling and remelt plant.

The area of Aluminium Norf GmbH encompasses 577,000 square meters. Alunorf's production comprises the three units aluminium melting, hot rolling and cold rolling.

Arconic, Inc., USA Knoxville, TN

Arconic’s rolling mill in Knoxville, TN, USA is another large aluminium rolling mill with a capacity of 750,000 tonnes of hot and cold rolled products per year. Originally belonging to Alcoa, it is now a part of Arconic, the spin off from historic aluminium-maker Alcoa Inc. The company has a long history in Blount County – the adjacent city, formerly North Maryville, incorporated as Alcoa in 1919 and served largely as a company town. The rolling mill makes aluminium sheet for automotive and industrial use.

Arconic announced in February 2018 that it will expand its existing plant in Blount County, with an investment of more than $100 million. According to the company press release, the expansion of Arconic’s hot mill capacity is also underway, and should be finished by the Q4 2020, according to the news release. Customers have committed for most of the expanded capacity, and demand for sheet aluminium is expected to double in the next decade, the news release said. This follows a US$300 million expansion in the plant’s sheet aluminium production in 2015.

Novelis Korea Ltd., South Korea Yeongju

Novelis’ Yeongju, South Korea, plant produces flat-rolled aluminium products, serving beverage can, food packaging, construction and electronics markets across Asia. The plant has a production capacity of 650,000 tonnes of rolled aluminium products.

The Yeongju facility is part of Novelis Korea Limited, a joint venture of Novelis Inc. (68%), Taihan Electric Wire Co. Ltd. (31%), and the Hyundai Group (1%). Its plants in Yeongju and Ulsan, along with its main office in Seoul, were originally commissioned in 1993 to meet the growing demand for rolled aluminum products principally in Korea, China, and Southeast Asia. Novelis Korea has more than 1,200 employees and can supply a broad range of high-end aluminium rolled products.

Novelis South America, Brazil Pindamonhangaba

Novelis’ Pindamonhangaba plant in Brazil is the largest center of rolled products and aluminium recycling in South America.

Novelis Inc. has recently invested US$175 million for the expansion of its Pindamonhangaba plant, located in the Paraíba Valley between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The expansion at the company's flagship Brazil facility will add 100,000 tonnes of rolling capacity and 60 thousand tonnes of recycling capacity. This will bring the plant’s total aluminium sheet capacity to approximately 680,000 tpy and recycled aluminium capacity to 450 thousand tpy. Currently the plant produces about 580,000 tonnes of rolling products.

The constructions of these expanded facilities in the Pindamonhangaba plant will start in February 2019 and are likely to be complete in 2021. The expansion will expand sheet ingot, hot mill and recycling production and complementary improvements and create more than 50 new jobs.

Novelis Oswego Plant, USA, North America,

Novelis Oswego Plant is the only fully integrated, wholly-owned Novelis facility in North America which offers the following operations:

• Remelt/recycling
• Ingot casting
• Hot rolling
• Cold rolling
• Finishing

Novelis produces about 454,000 tonnes of rolled aluminium products per year in its Oswego facility for the automotive, building and beverage can industries. The plant produces Vehicle body panels, pre-painted and plain sheet used for commercial vehicle applications such as dump bodies, cabs and trailer flooring. It also produces can sheet and coils and construction panels. Novelis has expanded its ability to serve the North American automotive market by installing and commissioning three automotive finishing lines in Oswego. This plant supplies high-strength aluminium alloy for Ford F-Series trucks, America's best-selling truck for 39 years.

China Zhongwang, China Wuqing, Tianjin

The Zhongwang Group’s long-term growth is expected to be driven by the aluminium flat rolling business. It has been developing the flat rolling production base in Tianjin, which is a top-notch production base with state-of-the-art equipment and complete ancillary facilities. Upon completion, the project will become the new flagship of aluminium fabrication industry in China and the world. The production efficiency of the aluminium flat rolling project in Tianjin gradually improved during the quarter, which boosted sales volume and revenue of flat rolling business. It is expected to produce 700,000 tonnes of rolled aluminium on completion.