Washington — Alcoa is seeking exemptions from US tariffs on rolling slab of certain alloys due to the lack of domestic supply, a company spokesman said Tuesday.
Alcoa on Monday filed an exclusion request for slab with the US Commerce Department, arguing that not enough is produced domestically to meet demand.
"Canada's exemption expired at the end of May, so June was the first time we started feeling the impact of aluminum being imported into our facilities in the US," the spokesman, who asked not to be identified, said in an interview with S&P Global Platts.
In supporting documentation for its exclusion request, Alcoa said the slabs must be 6,500 mm long, at minimum, and have a thickness of 596.9 mm. Moreover, the company only uses key alloys, which it calls "A spec" and "C spec."
Rolling slab or sheet ingot is a thick-gauge cast product used for rolling by aluminum mills that is produced by some but not all primary aluminum smelters.
"Alcoa is not capable of producing in-house a substitute product for the slabs, and therefore, relies exclusively on imports of these slabs from Canada," the company said in its supporting documentation for its exclusion request for slabs of alloys AA3105, AA3003, AA5052.
The company can, however, produce slabs from AA5042 and AA5352 alloy from its Warrick, Indiana, plant, though not enough to meet demand.
"Therefore, [Alcoa] relies on imports of these slabs from Canada to meet its demand," the company said in supporting documents for these products.
Alcoa imports slab from its Baie-Comeau facility in Quebec, the spokesman said. Alcoa has three plants in Canada.
Alcoa is the largest US aluminum manufacturer, but it also buys numerous aluminium products.
Alcoa also said that US producers -- including Century Aluminum, Matalco, and Tri Arrows -- were not able to produce slab of the necessary length, thickness, and appropriate alloy. These companies could not be reached for comment.
"In our earnings call, we said that tariffs were offsetting the benefits of a higher Midwest premium, and every bit of relief we'd get from tariffs would help to improve that offset," the Alcoa spokesman said.
Alcoa President and CEO Roy Harvey, in a July 18 earnings call, said that the tariffs had "mixed results" and highlighted that the company was "disappointed" that Canadian metal is not exempt. Harvey added that though the Midwest premium surged, the tariffs distorted the market.
Platts assessed the US Midwest Premium at 20.75 cents/lb, delivered Midwest, net-30 terms, on Monday.
