JW Aluminum to shut St Louis foil mill

US aluminum foil and heat exchanger producer JW Aluminum will close its St Louis, Missouri, mill by the end of May, citing competition from Chinese imports as the primary reason.

"JW Aluminum acquired the St Louis facility from Alcoa in 2004 when Chinese imports of foil represented less than 1pc of the total aluminum market. Since that time, Chinese imports of foil grew to almost a quarter of the market, largely due to China's unfair trade practices," the company said.

The US government imposed antidumping duties on aluminum foil imports from China in 2018 following a petition from the Aluminum Association.

By 2017, when the petition was first filed, Chinese market share of the US foil market had jumped to 22pc from "essentially 0pc" in 2004.

US imports of foil from China fell by 16pc to 276,700t in the first 11 months of 2019 from the same time in 2018, according to customs data. But over that period, even following antidumping duties, China still makes up about 20pc of US foil imports.

The St Louis mill was earmarked along with three other JW mills as part of a $32mn upgrade campaign to automate the company's foil production in 2018.

By John Betz