Aluminum

Overview

Aluminum is the most abundant metal in the Earth's crust, making up about 8.1% of it, but it never occurs uncombined. It is light, non-toxic, a good conductor of heat and electricity and highly resistant to corrosion, which is why it is used in everything from beverage cans and window frames to aircraft parts and power lines.¹

The supply chain has three stages. Bauxite ore is refined into alumina (aluminum oxide), and alumina is smelted into metal. As a rule of thumb, about 4 t of dried bauxite yields 2 t of alumina, which in turn yields 1 t of aluminum.² Smelting uses the Hall–Héroult process, in which alumina is dissolved in molten cryolite and reduced by electrolysis. It is very energy-intensive.¹

The United States lists aluminum as a critical mineral. The EU lists bauxite/alumina/aluminium as both a critical and a strategic raw material.³⁴

Where it comes from

World bauxite resources are estimated at 55 billion to 75 billion t, about a third of them in Africa. Known reserves are about 29 billion t, of which Guinea holds 7.4 billion t.²

Guinea is also the largest miner, with an estimated 150 million t in 2025. Australia and China follow. Indonesia's output fell sharply after it banned bauxite exports in 2023, but new domestic alumina refineries may support a recovery.² Guinea was the EU's main bauxite supplier in the EU's 2023 assessment, with 63% of supply.⁵

• Guinea150,000,000 t · 34%
• Australia97,000,000 t · 22%
• China87,000,000 t · 20%
• Brazil33,000,000 t · 7%
• India25,000,000 t · 6%
• Indonesia10,000,000 t · 2%
• Other countries38,960,000 t · 9%

World total shown is the sum of USGS country estimates, excluding withheld US output; USGS rounds it to 440 million t. Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Bauxite and Alumina

Refining is concentrated in China, which produced an estimated 93 million t of the world's roughly 150 million t of alumina in 2025.²

• China93,000,000 t · 62%
• Australia17,000,000 t · 11%
• Brazil11,000,000 t · 7%
• India8,200,000 t · 5%
• Russia2,900,000 t · 2%
• United Arab Emirates2,300,000 t · 2%
• Other countries15,900,000 t · 11%

World total shown is the sum of USGS country estimates; USGS rounds it to 150 million t. Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Bauxite and Alumina

Smelting is similar. China produced about 45 million t of primary aluminum in 2025, roughly 60% of the world total, and its output matched its reported year-end capacity of 45 million t. Outside China, the largest producers were India, Russia and Canada.⁶

• China45,000,000 t · 61%
• India4,200,000 t · 6%
• Russia3,900,000 t · 5%
• Canada3,300,000 t · 4%
• United Arab Emirates2,700,000 t · 4%
• Bahrain1,600,000 t · 2%
• Australia1,500,000 t · 2%
• Other countries12,010,000 t · 16%

World total shown is the sum of USGS country estimates; USGS rounds it to 74 million t. Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Aluminum

What it is used for

In the United States, transportation is the largest market, followed by packaging and building. Electrical uses, consumer durables and machinery account for most of the rest.⁶

{{chart:end-uses}}

Most bauxite is refined to alumina, and most alumina goes to smelters. In the United States in 2025, about 63% of the bauxite consumed went to alumina or aluminum hydroxide. The remainder went into abrasives, cement, chemicals, proppants and refractories, and was used as a slag adjuster in steel mills. About 70% of US alumina went to smelters; the rest went to abrasives, ceramics, chemicals and refractories.²

Grades and forms

Aluminum is traded at every stage of the chain: as ore, as intermediates, as primary and alloyed metal, and as scrap. US tariff schedules separate unalloyed metal by purity, and alloys from scrap.⁶²

Trade and policy

The United States imported 60% of the aluminum it used in 2025. Canada supplied 56% of imports in 2021–24, followed by the United Arab Emirates (8%) and Bahrain (4%). Domestic smelter capacity was 1.31 million t a year, but two of the six smelters had been shut down since 2022 and 2024.⁶ For bauxite and alumina, US import reliance was above 75% and 71% respectively.²

US tariffs under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act have changed several times since early 2025:

The EU has banned imports of Russian primary aluminum (CN code 7601) under its 16th sanctions package. A quota of 275,000 t was allowed until 26 February 2026. Until 31 December 2026, up to 50,000 t may still be imported under contracts signed before 25 February 2025.¹⁰

In Guinea, the government revoked the bauxite mining licenses of a subsidiary of a UAE-based aluminum producer in August 2025, after a dispute over building an alumina refinery. It reassigned the concessions to a state-backed company.²

This section is factual background, not legal or trade-compliance advice.

Recycling and substitution

Recycling saves nearly 95% of the energy needed to make primary metal.¹ US producers recovered about 3.6 million t of aluminum from purchased scrap in 2025, 56% of it from new manufacturing scrap. Metal recovered from old scrap equaled about 28% of apparent consumption.⁶

Aluminum can be replaced in most uses, usually with some trade-off. Composites can take its place in aircraft. Glass, paper, plastics and steel can replace it in packaging, and copper in electrical and heat-exchange uses.⁶ No commercial-scale alternative to bauxite exists for making alumina in the United States. Clays and other materials are technically feasible but not economically competitive.²

Sources

1. Aluminium: element information, properties and uses. Royal Society of Chemistry, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Bauxite and Alumina. U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

3. Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals. Federal Register, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

4. Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 (Critical Raw Materials Act). EUR-Lex, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

5. Study on the Critical Raw Materials for the EU 2023, Final Report. European Commission, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

6. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Aluminum. U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

7. Proclamation 11021: Strengthening Actions Taken To Adjust Imports of Aluminum, Steel, and Copper Into the United States. Federal Register, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

8. Further Adjusting the Tariff Regimes for Imports of Aluminum, Steel, and Copper into the United States. The White House, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

9. New Section 232 Proclamation Creates Onshoring Incentives for U.S. Primary Aluminum Production. International Trade Insights, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

10. Council Regulation (EU) 2025/395 amending Regulation (EU) No 833/2014. EUR-Lex, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩