Market Segmentation
Car makers are facing growing demands to comply with environmental regulations related to vehicle emissions. The U.S. has implemented the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulation, which has set a goal to double the average fuel efficiency from 2012 to 2025 due to rising greenhouse gas emissions. The European Union is also stepping up its standards to decrease vehicle weight and improve fuel efficiency. This has led to a global shift in automotive weight standards and policies. Aluminum is becoming increasingly important in this context, as it can help meet these regulatory requirements by reducing vehicle weight. A pound of aluminum can replace up to 1.8 pounds of traditional steel, leading to a significant reduction in vehicle weight. Lighter vehicles offer improved acceleration, braking, and handling, which in turn lowers fuel emissions and reduces battery power usage in electric vehicles. Aluminum’s advantageous properties, such as being lightweight, resistant to corrosion, and resistant to dents, allow car manufacturers to increase the thickness of the car body to enhance dent resistance. Consequently, the use of aluminum in vehicles is on the rise. Aluminum extrusions are utilized in various automotive applications, including door instruction beams, rear subframes, seat cross members, steering/suspension/brake components, front bumper beams, stiffeners, longitudinals, and more. The extensive use of aluminum contributes to a substantial weight reduction in vehicles. Therefore, the automotive sector’s share in the aluminum extrusion market is expected to see robust growth in the coming years.
The growing need for aluminum extrusion across various sectors is driving market participants to boost their production and is also attracting newcomers to the market. However, the substantial initial investment required to establish a plant, where the bulk of a company’s operating expenses are made up of raw material and equipment costs, poses a challenge. Consequently, existing players often resort to strategies like mergers and acquisitions or the procurement of operational plants, as building a new plant demands significant time and capital. Newcomers face even greater challenges as they encounter significant barriers from established players and bear higher risks given the large investment required. The cost components of an aluminum extrusion plant include extrusion presses, CNC machines, sawing equipment, welding plants, embossing stations, anodizing plants, and other extensive machining equipment, in addition to land and energy. Beyond the initial investment in land acquisition and facility setup, energy costs in an aluminum extrusion plant are quite high. Systems such as lighting, compressed air, combustion, pumping, electrical, drivers, and HVAC all consume energy. Therefore, the energy and initial capital needed to establish new production facilities is expected to hinder aluminum extrusion production. The thriving aluminum extrusion industry has raised customer expectations, demanding quicker turnaround times, flexibility in order lot sizes, complex profiles, and lower costs. As a result, extruders need to invest in technological upgrades like presses and CNC machines to meet customized demands, which is again a costly endeavor. Along with the initial and ongoing investments in an extrusion plant, the business also involves certain risks.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on the aluminum extrusion market. The overall aluminum industry was largely affected by the pandemic, experiencing both positive and negative effects in the first half of 2020. Forced closures of manufacturing operations during lockdowns, followed by stringent regulations requiring companies to operate at reduced capacities, disrupted the metal industry’s demand-supply chain. A sharp drop in raw material prices, widespread unemployment, minimal production, and transportation disruptions affected aluminum extrusion manufacturing. For instance, the price of aluminum reached a peak of USD 1,810 per ton on January 21, 2020, and fell to 1,421.5 on April 8, 2020. Furthermore, the layoff of thousands of workers during the pandemic significantly impacted production activities. However, commodity prices showed a remarkable recovery, with primary aluminum prices reaching nearly USD 2,618 by October 2021. The pandemic’s impact extended beyond the raw material stage and negatively affected some of the end-use markets as well. The severity of COVID-19’s impact on the aluminum industry and its associated markets was particularly felt in the first half of 2020. Manufacturing and mining operations resumed after governments in various countries eased lockdowns and restrictions. The number of COVID-19 cases has been declining as vaccination efforts worldwide have gained momentum since 2021. The pandemic’s aftermath led to a rise in energy prices, indirectly affecting the operations of extruders across China and Europe. The increase in energy fuel prices resulted in a limited supply of electricity to extruders in China. Some extruders in China have already announced significant production cuts for FY 2021 due to the restricted electricity supply in the country.
This section will provide insights into the contents included in this aluminum extrusion market report and help gain clarity on the structure of the report to assist readers in navigating smoothly.
Industry overview
Industry trends
Market drivers and restraints
Market size
Growth prospects
Porter’s analysis
PESTEL analysis
Key market opportunities prioritized
Competitive landscape
Company overview
Financial performance
Product benchmarking
Latest strategic developments
Market size, estimates, and forecast from 2018 to 2030
Market estimates and forecast for product segments up to 2030
Regional market size and forecast for product segments up to 2030
Market estimates and forecast for application segments up to 2030
Regional market size and forecast for application segments up to 2030
Company financial performance