Although the United States continues to be the leading producer of primary aluminum metal in the world, its dominance in the industry has begun to wane. Most of the restructuring of the world aluminum industry began in the late 1970's and continues to this day. Australia and Canada have emerged as major metal producers. Other countries entering the world market today are Brazil, China, Norway, Venezuela, and several countries in the Persian Gulf area. Another factor that should be considered in analyzing the domestic aluminum industry is the growing importance of secondary aluminum to the domestic supply situation.
Secondary aluminum is defined as aluminum recovered from both new and old purchased scrap.
Home scrap is recycled within the company generating the scrap and consequently seldom enters the commercial secondary market. Prompt industrial scrap, however, is new scrap from a fabricator who does not choose to, or is not equipped to, recycle the scrap. This scrap then enters the secondary market. Old scrap is a product of obsolescence and becomes available to the secondary industry when consumer products have reached the end of their economic life and have been discarded. In 1990, almost 2.4 million metric tons of aluminum was recovered from purchased scrap.