Aluminum packaging manufacturer Ball Corporation expects aluminum can demand to outpace supply throughout 2021 in North and Central America.
The growing demand for recyclable aluminum cans in Q3 has prompted the company to speed up the construction of its new multi-line production plant in Frutal, Brazil with an estimated completion date of mid-2021.
The manufacturer said that its global beverage can business grew by 9pc in the third quarter over the prior-year period. It did not disclose any actual volumes. The beverage packaging divisions in North and Central America posted earnings of $209mn in Q3 2020, compared with $157mn in Q3 2019.
Next year, Ball Corp expects contracted volumes in the delivery of its six billion units of aluminum cans target, despite a ramp-up in manufacturing operations.
In this segment, the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Asia) division posted earnings of $117mn in Q3 2020, up from $105mn in the same period last year. In South America, the packaging business earned $64mn, up from $60mn during the same quarters under comparison.
Despite a contracted order book, the aerospace division’s earnings rose to $44mn in Q3 2020 from $35m in the prior-year period. Ball plans to hire 1,000 workers in this segment across its global operations in 2021. The current order backlog stands at $4.9bn.
In Q3 2020, Ball Corp. posted a consolidated net income of $241mn on sales of $3.1bn, compared with a net profit of $92mn on sales of $3bn in Q3 2019.