Hydro profits are slimmer in Q3

Global aluminum producer Norsk Hydro ASA has reported narrower profits in the third quarter of 2025 compared with last year, though it says it achieved solid results amid uncertain markets.

The company, which is based in Norway and has sizable operations in Europe and the United States, reports earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) in the third quarter of this year fell by 18.6 percent compared with the third-quarter 2024 figure.

Hydro lists lower realized alumina prices in its primary aluminum operations and a stronger Norwegian krone, the currency it uses for accounting purposes, as negative factors.

The company cites higher primary aluminum and alumina volumes as a positive factor, along with an improved U.S. Midwest scrap premium situation experienced by its Extrusions business unit.

Regarding that recycling-centric business unit, Hydro says it differed from its primary operations by increasing its EBIDTA by nearly 26 percent in the third quarter of 2025 compared with the same quarter last year.

The firm says the profit increase was driven by lower costs in combination with somewhat higher volumes. Hydro also points to an increasing U.S. Midwest premium (positive metal effect) situation that helped compensate for pressured sales margins.

European extrusion demand is estimated to have been flat in the third quarter of 2025 compared with last year but decreased 20 percent compared with the prior quarter due to seasonality, according to Hydro.

North American extrusion demand is estimated to have increased 2 percent in the third quarter of 2025 compared with last year and decreased by only 2 percent compared with the previous quarter.

“Demand has been positive in the building and construction and industrial segments,” Hydro says of extrusions in North America while also referring to demand as weak in the commercial transport segment, driven by lower trailer builds and weak in the automotive sector.

“While the ongoing impacts from the introduction of tariffs and duties are still uncertain at this stage, order bookings have developed better for domestic producers due to lower imports so far this year,” Hydro says of market conditions in the U.S.

“Despite lower adjusted EBITDA, I am pleased to report solid cash generation while we continue to create results in our efficiency and improvement initiatives in order to improve robustness,” Hydro President and CEO Eivind Kallevik adds of the company’s overall results in the third quarter.

Hydro says it is continuing to shape the aluminum market by expanding low-carbon and circular solutions and cites examples in the automotive sector with Mercedes-Benz and in the infrastructure sector based on its recent involvement in oil platform and pedestrian projects in Norway.