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Kaiser Aluminum Introduces Energy Surcharge

Posted on: Monday, 30 June 2008, 09:03 CDT

Kaiser Aluminum (NASDAQ:KALU) today announced that beginning July 1 it will incorporate surcharges for all new orders of fabricated aluminum products. The decision is based on an effort to reduce exposure to rising costs for natural gas, electricity and diesel fuel.

"These surcharges are essential to mitigate the extraordinary rise in costs related to energy that we have been absorbing for several years," said Jack A. Hockema, president, chairman and CEO of Kaiser Aluminum. "Commodity prices for natural gas and diesel fuel leapt roughly 60 percent in May compared to the 2007 average. These energy prices are spiraling and highly volatile, so we've elected to introduce a surcharge as the most transparent method to recover these costs."

The surcharges are based on a calculation tied to indices provided by the U.S. Department of Energy and will be updated on a monthly basis. Customers can view the formulas for calculating surcharges on the Kaiser Aluminum Web site at www.kaiseraluminum.com. Up-to-date information on how these surcharges impact specific products will also be included on the site.

"We're currently evaluating methods to address the significant increases in the costs of alloying materials, such as magnesium and copper," Hockema added. "We also continue our aggressive pursuit of cost reduction initiatives designed to offset other inflationary cost pressures."

Kaiser Aluminum, headquartered in Foothill Ranch, Calif., is a leading producer of fabricated aluminum products, serving customers worldwide with highly-engineered solutions for aerospace and high-strength, general engineering, and custom automotive and industrial applications. The company's North American facilities annually produce more than 500 million pounds of value-added sheet, plate, extrusions, forgings, rod, bar and tube products, adhering to traditions of quality, innovation and service that have been key components of our culture since the company was founded in 1946. The company's stock is included in the Russell 2000(R) index. For more information, please visit www.kaiseraluminum.com.

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Certain statements in this release relate to future events and expectations and, as a result, constitute forward-looking statements involving known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be different from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include: (a) the effectiveness of management's strategies and decisions; (b) the ability of the company to effectively recover higher costs; (c) the company's ability to reduce costs to mitigate inflationary pressure; (d) adverse changes in economic or aluminum industry conditions generally; (e) adverse changes in the markets served by the company, including the aerospace, defense, general engineering, automotive, distribution and other markets; (f) the company's ability to leverage its technologies and the Kaiser Production System methodology; and (g) the other risk factors summarized in the company's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007 and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Source: Business Wire

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