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Operator
Good afternoon and welcome to the Alcoa Corporation third-quarter 2026 earning presentation and conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this event is being recorded.
I would now like to turn the conference over to Louis Langlois, Senior Vice President of Treasury and Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Louis Langlois - Senior Vice President of Treasury and Capital Markets
Thank you, and good day, everyone. I am joined today by William Oplinger, Alcoa Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer; and Molly Beerman, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. We will take your questions after comments by Bill and Molly.
As a reminder, todayâs discussion will contain forward-looking statements relating to future events and expectations that are subject to various assumptions and caveats. Factors that may cause the companyâs actual results to differ materially from these statements are included in todayâs presentation and in our SEC filings.
In addition, we have included some non-GAAP financial measures in this presentation. For historical non-GAAP financial measures, reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures can be found in the appendix to todayâs presentation. We have not presented quantitative reconciliations of certain forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures for reasons noted on this slide. Any reference in our discussion today to EBITDA means adjusted EBITDA. Finally, as previously announced, the earnings press release and slide presentation are available on our website.
Now I would like to turn over the call to Bill.
William Oplinger - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
Thank you, Louis, and welcome to our third-quarter 2026 earnings conference call. Before discussing our results, I want to address the tragic fatality that occurred on September 16 at our Alumar smelter in Brazil. The loss of one of our colleagues has deeply affected all of us at Alcoa, and our thoughts remain with his family, friends, and coworkers.
We are a company grounded in our values, act with integrity, operate with excellence, care for people, and lead with courage. Safety is fundamental to our values, and it guides how we run our business. There is no production target, financial result, or business objective that is more important than ensuring every employee and contractor returns home safely every day.
Over many years, we have strengthened our safety systems and dedicated significant resources to improving safety performance. Those efforts have resulted in meaningful progress in many areas of our business. But when we lose a colleague, progress is not enough. I am personally committed to ensuring we learn from this event and take the actions necessary to strengthen our safety culture, reduce risk across our operations, and hold ourselves accountable to the highest safety standards.
This tragedy reinforces that safety requires relentless focus, constant vigilance, and an unwavering commitment from every one of us every day. With that commitment firmly in mind, Iâll now turn to our third quarter results.
We continued to build operational momentum and delivered strong third quarter performance. We achieved six year-to-date production records, increased aluminum production by approximately 15,000 metric tons sequentially, completed the Alumar smelter restart, and delivered a significant performance recovery at the Pinjarra refinery. Together, these results demonstrate improving stability and disciplined execution across the portfolio.
We reached a definitive agreement for the sale of a portion of the Massena East Site with potential cash proceeds of up to $315 million. We expect to receive the first $50 million to $65 million at closing, which is anticipated within six months, subject to customary permitting, regulatory approvals, key development, and closing conditions.
We expect to receive the remaining cash consideration before the end of the decade, although the agreement provides up to seven years for commissioning. This is the first transaction supporting our target to generate $500 million to $1 billion from asset monetization by 2030.
The AliGroup acquisition continues to advance. The assetâs strong first half 2026 performance reinforces our confidence in the strategic and financial rationale for the transaction. South32 shareholders approved the transaction, bringing us another step closer to our expected closing in the first half of 2027.
Let me now provide an update on our progress toward transaction closing. Since announcing the AliGroup acquisition on June 30, we have made meaningful progress towards closing. In September, we completed the $2.6 billion debt financing and canceled the bridge facility. Completing the financing early reduced execution risk and provides certainty around funding the cash consideration. We estimate that the locked box value was more than $300 million at the end of the quarter, based on publicly available information, including production guidance provided by South32.
The regulatory approval process is progressing well across the relevant jurisdictions. Earlier this month, I met with President Ramaphosa and other key stakeholders in South Africa. Our engagement with stakeholders has been positive, and we remain confident in securing the required approvals to meet our expected first half of 2027 closing timeline.
Our transition and integration teams are actively preparing for ownership of the assets. This work spans the organization and is focused on maintaining operational continuity, positioning us to capture the value of the combined portfolio, and ensuring we are ready to execute following closing and beginning delivering synergies and broader benefits of the transaction. Until then, the businesses will continue to operate independently.
Now Iâll turn it over to Molly to review the financial results.
Molly Beerman - Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
Thank you, Bill. Third quarter revenue was $3.7 billion, with a sequential change primarily reflecting lower metal prices. In the alumina segment, third-party revenue increased by 7% to $680 million, resulting from higher realized alumina prices and higher alumina shipping volumes.
In the aluminum segment, third-party revenue was $3 billion, primarily reflecting lower metal prices and normalized shipment levels following the second quarterâs inventory repositioning, partially offset by higher value-add product premiums.
Third quarter net income attributable to Alcoa was $483 million versus the prior quarter of $407 million, with earnings per common share increasing to $1.81 per share. On an adjusted basis, net income attributable to Alcoa remained strong at $485 million, compared with $562 million in the second quarter.
Letâs discuss the factors affecting adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA was $789 million, as strong operational performance and higher alumina prices partially offset lower metal prices. The alumina segment adjusted EBITDA increased $95 million on higher realized alumina prices and improved operational performance at Pinjarra as we regained stability in the third quarter.
The aluminum segment continued to deliver productivity gains, including higher molten production, improved stability, and disciplined cost performance. These benefits were more than offset by the impact of lower metal prices, lower shipments, and higher carbon costs, resulting in segment adjusted EBITDA of $862 million.
Moving to cash flow activities for the third quarter of 2026. We ended the third quarter with a cash balance of $4.4 billion, which includes $2.6 billion of cash proceeds from the bond issue completed in September. Together with cash on hand, the net proceeds from the bond issue will be used to fund the $3.1 billion cash consideration to the AliGroup acquisition at closing.
Securing the financing now avoids access and pricing risks in a volatile bond market. The quantum issued also reflects the strength of our balance sheet and cash position, resulting from consecutive quarters of robust free cash flow generation.
In the third quarter, cash from operations was $643 million, and free cash flow was $472 million, supported by strong EBITDA in the aluminum segment, where the company was able to deliver metal prices to the bottom line.
Turning to our key financial metrics for the third quarter and year-to-date 2026. Return on equity through the first nine months of 2026 was 25.3%. Year-to-date, we have returned $80 million in cash to shareholders through our regular quarterly dividend. The company generated free cash flow of approximately $600 million in the first nine months of the year.
As we look toward closing the AliGroup acquisition, our strengthened balance sheet, secured financing, and substantial cash position provide ample capacity to fund the transaction. This is the result of disciplined capital allocation, strong cash generation, and consistent operating performance.
Moving on to the outlook. For the full-year outlook shown here, we have made only minor adjustments for transformation expenses, depreciation, interest expense, and capital expenditures. For the fourth quarter, we continue to expect strong operating performance across both segments, continuing the momentum from the third quarter. We are expecting higher production and shipments in both segments as the improved refining system stability is maintained and the smelting portfolio continues to deliver productivity through incremental output and cost discipline.
While we expect some higher direct input costs from elevated market prices and planned maintenance to support continued operational stability, the underlying performance remains very strong headed into the final quarter of the year. Please refer to the business considerations on slide 34 of this presentation for additional details on the fourth quarter outlook.
Now Iâll turn it back to Bill.
William Oplinger - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
Thanks, Molly. In alumina, the market tightened outside China during the quarter, with the API increasing sequentially to approximately $370 for a metric ton. We expect further tightening in the fourth quarter and into 2027, driven by announced curtailments and project delays and uncertainty in Indonesia around new supply additions.
At the same time, recovering alumina production in the Middle East and continued smelter ramp-ups in Indonesia should support additional alumina demand. While the timing of some capacity coming online remains uncertain, the overall market condition is constructive. China remains well-supplied from within the region as new refinery capacity has increased production and inventories. This continues to create a clear divergence between softer market conditions in China and tightening fundamentals outside China.
Bauxite prices also increased sequentially, with CIF China pricing reaching approximately $73 per dry metric ton. The increase was driven primarily by higher freight costs.
For Alcoa, strengthening alumina market conditions and improved operational execution create meaningful upside. Our focus remains on operating our refineries safely and reliably, sustaining the recent performance improvement at Pinjarra, and maintaining disciplined cost management.
Moving on to aluminum. Aluminum price has moderated from recent highs, but remains supported by constructive market fundamentals. On the supply side, production is gradually recovering as Middle East smelters restart and Indonesian capacity ramps up. The timing of a full recovery to pre-conflict production levels in the Middle East remains uncertain.
Global aluminum inventories remain historically low at approximately 42 days of consumption, leaving the market with limited capacity to absorb further supply disruptions or stronger than expected demand. The Midwest, Rotterdam, and Japan regional premiums have moderated from elevated levels but remain supported by low inventories and regional deficits. This tightness is particularly relevant in North America and Europe, both of which remain structurally short of metal.
For Alcoa, our regional presence, reliable supply, and differentiated product portfolio are important elements of our commercial value proposition. Our order book remains solid, with significantly less volume available for sale than at this point last year.
Most products are sold out or tightly committed. Packaging and electrical markets continue to lead demand. Transportation remains resilient, and construction, particularly in Europe, remains the softest end market. Customer sentiment is cautious but constructive, with continued interest in secure supply and long-term agreements.
Before we wrap up, Iâd like to return to the three priorities we set at Investor Day nearly a year ago. First, operational excellence. As I stated at the top of our call, safety remains our top priority and the foundation of operational excellence. We are strengthening critical risk controls, leadership behaviors, and accountability. Weâre delivering greater stability across the portfolio, setting production records, and improving productivity. We have now completed the restarts at both the San Ciprian and Alumar smelters.
While the Western Australia EPAâs review of our mine plan continues to advance, we are preparing our teams to execute the upcoming mine moves. The mining approvals are taking longer than expected. Several steps remain, including the appeals process and final ministerial decisions, and we now expect the process to extend into 2027.
Our confidence in ultimately securing the approvals has not changed. We have incorporated an additional six months of mining in current areas into our plans, and approvals by mid-2027 are not expected to further materially affect supply, quality, or cost. We also have contingency plans available, if needed.
Second, value-creating growth. At Investor Day, we were clear that we would pursue growth only where we see a compelling path to long-term shareholder value. The AliGroup acquisition reflects that discipline, and we will apply the same standard to any future opportunities. We will not pursue growth for growthâs sake.
Third, disciplined capital allocation. We ended the third quarter with a strong balance sheet, supported by robust year-to-date free cash flow. We structured the AliGroup consideration such that pro forma leverage approximates a manageable 1.5 times.
Following closing of the acquisition, de-levering will be our priority. We expect to use various sources of cash, such as free cash flow generation, locked box cash from the transaction, proceeds from additional transformation asset sales, and the monetization of our Maâaden shares to reduce debt over time.
Given the stronger through-cycle cash flow generation of the combined portfolio, we will update our adjusted net debt target at the transaction closing. The Massena East Agreement also represents meaningful progress against our asset monetization strategy. These actions demonstrate that we are executing the strategy we presented at Investor Day and strengthening Alcoa for long-term value creation.
To wrap up, we are proud of what we accomplished in the third quarter, excited about the opportunities ahead, and confident in our ability to deliver value for our shareholders.
With that, operator, please begin the Q&A session.
Operator
Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. (Operator Instructions)
Carlos De Alba, Morgan Stanley.
Carlos De Alba - Equity Analyst
Yeah. Thank you very much. Good afternoon, Bill and Molly. The first question that I have is on the guidance. Maybe flat alumina, it is a little bit surprising to us given what we believe has been higher spot prices in recent months. I know there is some lagging effects there, but that was a little bit of a surprise to us. Could you explain, is there any cost pressures that may be behind this, offsetting some of the improved top line?
Molly Beerman - Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
Carlos, our guidance of flat refers just to our performance elements and not the market. If you look at our alumina segment, there are a couple puts and takes. We have some maintenance moving between regions, but that is completely covered by our improved shipment performance. So overall, the performance elements are a net of nothing, so flat and consistent with the strong performance in the third quarter.
William Oplinger - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
Just so it is clear, Carlos, the guidance doesn't include pricing, right? So, if prices get better during the course of the quarter, and they are better today than they were a quarter ago, it will flow through.
Carlos De Alba - Equity Analyst
Right. Okay. I got confused when I was looking at the consensus and our estimates, and missed what happened, but okay. That makes sense. Then, I was curious to see aluminum production higher in the third quarter, but your aluminum shipments being a little bit lower. Was there any inventory build-up, any delay in shipments that maybe you will catch up a little bit more in this current quarter? Any color there would be great.
Molly Beerman - Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
Carlos, remember in the second quarter, we sold the inventory that we had repositioned in the first quarter. So that was about 30,000 metric tons. So that did not repeat in the third quarter. But we had a strong third quarter in terms of shipment other than that repositioning that did not recur.
Operator
Timna Tanners, Wells Fargo.
Timna Tanners - Equity Analyst
Yeah. Hey, good afternoon. I think itâs appropriate to touch base about the potential carve-out on aluminum prices or aluminum tariffs for Canada, because that happened during the quarter, and it would be great to get your take on anything you know about whether or not thatâs still in discussions, and what that could mean for Alcoa.
William Oplinger - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
Thanks, Timna. We donât know what discussions are going on between the US and Canada. Weâve offered support to both governments to provide data and information, and to help them come to a conclusion on any discussion that may be going on.
What really matters is whether the US will remain short, right? If Canada were completely carved out, or if Canada had a lower tariff, we believe that still the marginal ton will come from outside of North America, and therefore the Midwest premium still should remain strong. But at this point, itâs just speculation.
Timna Tanners - Equity Analyst
Okay, fair. Thank you for that. I also wanted to get your take on how you get comfortable with the Indonesian ramp-up that you alluded to. Some of the forecasters show some pretty aggressive volume increases. Does Indonesian government seem to be aware of the risk to the aluminum price, like what they saw with the nickel price in the last several years? Whatâs your take on the additional supply, and how much could come on in Indonesia, and what timeframe? Thatâd be great to get also your latest thinking on China producing over its self-imposed cap on aluminum as well. Thanks.
William Oplinger - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
Okay. Yeah, so a lot of questions baked in there. When I look at the rest of this year, 2026, weâve actually seen strength of alumina pricing due to the ramp-up of the smelters and the return of some of the capacity in the Middle East. Thatâs actually a positive for us.
In January, weâll give you a better view of what our full year supply-demand picture looks like. But, to give you a little bit of a highlight, we are thinking that we are going to see probably 1.5 million metric tons of smelting capacity come online in Indonesia next year. On a 75-million metric ton market, itâs a material number. But we think that the market will be able to absorb it.
Then you asked about the China cap. Hey, the Chinese smelters, it feels as if the China cap is more of a policy tool to set a limit than a firm cap in that theyâre allowing some of the Chinese smelters to creep a little bit, but not a massive jump in capacity. For instance, weâre seeing China production being around 45.8 million metric tons in 2026. Thatâs 400,000 tons over than the nominal cap level. But it seems that theyâre holding from a capacity side and allowing maybe a little bit of production creep.
Operator
Nick Giles, B. Riley.
Nick Giles - Analyst
Yeah. Thanks, operator. Good afternoon, guys. The aluminum equities as a whole have been under significant pressure, and Bill, I was just curious where, in terms of capital allocation, share repurchases would stand at this point. Thanks.
William Oplinger - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
Weâre going to -- and Nick, thanks for the question. Weâre pursuing the closure of the South32 AliGroup transaction in the first half of next year. Clearly, we went out and raised debt in order to be able to pay the cash component of that. Recognize the fact that cash component of that is $3.1. We only raised $2.6, because weâre going to use some of the cash from the balance sheet.
We will get that deal. We anticipate getting that deal closed in the first half, and then the priority after that closure will be rapid de-levering. Clearly, the cash generation that we are seeing today will allow us to de-lever rather quickly. We alluded to the fact that we think thereâs $300 million of cash in the lockbox. That will certainly go into the cash consideration. But at this point, the target is de-levering.
Nick Giles - Analyst
Understood. I appreciate that perspective, Bill. My second question was, you made a comment about the WA EPA approvals being pushed out by six months, and that there were some contingencies baked in there. I was hoping you could expand on what those contingencies were and what you would do in case that drags on further. Thank you.
William Oplinger - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
The contingencies are clearly that we are re-sequencing and modifying our mining activities. Weâre looking at different production schedules, and really going to continue to dig in the mines that weâre in. And we feel confident that it will not have a negative impact, or I should say, a further negative impact on the bauxite supply or quality. Beyond the first six months, weâll have to make some harder decisions, and weâre confident that we will get those approvals within the first six months of next year.
Operator
Katja Jancic, BMO Capital Markets.
Katja Jancic - Analyst
Hi. Thank you for taking my questions. Maybe starting on the contingency value as part of the acquisition, is it fair to assume that that is starting to accrue on the alumina side since the alumina price is now above the strike, or how should we think about that?
Molly Beerman - Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
Yeah, Katja, if the current, the third quarter average LME was about $32.20s, I cannot remember the exact number, but that would yield about a $13 million payment for the first period. Not substantial.
William Oplinger - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
But Katja was referencing the alumina prices?
Molly Beerman - Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
The alumina price. Sorry, there is nothing due on alumina. Weâve not reached that strike price yet.
William Oplinger - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
At todayâs levels, Katja, $3.70, Iâm sorry, $3.87 today, weâre not at the strike price yet.
Katja Jancic - Analyst
Okay. Then maybe on the asset monetization. I think in the past you said that there are two other assets that could quickly follow Massena East. Can you provide an update on that?
William Oplinger - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
Thereâs two other assets that could quickly follow Massena East. Yeah, Iâm just joking around, Katja. Weâre pleased to be able to announce the Massena East transaction. You can see from the way itâs structured, itâs somewhat of a complex transaction. It gives us some cash up front, but it will give us cash further over the next five years as that data center first gets built and then gets increased in size. So it gives us a lot of upside.
There are two other ones that we believe that could happen quickly after that. Weâve not named those publicly. But now that we at least have an agreement and we have to get it closed, at least we have an agreement on Massena East, weâre going to focus on those next two. So more to come.
Operator
(Operator Instructions)
Bill Peterson, JPMorgan.
Bill Peterson - Analyst
Hi, good afternoon, and thanks for taking the question. Maybe actually piggybacking on this Massena East agreement, will you know the final amount upon the approval of the capacity, or is this something that as it grows, the potential for up to the $250 million additional?
I am just trying to get a sense of when we will know what kind of value you get. I guess maybe more importantly, is this going to be kind of a similar template for these future agreements, or is this maybe viewed as more of a one-off?
Molly Beerman - Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
Bill, I will start with the, on the size, we do have the permitting, initially, the minimum will be 180 megawatts, and then we have two step-ups, potentially, another 300, and then another 200. So the site could be up to 635 megawatts. So depending on how the permitting and approvals go, then we will know the size. But the first payment at closing will be based on the initial permitting and will be at that minimum level initially.
William Oplinger - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
As far as your question goes on whether this is a template, I think the answer, Bill, is a resounding no, that there is not a particular template for data center sales. What we are finding is that in order to maximize value out of each site, you have to really negotiate particular parts of the agreement on each site. There may be, out of one of those two that are coming up, similar structures, but we would also be pushing structures that would be more cash up front and less future value. So thereâs not a single template for these transactions because each site has its own complexity.
Bill Peterson - Analyst
Okay. Well understood. Appreciate that. I want to understand some of the cost guidance for alumina and aluminum. I think itâs around $30 million for each, but Iâm trying to get a sense for how sticky they are. I guess, one, in the case of aluminum, try to unpack what higher the raw materials costs are. Then similarly with alumina, with presumably caustic and how sticky that may be.
Molly Beerman - Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
Yeah. Bill, if you think back, Iâll start with caustic. In the second quarter, early after the war began, we saw the caustic price shoot up. That didnât stay, though. It moderated pretty quickly. As I look at now caustic rolling through the P&L from those high purchase prices, we are not seeing a material sequential impact from that.
On the carbon prices, though, we are seeing elevation. When we guided in the second quarter, for the third, we thought it would only be about a $15 million impact. It ended up being just over $20 million. So carbon prices rolling through the P&L perspective, just over $20 million in the third quarter, and I have about $10 million more in carbon prices coming up further in the fourth quarter.
Now, fourth quarter purchase prices are still coming up, but very slightly. Weâre not seeing the price escalation.
Bill Peterson - Analyst
Okay, thanks for that.
William Oplinger - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
I just wanted to make sure I am following back up. I thought your comment was something to the effect that $30 million increase in each segment. That is not the case. It is flat in alumina and a $30 million increase in aluminum. I just wanted to make sure that that is clear.
Molly Beerman - Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
Of that $30 million in aluminum, $10 million is the carbon.
Bill Peterson - Analyst
Okay. Yeah, no, thatâs fair enough. Thank you.
Operator
Lawson Winder, Bank of America.
Lawson Winder - Analyst
Thank you, operator, and good evening, Bill and Molly. Thank you for todayâs update. If I could just follow up on the Massena East sale. One thing that wasnât clear is, after closing, are there any environmental remediation or demolition or any sort of other legacy liabilities that sit with Alcoa, or does that just pass on to the buyer?
Molly Beerman - Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
No. We will keep the remediation responsibilities. Weâre continuing to remediate at the site. We are selling the part of the land that has already completed all of our environmental remediation work.
Lawson Winder - Analyst
Fantastic. Thank you. Then just one additional question. Again, of course, quite a bit of talk about the AliGroup opportunity and what an opportunity it is. When you look at the potential M&A opportunity set globally, do you continue to see other unique opportunities like AliGroup? What sort of appetite does Alcoa have for further acquisitions post the closing of AliGroup?
William Oplinger - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
AliGroupâs a big acquisition for us. Let us get this one closed before we start talking about other opportunities. What I really want to prove to the world through this acquisition is that, number one, we can grow this company, and number two, we can successfully integrate an acquisition.
We have a pretty large team thatâs already in place thatâs working toward the integration, so that when we close on day one, weâre going to be ready to integrate this. I mentioned in my prepared remarks that I was already over in South Africa, met with the President of South Africa, President Ramaphosa. Got a very good greeting introduction from him to the country, and impressed on him that weâre an aluminum company.
We want to own Hillside. We want to be in Hillside for the long term, and weâre committed to the aluminum industry. So, weâre going to focus on getting this one done first before we talk about other opportunities.
Operator
Richard Garchitorena, Barclays.
Richard Garchitorena - Analyst
Great. Thanks for taking my question. First question was basically, when you think about the acquisition, and youâve gotten approvals from South32 shareholders, looking ahead, what are you doing right now in terms of potentially preparing for the eventual integration? Can you do some pre-planning? Or do you have to wait for any country approvals, the contracts on the procurement side, anything that you can sort of do to help accelerate the capture of synergies?
William Oplinger - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
Right. Weâre really focused on two things currently between now and closing. One is gaining the required regulatory approvals. Thereâs about a dozen of those, and we have gotten some of those, and at this point, we do not see any red flags associated with getting the regulatory approvals.
Secondly, we have taken the last 60 days or so to stand up a significant integration management office, and they are preparing to be able to run those assets from day one. You think about the complexity of buying assets of this size, itâs not a small undertaking. Theyâre focused on being able to sell, make, account for bauxite, alumina, and aluminum. Itâs not a small undertaking, and weâre very focused on it.
Molly, I know youâre very close to this also. Do you want to make any other comments?
Molly Beerman - Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
Iâll just add that we do have an 18-month transition service agreement with South32, so we will have coverage past legal day one, but weâre preparing now for all that work ahead so that we can, as soon as we close, start working closely with the teams on integrating the organization, the systems, processes, and leveraging all of the synergies that we have identified.
William Oplinger - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
I should have made it clear, even pre-close, the two companies are working together to make sure that itâs a successful, in their case, disposition, in our case, acquisition.
Richard Garchitorena - Analyst
Thanks. Thatâs very helpful. Then maybe if I could ask a question on the industry in general. You talked about the Middle East looking at ramping up smelting capacity. My question is, is there any constraints to that? Do they have adequate levels of raw materials to run those smelters at full capacity by what theyâre targeting as the first quarter of next year? Through the ongoing impacts on shipping through the Hormuz, how does that impact their ability to get to those levels? Thank you.
William Oplinger - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
I donât have a good answer for that question. You really are going to have to ask them how they plan to be able to do that. One thing, if I wax philosophically just for a second, I think the world has changed when it comes to aluminum within the Strait of Hormuz. I think itâs going to be a while before that completely gets normalized of flows in and out. So I think it is a big impact. You see it in pricing today. Even though prices are off from where they were, weâre still sitting at close to $3,000 a ton. So it has had a big impact, and I think it will still have a big impact going forward.
Operator
Timna Tanners, Wells Fargo.
Timna Tanners - Equity Analyst
Yeah. Hey, I just wanted to follow up, if I could, on working capital. There was a big seasonal use in Q1. We really havenât seen much release. If we see aluminum prices stay at this level, I would imagine you could see a pretty nice release. I just wondered, to the extent possible, if you could give us any color about what you might expect at these prices hold into the fourth quarter.
Molly Beerman - Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President
Tim, if you look at on a dayâs working capital basis and look back in history, we traditionally step down from like that 50-day level down into the 35 to 40 level. So I would expect weâll release about 10 days at least going into the fourth quarter. Now obviously, the quantum there will depend on the pricing at the end of the year. But thatâs our expectation.
Operator
Carlos de Alba, Morgan Stanley.
Carlos De Alba - Equity Analyst
Yeah. Just on the approval for the AliGroup transaction, do you require China approval?
William Oplinger - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
No.
Carlos De Alba - Equity Analyst
All right. Thanks. On the Massena East transaction, the step-ups in capacity, is that solely based on regulatory approval? Or how do you make sure that it is not a decision of your data center, maybe the economics change, and they donât want to do the step one or step two of the increased capacity?
William Oplinger - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
Carlos, in my view, they are very interested in putting the maximum capacity within Massena East. The economics for them work much better as the facility gets larger. It will be based on how quickly -- I guess a couple of things, how much demand there is, how much regulatory approvals that they get. So those are the two real big issues, and I guess how much capital they ultimately have. But my view is they want to see this as large as it possibly can be, because I believe their economics get significantly better as it gets larger.
Operator
This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Mr. Oplinger for closing remarks.
William Oplinger - President, Chief Executive Officer, Director
Thanks, operator. And thank you all for joining our call. Molly and I look forward to sharing further progress when we speak again in January. This concludes the call. Thank you.
Operator
The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending todayâs presentation. You may now disconnect.