美國鋁公司 (AA) 2022 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, and welcome to the Alcoa Corporation First Quarter 2022 Earnings Presentation and Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded.

下午好，歡迎參加美國鋁業公司 2022 年第一季度收益報告和電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，此事件正在記錄中。

I would now like to turn the conference over to James Dwyer, Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議轉交給投資者關係副總裁 James Dwyer。請繼續。

Thank you, and good day, everyone. I'm joined today by Roy Harvey, Alcoa Corporation President and Chief Executive Officer; and William Oplinger, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. We will take your questions after comments by Roy and Bill.

謝謝大家，大家好。今天，美國鋁業公司總裁兼首席執行官 Roy Harvey 加入了我的行列；和執行副總裁兼首席財務官 William Oplinger。我們將在 Roy 和 Bill 發表評論後回答您的問題。

As a reminder, today's 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 company's actual results to differ materially from these statements are included in today's presentation and in our SEC filings.

提醒一下，今天的討論將包含與受各種假設和警告約束的未來事件和預期有關的前瞻性陳述。可能導致公司實際結果與這些陳述產生重大差異的因素包含在今天的演示文稿和我們提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中。

In addition, we have included some non-GAAP financial measures in this presentation. Reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures can be found in the appendix to today's presentation. Any reference in our discussion today to EBITDA means adjusted EBITDA.

此外，我們在本演示文稿中包含了一些非公認會計原則的財務指標。與最直接可比的 GAAP 財務指標的對賬可以在今天的演示文稿的附錄中找到。我們今天討論中對 EBITDA 的任何提及均指調整後的 EBITDA。

Finally, as previously announced, the earnings release and slide presentation are available on our website. With that, here's Roy.

最後，正如之前宣布的，收益發布和幻燈片演示可在我們的網站上找到。有了這個，這裡是羅伊。

Thank you, Jim, and welcome to everyone who is joining our first quarter earnings call. As you saw in today's press release, we had record quarterly results for profitability across 3 key measures: net income; adjusted net income; and adjusted EBITDA, excluding special items. Bill will give more detail, but I'm pleased to report that it was a very solid quarter. We had net income of $469 million. Adjusted net income was $577 million. This is a 21% sequential improvement in more than 3x what we posted in the first quarter of last year. Adjusted EBITDA, excluding special items, was $1.07 billion. That's 20% higher than the prior quarter and more than double the same period in 2021. And with a focus on our capital allocation framework, we have also repurchased 1 million shares of common stock in the quarter.

謝謝你，吉姆，歡迎所有加入我們第一季度財報電話會議的人。正如您在今天的新聞稿中看到的那樣，我們在三個關鍵指標上的盈利能力季度業績均創歷史新高：淨收入；調整後的淨收入；和調整後的 EBITDA，不包括特殊項目。比爾將提供更多細節，但我很高興地報告這是一個非常穩健的季度。我們的淨收入為 4.69 億美元。調整後的淨收入為5.77億美元。這是我們去年第一季度發布的 3 倍多的連續改進 21%。不包括特殊項目的調整後 EBITDA 為 10.7 億美元。這比上一季度高出 20%，是 2021 年同期的兩倍多。我們專注於我們的資本分配框架，本季度還回購了 100 萬股普通股。

Looking back at our more than 5-year history as a stand-alone company, it's great to see the efforts of our Alcoa teams and the strengthening market mirrored in these record-setting results. In this period of global volatility, we remain strong and steady, guided by our values and focusing on our strategic priorities. We're continuing to eliminate unnecessary complexity and focusing on being low cost, driving returns with strong margins and operating sustainably across our global operations.

回顧我們作為一家獨立公司超過 5 年的歷史，很高興看到我們美鋁團隊的努力和不斷增強的市場反映在這些創紀錄的業績中。在這個全球動蕩的時期，我們保持強大和穩定，以我們的價值觀為指導，專注於我們的戰略重點。我們將繼續消除不必要的複雜性，並專注於低成本、以高利潤推動回報，並在我們的全球業務中實現可持續運營。

We also remain focused on maintaining a safe workplace for our employees, contractors and anyone who visits an Alcoa location. In the quarter, we had no serious injuries, and we remain resolute in the use of proactive tools to prevent incidents. When accidents do occur, we investigate the root cause to continuously improve our safety systems and outcomes.

我們還繼續專注於為我們的員工、承包商和訪問美鋁工廠的任何人維護一個安全的工作場所。在本季度，我們沒有受到嚴重傷害，我們仍然堅決使用主動工具來預防事故。當事故確實發生時，我們會調查根本原因，以不斷改進我們的安全系統和結果。

Again, this quarter, we continued to make important progress on several fronts. In January, we completed the curtailment of the San Ciprián smelter in Spain, according to the terms of an agreement reached previously with the workforce. Even with improved metal prices, the smelter continued to lose money due to exorbitant energy prices. The agreement to idle the pot lines while continuing to operate the casthouse will allow us to control our losses during a 2-year curtailment period. We'll use that time to find an energy solution and deliver on improvements to the plant for its future. Meanwhile, we are continuing in our work to restart aluminum smelting capacity in Brazil and Australia. This additional capacity, once online, will continue to position us well to capture the benefits of stronger markets.

同樣，本季度，我們繼續在幾個方面取得重要進展。根據之前與員工達成的協議條款，我們在 1 月份完成了對西班牙 San Ciprián 冶煉廠的縮減。即使金屬價格上漲，冶煉廠仍因能源價格過高而繼續虧損。在繼續運營鑄造廠的同時閒置生產線的協議將使我們能夠在 2 年的縮減期內控制我們的損失。我們將利用這段時間尋找能源解決方案，並為工廠的未來進行改進。與此同時，我們正在繼續努力重啟巴西和澳大利亞的鋁冶煉產能。這種額外的容量一旦上線，將繼續使我們處於有利地位，以從更強勁的市場中獲益。

In our bauxite business in Brazil, we've signed a deal to divest our full interest in Mineração Rio do Norte, or MRN. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of this year. Following this divestiture, we believe we will remain well positioned in the bauxite business with high-quality reserves across our global system and particularly in our Juruti mine in Brazil. The transaction avoids potential capital costs in the future and allows us to focus future bauxite investments into 2 Brazilian mines we own and operate.

在我們在巴西的鋁土礦業務中，我們簽署了一項協議，以剝離我們在 Mineração Rio do Norte 或 MRN 的全部權益。該交易預計將於今年第二季度完成。在此次剝離之後，我們相信我們將在鋁土礦業務中保持良好的地位，在我們的全球系統中擁有高質量的儲量，特別是在我們位於巴西的 Juruti 礦。該交易避免了未來潛在的資本成本，並使我們能夠將未來的鋁土礦投資集中在我們擁有和經營的 2 個巴西礦山上。

Next, we recorded $77 million in restructuring charges in the first quarter related to the 2019 divestiture of 2 Spanish smelters, Avilés and La Coruña. We offer to resolve various legal claims related to the sale of those assets, and former employees unanimously agreed this week to accept our proposal. Upon satisfaction of all agreed-upon conditions, this settlement is expected to avoid the potential for costly and lengthy litigation. We are continuing to pursue legal actions against the entity that purchased these assets and failed to meet its promises to our former employees.

接下來，我們在第一季度記錄了與 2019 年剝離 2 家西班牙冶煉廠 Avilés 和 La Coruña 相關的 7700 萬美元重組費用。我們提出解決與出售這些資產有關的各種法律索賠，前僱員本週一致同意接受我們的提議。在滿足所有商定的條件後，預計該和解將避免代價高昂且冗長的訴訟的可能性。我們將繼續對購買這些資產且未能履行對我們前僱員的承諾的實體採取法律行動。

Finally, the fundamentals of the aluminum business remains strong, and the work we've done over these past several years has enabled us to operate efficiently and capture benefits from positive markets. In the quarter, we saw the average realized price for aluminum increased sequentially 14% to more than $3,800 per metric ton. And that's a good pivot point for Bill to detail the full results, including the positive impact that these strong metal prices had on our adjusted EBITDA.

最後，鋁業務的基本面依然強勁，過去幾年我們所做的工作使我們能夠高效運營並從積極的市場中獲益。在本季度，我們看到鋁的平均實現價格環比上漲 14%，達到每公噸 3,800 美元以上。這是比爾詳細說明全部結果的一個很好的支點，包括這些強勁的金屬價格對我們調整後的 EBITDA 產生的積極影響。

Bill, please go ahead.

比爾，請繼續。

Thanks, Roy. The first quarter of 2022 marked Alcoa Corporation's highest net income and adjusted net income in its history as well as the first time recording over $1 billion of adjusted EBITDA, excluding special items. Revenues of $3.3 billion were up $423 million or 15% year-over-year but slightly lower sequentially on logistics-related shipment delays. All earnings measures increased both year-over-year and sequentially. GAAP net income of $469 million was $294 million higher than the prior year quarter's $175 million and was $861 million higher sequentially.

謝謝，羅伊。 2022 年第一季度是美國鋁業公司歷史上最高的淨收入和調整後的淨收入，並且首次錄得超過 10 億美元的調整後 EBITDA（不包括特殊項目）。收入 33 億美元，同比增長 4.23 億美元或 15%，但由於物流相關的發貨延遲，環比略有下降。所有收益指標均同比和環比增長。 GAAP 淨收入為 4.69 億美元，比去年同期的 1.75 億美元高出 2.94 億美元，比上一季度高出 8.61 億美元。

Special items in the quarter included $77 million related to a settlement offer made to the workers of the divested Avilés and La Coruña smelters in Spain, which would be paid upon their collective acceptance, and $68 million for asset impairment relating to the company's planned sale of its interest in the MRN bauxite mine. Adjusted net income of $577 million was up $427 million year-over-year and was up $102 million or 21% sequentially. Adjusted EBITDA of $1.07 billion improved $551 million year-over-year and was $176 million better sequentially.

本季度的特殊項目包括 7700 萬美元與向西班牙剝離的 Avilés 和 La Coruña 冶煉廠的工人提出的和解提議有關，這筆款項將在他們集體接受後支付，以及與資產減值有關的 6800 萬美元公司計劃出售其在 MRN 鋁土礦的權益。調整後的淨收入為 5.77 億美元，同比增長 4.27 億美元，環比增長 1.02 億美元或 21%。調整後的 EBITDA 為 10.7 億美元，同比增長 5.51 億美元，環比增長 1.76 億美元。

Let's look at the drivers for adjusted EBITDA. In the first quarter, the majority of the benefit of higher realized aluminum prices up $479 per ton sequentially translated into higher adjusted EBITDA. Other positive contributors were stronger product premiums and customer mix in both the Alumina and Aluminum segment as well as the lower costs and other related to intersegment profit eliminations of approximately $64 million and improvements related to the San Ciprián smelter curtailment, contributing $62 million. As expected, those improvements were partially offset by higher raw material costs in both the Alumina and Aluminum segment as well as higher energy costs at refineries, primarily in Spain, and lower hydropower sales prices in Brazil. Volume was unfavorable in all 3 segments, partly because of fewer days in the quarter but also due to lower production in Australia and shipment delays in Canada due to railcar availability. Despite the challenges, production costs were up very little sequentially and demonstrated overall strong cost focus.

讓我們看看調整後 EBITDA 的驅動因素。第一季度，鋁價上漲每噸 479 美元的大部分收益依次轉化為更高的調整後 EBITDA。其他積極的貢獻者是氧化鋁和鋁部門的產品溢價和客戶組合更加強勁，以及成本降低和其他與部門間利潤抵消約 6400 萬美元以及與圣西普里安冶煉廠縮減相關的改進，貢獻了 6200 萬美元。正如預期的那樣，這些改善部分被氧化鋁和鋁部門的原材料成本上漲以及煉油廠（主要在西班牙）更高的能源成本以及巴西較低的水電銷售價格所抵消。所有三個部分的銷量均不利，部分原因是本季度的天數減少，但也由於澳大利亞的產量下降以及由於鐵路車輛的可用性而導致加拿大的發貨延遲。儘管存在挑戰，但生產成本環比上升幅度很小，並顯示出整體強烈的成本重點。

For more perspective on our strong margins, let's look at the relationship of realized sales prices compared to cash costs in the Alumina and Aluminum segments. These charts show a simplified view of our cash cost structures for the Alumina and Aluminum segments over the last year compared to third-party realized prices. The focus is on raw materials and energy costs, the areas where we received the most questions from our investors.

為了更深入地了解我們強勁的利潤率，讓我們看看已實現的銷售價格與氧化鋁和鋁部門的現金成本之間的關係。這些圖表顯示了我們去年氧化鋁和鋁部門的現金成本結構與第三方實際價格相比的簡化視圖。重點是原材料和能源成本，這是我們從投資者那裡收到最多問題的領域。

Looking at Alumina over time, you see that both energy and raw material costs have increased somewhat while the remainder of the cost, including bauxites, have been mostly flat. The relatively muted rise of these costs reflects the benefits of our integrated system and colocated mines and refineries, low caustic soda use, global procurement strategies and long-term energy contracts. Our main spot energy exposure is at our San Ciprián refinery in Spain. Reflecting broader market conditions and industry cost pressures, the realized alumina price has increased substantially, more than offsetting our cost increases. And spot index prices are currently similar to the 1Q average.

隨著時間的推移觀察氧化鋁，您會發現能源和原材料成本都有所增加，而包括鋁土礦在內的其餘成本基本持平。這些成本相對溫和的增長反映了我們的集成系統和託管礦山和煉油廠、低燒鹼使用、全球採購戰略和長期能源合同的好處。我們的主要現貨能源是在我們位於西班牙的圣西普里安煉油廠。反映更廣泛的市場狀況和行業成本壓力，實際氧化鋁價格大幅上漲，遠遠抵消了我們的成本上漲。現貨指數價格目前與一季度平均水平相近。

An even more pronounced effect is seen in Aluminum. Alumina costs in the Aluminum segment are up. And while energy and other raw materials are also higher, their impact is outpaced by the significant increase in the realized aluminum price. Again, we see the benefits of our integrated system, global procurement capabilities and minimal exposure to spot energy prices. Approximately 60% of our smelter energy costs are linked to aluminum prices. Roughly 30% is fixed price or self-generated power, and our spot exposure is less than 10% and limited to a portion of our Norway smelter load.

在鋁中可以看到更明顯的效果。鋁部門的氧化鋁成本上升。雖然能源和其他原材料價格也較高，但其影響被實際鋁價的大幅上漲所抵消。再次，我們看到了我們的集成系統、全球採購能力和對現貨能源價格的最小敞口的好處。我們大約 60% 的冶煉廠能源成本與鋁價相關。大約 30% 是固定價格或自發電，我們的現貨風險低於 10%，並且僅限於我們挪威冶煉廠負荷的一部分。

And remember, too, that given our long position in alumina, higher alumina prices may impact Aluminum segment earnings but are a net positive for the company. The key message here is that most elements of our cost structure have seen only modest increases compared to our revenues.

還要記住，鑑於我們在氧化鋁的多頭頭寸，較高的氧化鋁價格可能會影響鋁部門的收益，但對公司來說是一個淨利好。這裡的關鍵信息是，與我們的收入相比，我們成本結構的大多數要素僅出現了適度的增長。

Let's move to other financial metrics. When looking at the quarter, the 50% return on equity was our strongest quarter yet and reflects the excellent profitability levels discussed earlier. Our cash balance declined, however, increasing net debt. Major cash uses were working capital, income taxes and dividends and capital returns. Working capital days expanded to 49 days and was our largest use of cash in the quarter at $680 million. Cash income taxes were $220 million, including $162 million related to the prior year. Net dividends to noncontrolling interest and capital returns to stockholders totaled $209 million.

讓我們轉向其他財務指標。從本季度來看，50% 的股本回報率是我們迄今為止最強勁的季度，反映了之前討論的出色盈利水平。然而，我們的現金餘額下降，增加了淨債務。主要現金用途是營運資金、所得稅和股息以及資本回報。營運資金天數擴大到 49 天，是我們本季度最大的現金用途，為 6.8 億美元。現金所得稅為 2.2 億美元，其中包括與上一年相關的 1.62 億美元。非控制性權益的淨股息和股東的資本回報總計 2.09 億美元。

Let's take a deeper look at what happened with working capital and what we expect in the future. There were multiple factors increasing working capital this quarter. The 20 days change consisted of 14 more days of inventory, 5 more days of receivables and 1 day less of payables. In inventory, higher raw material prices, primarily for caustic and carbon products accounted, for 7 days and 2 days of the increase related to higher values of finished goods. Logistics challenges added 2 days of inventory with missed shipments in alumina in both Australia and Brazil and limited availability of outbound transportation for finished goods primarily in North America. Finally, we purchased metal in Brazil to serve annual customer contracts that will be met with Alumar supply after the restart, and that added 2 more days of inventory.

讓我們更深入地了解營運資金發生了什麼以及我們對未來的期望。本季度有多種因素增加了營運資金。 20 天的變化包括多 14 天的庫存、多 5 天的應收賬款和少 1 天的應付賬款。在庫存方面，原材料價格上漲，主要是苛性鹼和碳產品佔7天和2天，與製成品價值較高有關。物流挑戰增加了 2 天的庫存，因為澳大利亞和巴西的氧化鋁錯過了發貨，並且主要在北美的成品出境運輸的可用性有限。最後，我們在巴西購買了金屬來服務年度客戶合同，這些合同將在重啟後由 Alumar 供應，這增加了 2 天的庫存。

Receivables are up mostly due to higher sales prices, especially late in the quarter and account for 5 days. To the extent prices remain elevated, we will maintain higher levels of working capital. We do anticipate some reduction through the year, assuming shipping schedules improve, the IMR restart progresses as expected, and we realize lower inventories on hand.

應收賬款增加主要是由於較高的銷售價格，尤其是在本季度末，佔 5 天。在價格保持高位的情況下，我們將維持較高的營運資金水平。我們確實預計全年會有所減少，假設運輸計劃有所改善，IMR 重啟按預期進行，並且我們實現手頭庫存減少。

Our full year shipments outlook has only one change. We expect our 2022 bauxite shipments to be down approximately 2 million tons to a range of 46 million to 47 million tons, the result of our decision to not sell to Russian customers as well as Russia, Ukraine-related changes in the Atlantic bauxite market. The 2022 shipments outlook for alumina remains 14.2 million to 14.4 million tons. For aluminum, we have paused the Alumar restart process for about 1 month due to unavailability of suitable bath material, but we still expect the restart to be complete by year-end and the aluminum shipments outlook is unchanged. All other full year outlook estimates are unchanged.

我們的全年出貨量展望只有一個變化。我們預計我們 2022 年的鋁土礦出貨量將減少約 200 萬噸至 4600 萬噸至 4700 萬噸，這是我們決定不向俄羅斯客戶銷售以及俄羅斯、烏克蘭相關的大西洋鋁土礦市場變化的結果。 2022 年氧化鋁的出貨量前景仍為 1420 萬噸至 1440 萬噸。鋁方面，由於沒有合適的電解槽材料，我們已暫停 Alumar 重啟流程約 1 個月，但我們仍預計重啟將在年底前完成，鋁出貨量前景不變。所有其他全年展望估計均保持不變。

For the second quarter, based on today's prices, we expect both alumina and aluminum-realized third-party prices to be higher than the first quarter, with part of that benefit offset by approximately $115 million of higher energy and raw material costs. Higher shipments are expected to more than offset additional maintenance costs and other factors.

對於第二季度，根據今天的價格，我們預計氧化鋁和鋁的第三方實現價格都將高於第一季度，其中部分收益被大約 1.15 億美元的能源和原材料成本增加所抵消。預計更高的出貨量將抵消額外的維護成本和其他因素。

Looking at the segments, excluding index sales prices or currency impacts for the second quarter, in bauxite, we expect EBITDA to be approximately $10 million as onetime benefits in the first quarter do not recur and we slowed production rates in Juruti in response to ceasing supply to Russian businesses. In Alumina, we expect approximately $85 million in higher energy and raw material costs, with 2/3 being related to San Ciprián refinery energy costs. We also expect higher shipments to fully offset higher maintenance and other costs.

從鋁土礦的細分市場來看，不包括第二季度的指數銷售價格或貨幣影響，我們預計 EBITDA 約為 1000 萬美元，因為第一季度的一次性收益不會再次出現，並且我們減緩了 Juruti 的生產速度以應對供應停止對俄羅斯企業。在氧化鋁，我們預計能源和原材料成本增加約 8500 萬美元，其中 2/3 與圣西普里安煉油廠的能源成本有關。我們還預計更高的出貨量將完全抵消更高的維護和其他成本。

In the Aluminum segment, we expect alumina cost to increase approximately $35 million and expect improved shipment volumes to provide a $50 million benefit, more than offsetting $30 million of high raw materials prices and energy impacts as well as maintenance costs of $10 million.

在鋁部門，我們預計氧化鋁成本將增加約 3500 萬美元，預計出貨量的增加將帶來 5000 萬美元的收益，超過 3000 萬美元的原材料價格和能源影響以及 1000 萬美元的維護成本。

Let me turn it back over to Roy.

讓我把它還給羅伊。

Thanks, Bill. Next, I'd like to give an overview of what we're seeing in our markets. Last year, we saw a general price recovery after the impact from the 2020 pandemic. Now today's markets are experiencing increased volatility, most notably from Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but prices remain at higher levels than both the 2020 and 2021 averages.

謝謝，比爾。接下來，我想概述一下我們在市場上看到的情況。去年，在 2020 年大流行的影響之後，我們看到了總體價格回升。現在，今天的市場波動加劇，尤其是俄羅斯入侵烏克蘭，但價格仍高於 2020 年和 2021 年的平均水平。

In the alumina market, demand is reduced due to global aluminum smelter cuts. We saw some tightness in the market last month when a competitor suspended shipments from the Nikolaev refinery in Ukraine. Since then, we have seen supply outside of China reemerge. Australia's decision to ban exports to Russia disrupted the market with a separation between suppliers willing to sell to Russia and those who are not. This has pressured Western Australian alumina pricing, and it has prompted some atypical Chinese exports to Russia.

在氧化鋁市場，由於全球鋁冶煉廠減產，需求減少。上個月，當一家競爭對手暫停了烏克蘭尼古拉耶夫煉油廠的發貨時，我們看到市場有些吃緊。從那時起，我們看到中國以外的供應重新出現。澳大利亞禁止向俄羅斯出口的決定擾亂了市場，將願意出售給俄羅斯的供應商與不願出售的供應商分開。這給西澳大利亞氧化鋁定價帶來了壓力，並促使中國對俄羅斯進行了一些非典型的出口。

Turning now to metal. The Aluminum segment continues to play a large and positive role in our overall results. On the demand side, we expect annual global demand for primary aluminum to increase this year approximately 2% relative to 2021. Growth remains positive despite a somewhat slower pace due to interruptions to supply chain, particularly in automotive, and lower growth expectations in Russia and Eastern Europe.

現在轉向金屬。鋁部門繼續在我們的整體業績中發揮巨大而積極的作用。在需求方面，我們預計今年全球原鋁需求將比 2021 年增長約 2%。儘管由於供應鏈中斷（尤其是汽車行業）以及俄羅斯和俄羅斯的增長預期較低，增長速度有所放緩，但仍保持正增長東歐洲。

With slightly lower but positive demand growth, aluminum pricing remains supported globally by supply disruptions, low inventory levels and high transportation costs. High energy prices in Europe are driving some smelter cuts in this region. In China, the central government also continues to limit output growth in primary aluminum through the government's capacity permitting system.

由於需求增長略低但呈正增長，全球鋁價仍受到供應中斷、低庫存水平和高運輸成本的支撐。歐洲的高能源價格正在推動該地區的一些冶煉廠減產。在中國，中央政府還通過政府的產能許可製度繼續限制原鋁的產量增長。

From Alcoa's commercial perspective, much of our value-add aluminum products are sold in annual contracts, and negotiations with customers resulted in favorable pricing quarter-on-quarter, which we recognized in Q1. Regional premiums also remain high in markets where we produce, reflecting underlying physical tightness and logistics costs.

從美國鋁業公司的商業角度來看，我們的大部分增值鋁產品都以年度合同的形式出售，與客戶的談判產生了有利的季度價格，我們在第一季度就認識到了這一點。在我們生產的市場，區域溢價也仍然很高，這反映了潛在的實物緊張和物流成本。

Additionally, we are seeing year-on-year growth for our line of sustainable products in our Sustana family. We expect threefold increases this year in the total volume of sales for EcoLum, which is our low-carbon aluminum brand, and EcoDura, which is our aluminum product made with at least 50% recycled content. Notwithstanding the current volatility in the markets, we continue to expect positive fundamentals in alumina and aluminum due to favorable structural changes, including a drive towards more sustainable solutions. These shifts should provide advantages for a low-carbon operator like Alcoa.

此外，我們看到 Sustana 家族的可持續產品系列同比增長。我們預計今年我們的低碳鋁品牌 EcoLum 和使用至少 50% 回收成分製成的鋁產品 EcoDura 的總銷量將增長三倍。儘管目前市場波動，但由於有利的結構變化，包括推動更可持續的解決方案，我們繼續預計氧化鋁和鋁的基本面將保持積極。這些轉變應該會為像美鋁這樣的低碳運營商帶來優勢。

As I said at the top of this call, Alcoa is strong and steady, an outcome of the work that we've been doing over these last several years to build an even stronger foundation, including a healthy balance sheet. This work has been vital to ensure success through all market cycles.

正如我在本次電話會議的開頭所說的那樣，美國鋁業公司強大而穩定，這是我們在過去幾年中為建立更強大的基礎（包括健康的資產負債表）所做的工作的結果。這項工作對於確保在所有市場週期中取得成功至關重要。

Importantly, we've worked to ensure that we have a lean and efficient operating structure. Our Alcolans, as usual, have been working with diligence. As an example, the teamwork in our procurement group has been vital in helping us manage our raw material costs and work through various logistics challenges, especially important in this current environment. In our operations, we're also working to use our raw materials very efficiently. Our global refineries, as an example, are well positioned in this context. They use, on average, less caustic soda than most of our competitors. This is important as caustic soda is a key ingredient in the refining process. We use less caustic due to a variety of factors, primarily the high-quality bauxite from our integrated mines and the fact that we keep our refineries fine-tuned for our raw materials.

重要的是，我們努力確保我們擁有精益高效的運營結構。像往常一樣，我們的 Alcolan 一直在努力工作。例如，我們採購團隊的團隊合作對於幫助我們管理原材料成本和應對各種物流挑戰至關重要，在當前環境下尤其重要。在我們的運營中，我們也在努力非常有效地使用我們的原材料。例如，我們的全球煉油廠在這方面處於有利地位。與我們的大多數競爭對手相比，他們平均使用更少的苛性鈉。這很重要，因為苛性鈉是精煉過程中的關鍵成分。由於多種因素，我們使用較少的苛性鹼，主要是來自我們綜合礦山的高品質鋁土礦，以及我們對我們的煉油廠進行微調以適應我們的原材料的事實。

Regardless of the situation, we have the processes and procedures to react efficiently. And when something new arises, we quickly adjust while maintaining overall stability. A good example of this is when we decided last month to cease buying raw materials from or selling products to Russian businesses. While we do not have operations in Russia, a multi-disciplined team helped us act decisively, and we've worked to mitigate the financial impact.

無論情況如何，我們都有有效應對的流程和程序。當有新事物出現時，我們會迅速調整，同時保持整體穩定性。一個很好的例子是我們上個月決定停止從俄羅斯企業購買原材料或向俄羅斯企業出售產品。雖然我們在俄羅斯沒有業務，但一支多學科團隊幫助我們採取果斷行動，我們一直在努力減輕財務影響。

As I explained to our employees in a letter following our decision on Russian businesses, we acted in alignment with our values, and we continue to hope for an end to this crisis.

正如我在對俄羅斯企業做出決定後在一封信中向我們的員工解釋的那樣，我們的行為符合我們的價值觀，我們繼續希望結束這場危機。

Now let me discuss some of the items on the right-hand side of this slide. As we continue to manage through what have been turbulent times, first from a pandemic and now the unease from the situation in Ukraine, it's important to emphasize that we remain well positioned for the future. We closed 2021 in our best financial shape ever, and we remain lean and cost focused. We have low debt, well-funded pension obligations and a cash balance that stood at $1.6 billion at the end of the first quarter.

現在讓我討論一下這張幻燈片右側的一些項目。隨著我們繼續度過動盪時期，首先是大流行病，現在是烏克蘭局勢的不安，重要的是要強調我們為未來做好準備。我們以有史以來最好的財務狀況結束了 2021 年，我們仍然精益求精並專注於成本。我們擁有低債務、資金充足的養老金義務，第一季度末的現金餘額為 16 億美元。

We have top-tier assets that are strategically located to supply the world with the materials it needs now, including developing breakthrough technologies for tomorrow. We are building an operating portfolio that is cost efficient, restarting capacity where it makes economic sense to do so, such as Alumar, and some modest capacity at Portland Aluminum in Australia. We have a clear vision to reinvent the aluminum industry for a sustainable future supported by a technology road map that has the potential to decarbonize production processes, differentiate Alcoa and create value for our stockholders.

我們擁有位於戰略位置的頂級資產，可為世界提供現在所需的材料，包括為未來開發突破性技術。我們正在建立一個具有成本效益的運營組合，在具有經濟意義的情況下重啟產能，例如 Alumar，以及澳大利亞波特蘭鋁業的一些適度產能。我們有一個明確的願景，即通過技術路線圖重塑鋁工業以實現可持續的未來，該路線圖有可能使生產過程脫碳、使美鋁脫穎而出並為我們的股東創造價值。

Our work on the ELYSIS joint venture continues to progress. Last month, we were excited to see Apple announced that they'll use metal that is being produced at R&D scale for the iPhone SE. It's very exciting to see a technology that we first developed at the Alcoa Technical Center outside of Pittsburgh come to fruition via the ELYSIS technology. This is truly revolutionary, producing metal without any direct greenhouse gases and instead producing oxygen as a byproduct. Once ELYSIS technology licenses are available from 2024, the first full-scale commercial application of this breakthrough process could be running within 2 years.

我們在 ELYSIS 合資企業方面的工作繼續取得進展。上個月，我們很高興看到 Apple 宣布他們將使用正在研發規模生產的金屬用於 iPhone SE。看到我們最初在匹茲堡郊外的美鋁技術中心開發的一項技術通過 ELYSIS 技術實現了成果，這非常令人興奮。這確實是革命性的，生產金屬時沒有任何直接的溫室氣體，而是生產氧氣作為副產品。一旦從 2024 年開始獲得 ELYSIS 技術許可，這一突破性工藝的首次全面商業應用可能會在 2 年內運行。

In addition to reinventing aluminum smelting, we're also working to unlock a new recycling technology that will use low-value scrap, removing impurities through a proprietary process that will produce high purity aluminum. The output from this process will surpass the quality of what's produced at a conventional smelter.

除了重塑鋁冶煉之外，我們還致力於開發一種新的回收技術，該技術將使用低價值廢料，通過專有工藝去除雜質，從而生產出高純度鋁。這個過程的產出將超過傳統冶煉廠生產的質量。

In refining, we were proud to announce last week that both the national and regional governments in Australia have agreed to provide funding for development of electric calcination, a process that would use renewable power to fuel the last stage of alumina refining. When combined with another technology known as mechanical vapor recompression, which also has funding in Australia, there is the potential to decarbonize alumina refining. These 2 technologies are built into what we're calling our refinery of the future initiative, which has the goal to lower the cost of constructing a refinery, eliminate fossil fuels, reduce freshwater usage, and minimize and eventually eliminate deposits of new bauxite residue.

在精煉方面，我們上周自豪地宣布，澳大利亞國家和地區政府已同意為電煅燒的開發提供資金，該工藝將使用可再生能源為氧化鋁精煉的最後階段提供燃料。當與另一種被稱為機械蒸汽再壓縮的技術相結合時，該技術在澳大利亞也有資金，有可能使氧化鋁精煉脫碳。這兩項技術被納入我們所謂的未來煉油廠計劃中，其目標是降低建造煉油廠的成本、消除化石燃料、減少淡水使用量，並最大限度地減少並最終消除新鋁土礦殘渣的沉積。

Finally, summing it all up. I want to leave you with a few key points from the results we issued today. First, despite volatile markets, we delivered. We continue to execute on our strategies to deliver solid results, including providing a 50% return on equity in the quarter. Second, our strategies are working. We've strengthened our company and our operating portfolio, including restarting capacity when it makes economic sense and, when necessary, executing on curtailments or divestitures according to our portfolio review process. Third, we are rewarding our investors. In the first quarter, we paid our second consecutive cash dividend. Also, we executed another tranche of our share repurchase authorization in accordance with our capital allocation framework. These actions again reflect our strength and our positive view of the future.

最後，總結一下。我想從我們今天發布的結果中告訴你幾個關鍵點。首先，儘管市場動盪，我們還是交付了。我們繼續執行我們的戰略以提供可靠的結果，包括在本季度提供 50% 的股本回報率。其次，我們的戰略正在奏效。我們已經加強了我們的公司和我們的運營組合，包括在經濟合理時重啟產能，並在必要時根據我們的投資組合審查流程執行縮減或剝離。第三，我們正在獎勵我們的投資者。第一季度，我們連續第二次支付現金股息。此外，我們根據我們的資本分配框架執行了另一批股份回購授權。這些行動再次反映了我們的實力和我們對未來的積極看法。

And finally, we are excited about our future. Looking back to our history, it is clear that we have delivered on our purpose to turn raw potential into real progress. And as we look toward the future, we will continue to drive value and to redefine what aluminum consumers should expect when it comes to sustainable production and products across the aluminum value chain.

最後，我們對自己的未來感到興奮。回顧我們的歷史，很明顯，我們已經實現了將原始潛力轉化為真正進步的目標。當我們展望未來時，我們將繼續推動價值並重新定義鋁消費者對整個鋁價值鏈的可持續生產和產品的期望。

Now Bill and I are ready for your questions. Operator, please go ahead.

現在比爾和我準備好回答你的問題了。接線員，請繼續。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question will come from Alex Hacking with Citi.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自花旗銀行的 Alex Hacking。

So just on the first question on the cost side. Obviously, you've done a pretty good job, caustic soda, pet coke, all that stuff. As prices increase, it tends to be on several quarters' lag. So should we be expecting cost pressure to be building up through the year or you're comfortable with the position?

所以只是關於成本方面的第一個問題。顯然，你做得很好，燒鹼，寵物可樂，所有這些東西。隨著價格上漲，它往往會滯後幾個季度。那麼，我們是否應該預計全年成本壓力會增加，或者您對這個職位感到滿意？

Alex, it's Bill. I'll take that one. So we've guided in the second quarter to some higher raw materials and energy costs. The raw materials are about $45 million higher in the second quarter. Energy costs would be about $70 million higher, with the vast majority of that coming out of Spain, in the refinery in Spain. But if I can take just a moment to step back and make sure everyone understands the guidance that we've provided in the prepared remarks.

亞歷克斯，是比爾。我會拿那個。因此，我們在第二季度指導了一些更高的原材料和能源成本。第二季度的原材料價格上漲了約 4500 萬美元。能源成本將高出約 7000 萬美元，其中絕大部分來自西班牙的煉油廠。但是，如果我可以花一點時間退後一步，確保每個人都理解我們在準備好的評論中提供的指導。

We're guiding to a strong second quarter. And the reason why I say that is a couple of factors. First, at today's prices on a lagged basis, today, the second quarter prices are actually higher than the first quarter prices for both alumina and aluminum. And so if you look at the guidance that we provided, we say that benefit will more than offset the higher raw materials and energy costs that I just outlined, Alex.

我們正在引導強勁的第二季度。我這麼說的原因有幾個。首先，以今天的滯後價格計算，今天，氧化鋁和鋁的第二季度價格實際上高於第一季度的價格。因此，如果您查看我們提供的指導，我們會說收益將遠遠抵消我剛剛概述的更高的原材料和能源成本，Alex。

The second piece of the guidance that signals a strong second quarter is that we are anticipating better shipment volume -- significantly better shipment volume in the second quarter. And that will more than offset some higher maintenance costs in the second quarter and the nonrecurrence of a couple of small onetime items in the first quarter. So overall, it's important for you to understand that while we are seeing some higher raw material and energy costs, we're guiding to a strong second quarter.

表明第二季度強勁的第二條指導是我們預計出貨量會更好——第二季度的出貨量會顯著提高。這將抵消第二季度一些較高的維護成本以及第一季度一些小的一次性項目的不重複性。因此，總體而言，重要的是您要了解，雖然我們看到原材料和能源成本有所上漲，但我們正在引導第二季度表現強勁。

Okay. And then just a follow-up with, I guess, kind of a general question regarding Russia, Ukraine. What have been the impacts on Alcoa from that? And I guess how are you seeing that? I mean you stopped the small amount of transactions with Russia that you have. Metals prices have moved around. But have you been getting a lot of inbound from customers looking for additional offtake? Any concerns with supply chains? Like I guess what's changed directly for Alcoa?

好的。然後只是跟進，我想，是關於俄羅斯、烏克蘭的一般性問題。這對美鋁有什麼影響？我猜你是怎麼看的？我的意思是你停止了與俄羅斯的少量交易。金屬價格有所波動。但是，您是否已經從尋求額外承購的客戶那裡獲得了大量入境信息？對供應鏈有任何擔憂嗎？就像我猜美國鋁業直接發生了什麼變化？

Alex, let me address the financial side, and then I'm going to turn it over to Roy for a more broad answer. The impact of our stopping shipments to Russia was minimal in the first quarter. We're projecting for the full year, it's about a $30 million impact. And a piece of that is obviously built into the guide that I just gave you for the second quarter. But overall, not a massive impact from stopping shipments into Russia.

亞歷克斯，讓我談談財務方面，然後我將把它交給羅伊以獲得更廣泛的答案。我們停止向俄羅斯發貨的影響在第一季度微乎其微。我們預計全年的影響約為 3000 萬美元。其中一部分顯然是我剛剛給你的第二季度指南中的一部分。但總體而言，停止向俄羅斯發貨不會產生巨大影響。

Roy, do you want to address from a broader perspective?

羅伊，你想從更廣泛的角度來談談嗎？

Yes. And I think the situation in Ukraine sort of exacerbates what was already a complicated supply chain. And so I think from an Alcoa perspective, the fact is, is that we have a team that's dedicated to working on supply chains, working on procuring materials across the world and to really leveraging our ability to buy, whether it's caustic or coke or all these different materials in different parts of the world so that we can have the best cost structure that we possibly can.

是的。而且我認為烏克蘭的局勢在某種程度上加劇了本已復雜的供應鏈。所以我認為從美國鋁業的角度來看，事實是，我們有一個團隊致力於供應鏈，致力於在世界各地採購材料，並真正利用我們的購買能力，無論是苛性鹼、可樂還是所有這些不同的材料在世界不同的地方，這樣我們就可以盡可能地擁有最好的成本結構。

So prior to the war in Ukraine, I think we were seeing that it was -- it already took a lot of creativity to make sure we were getting what we needed when we needed it. I think the -- what we're seeing now is that it's becoming even more complex. Now that complexity doesn't mean that we can't find the materials that we need, and I would argue that we have a very talented team that is getting very good at managing these issues. And so when we made our decision to neither buy from or sell to Russia, it took some effort to make sure that we could -- that the few materials that we do buy from Russia, we were able to replace, which we did really without any kind of issue, but it also created the drag on financials that Bill talked about, particularly because of bauxite sales that we were making into Russia.

所以在烏克蘭戰爭之前，我認為我們已經看到了——它已經花費了很多創造力來確保我們在需要的時候得到我們需要的東西。我認為 - 我們現在看到的是它變得更加複雜。現在，複雜性並不意味著我們找不到我們需要的材料，我認為我們有一個非常有才華的團隊，他們非常擅長管理這些問題。因此，當我們決定既不從俄羅斯購買也不向俄羅斯出售時，我們需要付出一些努力來確保我們能夠——我們從俄羅斯購買的少數材料，我們能夠更換，而我們確實沒有這樣做任何類型的問題，但它也對比爾所說的財務造成了拖累，特別是因為我們在俄羅斯進行鋁土礦銷售。

And so those things, I think the -- on the cost side, we're doing a very good job of making sure that it doesn't impact us. On the supply chain, just because of the uncertainty and the volatility, we continue to need to manage this. And again, I think it's par for the course given some of the continued COVID disruptions we're seeing inside of China as well as some of the other macroeconomic issues that we're seeing that we need to keep our team ready to go and ready to react as we see different things playing out.

所以這些事情，我認為 - 在成本方面，我們在確保它不會影響我們方面做得非常好。在供應鏈上，正是因為不確定性和波動性，我們仍然需要對其進行管理。再說一次，鑑於我們在中國境內看到的一些持續的 COVID 中斷以及我們看到的其他一些宏觀經濟問題，我認為這對課程來說是正常的，我們需要讓我們的團隊做好準備當我們看到不同的事情發生時做出反應。

However, I think our job is to make sure that we have the materials that we needed that could drive a very stable set of operations, keep our people focused on safety, keep our people focused on operations and maintenance, et cetera. And I think our logistics team, our procurement team really has been able to keep us focused on the right things.

但是，我認為我們的工作是確保我們擁有所需的材料，這些材料可以推動一系列非常穩定的運營，讓我們的員工專注於安全，讓我們的員工專注於運營和維護等等。而且我認為我們的物流團隊，我們的採購團隊確實能夠讓我們專注於正確的事情。

Our next question will come from David Gagliano with BMO Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題將來自 BMO 資本市場的 David Gagliano。

My first question, I want to ask about the pace of the buybacks. So you repurchased 1 million shares. I think that's about 1/2 of 1% of the total shares outstanding in the first quarter. Obviously, you've got a large cash balance, still plenty of free cash flow generation potential once those working capital headwinds go away. So should we expect the pace of these buybacks to accelerate in the coming quarters? That's my first question.

我的第一個問題，我想問一下回購的速度。所以你回購了100萬股。我認為這大約是第一季度已發行股份總數的 1% 的 1/2。顯然，您擁有大量現金餘額，一旦這些營運資金逆風消失，您仍有大量產生自由現金流的潛力。那麼我們是否應該期望這些回購的步伐在未來幾個季度加快？這是我的第一個問題。

So just to -- thanks for the question, Dave. To be clear, we -- as we said, we bought back approximately $75 million worth of stock. That was 1.04 million shares at an average price of around $72 a share. We also paid the dividend in the quarter. Given the capital -- the working capital increase that we saw in the quarter and the fact that cash balance did decline a little bit in the first quarter, we think that, that $75 million was the right level of buybacks in the first quarter. And as you know, Dave, we'll -- future capital returns are expected to be based on a variety of factors, including the expected current and future markets. So more to come in the future as we progress during the course of the year.

所以只是-- 謝謝你的問題，戴夫。需要明確的是，我們 - 正如我們所說，我們回購了價值約 7500 萬美元的股票。那是 104 萬股，平均價格約為每股 72 美元。我們還在本季度支付了股息。考慮到資本——我們在本季度看到的營運資金增加，以及第一季度現金餘額確實略有下降的事實，我們認為 7500 萬美元是第一季度的正確回購水平。如你所知，戴夫，我們將——預計未來的資本回報將基於多種因素，包括預期的當前和未來市場。隨著我們在這一年中的進步，未來還會有更多的事情發生。

Okay. And just to clarify, so the -- understood that there's a huge working capital draw. And the point I think you're making in those prepared remarks or those remarks you just said or is it that large working capital draw, did that impact the magnitude of the buybacks or, in your view, the magnitude of the buybacks in the first quarter?

好的。只是為了澄清，所以 - 明白有一個巨大的營運資金抽水。我認為你在那些準備好的評論或你剛才所說的那些評論中所說的觀點，或者是大量營運資金的抽水，這是否影響了回購的規模，或者在你看來，第一次回購的規模四分之一？

Yes. So we're being conservative on the buybacks in the first quarter as we saw the working capital build during the first quarter. And just to be clear, the working capital build was not a surprise to us, right? We typically see a working capital build in the first quarter. In this particular case, it was accentuated by the fact that pricing is as high as it was. So as we build working capital in the first quarter, we were tempering the returns to shareholders in the first quarter.

是的。因此，由於我們看到第一季度的營運資金增加，我們對第一季度的回購持保守態度。需要明確的是，營運資金的建立對我們來說並不意外，對吧？我們通常會在第一季度看到營運資金的增加。在這種特殊情況下，定價與以前一樣高的事實更加突出了這一點。因此，當我們在第一季度建立營運資金時，我們正在緩和第一季度對股東的回報。

Okay. Understood. And then just my second question on the bauxite business. I thought I asked this one once or twice before. The guide for 2Q is $10 million. $38 million was the EBITDA in the first quarter. Obviously, the press release called out a one-timer and also the elimination of sales to Russia for the expected decline. Is that $10 million now the right new kind of run rate for quarterly bauxite EBITDA moving forward?

好的。明白了。然後是關於鋁土礦業務的第二個問題。我以為我以前問過這個問題一兩次。第二季度的指導價為 1000 萬美元。第一季度的 EBITDA 為 3800 萬美元。顯然，該新聞稿呼籲一次性取消對俄羅斯的銷售，以實現預期的下降。現在這 1000 萬美元是否是向前推進季度鋁土礦 EBITDA 的正確新運行率？

Yes. We don't provide kind of a run rate for the segment earnings. Let me tell you what's going on there in the first quarter and then what's expected to go on in the second quarter. In the first quarter, we have a true-up for some of the royalties of bauxite that we sell to a third party. And so that was a little bit higher than it normally is, and that occurred in the first quarter. And that's when I refer to a onetime item, that was the real onetime item in the first quarter, and I believe that was around $7 million in the bauxite business.

是的。我們不提供分部收益的運行率。讓我告訴你第一季度發生了什麼，然後第二季度預計會發生什麼。在第一季度，我們對出售給第三方的一些鋁土礦特許權使用費進行了修正。所以這比正常情況要高一點，這發生在第一季度。這就是我提到一次性項目的時候，這是第一季度真正的一次性項目，我相信鋁土礦業務的價值約為 700 萬美元。

Secondly, we're projecting that the MRN sale closes in the second quarter. So we won't have the MRN earnings pickup. And then thirdly, with the decision to not sell to Russia, we are seeing the decline in the bauxite business because of the lack of sales there and really because of the long market of bauxite in the Atlantic region. And so that is negatively impacting the earnings out of Brazil.

其次，我們預計 MRN 銷售將在第二季度結束。所以我們不會有 MRN 收益回升。第三，由於決定不向俄羅斯出售，我們看到鋁土礦業務下滑，因為那裡缺乏銷售，實際上是因為大西洋地區鋁土礦的長期市場。因此，這對巴西的收益產生了負面影響。

Our next question will come from Michael Dudas with Vertical Research.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Vertical Research 的 Michael Dudas。

So look a little bit forward and on this question on Russia, how do you think -- you've done -- it sounds like you're getting to a more -- I won't say comfortable is the right word, but you're getting -- you're working through the issues because of the disruptions over the last 6 weeks from the invasion. How do you think the industry is viewing it from a premium scarcity standpoint? How has it looked relative to other procurement opportunities? And will buyers keep away from Russia material? And then if things get settle, we hope, sooner rather than later, is there going to be a period of time for the market to better get a sense of how it's going to work through? Or is there some structural issues that could impact the market because of the issues that Russia is pressed on Ukraine?

所以向前看一點，關於俄羅斯的這個問題，你怎麼看 - 你已經完成了 - 聽起來你正在獲得更多 - 我不會說舒適是正確的詞，但你'正在得到 - 由於入侵後過去 6 週的中斷，您正在解決問題。您認為該行業如何從優質稀缺的角度看待它？與其他採購機會相比，它看起來如何？買家會遠離俄羅斯材料嗎？然後，如果事情得到解決，我們希望，遲早，市場是否會有一段時間更好地了解它將如何運作？還是由於俄羅斯對烏克蘭施壓的問題，是否存在一些可能影響市場的結構性問題？

Yes. Mike, I'll take that one. So as you can imagine in a situation like this, there's always some unpredictability about when the situation comes to an end. And even if it were to end, whether some of the sanctions and other things would actually be lifted. So I'll set that to the side, and we'll let other people predict those things.

是的。邁克，我要那個。因此，您可以想像在這種情況下，情況何時結束總是有一些不可預測性。即使結束，是否真的會取消一些制裁和其他事情。所以我會把它放在一邊，我們會讓其他人預測這些事情。

From an aluminum standpoint, really, we look at 2 very important things. Because of the important presence of aluminum smelting inside of Russia, the question is whether they can get sufficient alumina to continue to operate. And we really don't have a lot of visibility about whether they're maintaining their rates of operation. We do know that there are very significant logistical challenges of being able to get particularly material from China, alumina from China or alumina from elsewhere and get it into Russia certainly on a cost-competitive basis.

從鋁的角度來看，真的，我們看兩件非常重要的事情。由於俄羅斯境內鋁冶煉的重要存在，問題是他們能否獲得足夠的氧化鋁來繼續運營。而且我們真的沒有太多關於他們是否保持運營速度的可見性。我們確實知道，要從中國獲得特別是從中國獲得的材料、從中國獲得氧化鋁或從其他地方獲得氧化鋁，並在具有成本競爭力的基礎上將其運往俄羅斯，存在非常重大的後勤挑戰。

The other side is whether the metal that they then produce inside of Russia is able to actually leave Russia and who would buy it. To answer you one very specific question, I think most players in the market are shying away from purchasing any Russian material. Even Russian material that had been produced before might be stored in LME warehouses, et cetera. And so I think there is a very real expectation in this market that, that material is not going to come into the Western world markets.

另一方面是他們在俄羅斯境內生產的金屬是否能夠真正離開俄羅斯以及誰會購買。為了回答你一個非常具體的問題，我認為市場上的大多數參與者都在迴避購買任何俄羅斯材料。甚至以前生產的俄羅斯材料也可能存儲在 LME 倉庫等。所以我認為這個市場有一個非常真實的期望，即這種材料不會進入西方世界市場。

However, it becomes more complicated when you ask the question whether some of that material can go into China, how efficient and smart and innovative China can be about getting additional alumina tons up into Russia, which I would never question the ingenuity of the Chinese to be able to find solutions for some of those problems. And so I think the market is still trying to digest what the immediate impacts are.

然而，當你問這些材料中的一些是否可以進入中國時，它會變得更加複雜，中國如何高效、聰明和創新地將額外的氧化鋁噸運往俄羅斯，我永遠不會質疑中國人的聰明才智。能夠為其中一些問題找到解決方案。所以我認為市場仍在努力消化直接影響是什麼。

And I think you saw that very specifically inside of the alumina market where you saw Nikolaev have come down. And almost immediately, you saw a spike in prices because everybody was worried that there would not be sufficient alumina in the market. And then with the Australian -- essentially the Australian ban from selling into Russia, all of a sudden, you see prices start to come back down again. I think that's, to me, indicative of the uncertainty and the volatility that sits in the market today because no one knows exactly what's going to happen.

而且我認為您在氧化鋁市場中非常具體地看到了尼古拉耶夫下跌的情況。幾乎立即，您看到價格飆升，因為每個人都擔心市場上沒有足夠的氧化鋁。然後是澳大利亞 - 基本上是澳大利亞禁止向俄羅斯銷售，突然之間，你會看到價格再次開始回落。我認為，對我來說，這表明了當今市場的不確定性和波動性，因為沒有人確切知道會發生什麼。

I think it -- to me, when I look at what's happening in Russia and, of course, the terrible situation going on in Ukraine, it sort of helps to drive forward the underlying fundamentals for the aluminum market. The importance of decarbonization, the importance in the continued demand growth we see even in these uncertain and volatile times, and then additionally, the fact that there simply isn't a lot of new capacity that's coming to market, whether it's in aluminum or in alumina, there's just not a lot of projects on the drawing board while you continue to see that demand growth.

我認為——對我來說，當我看到俄羅斯正在發生的事情，當然還有烏克蘭正在發生的可怕局勢時，這在某種程度上有助於推動鋁市場的基本面。脫碳的重要性，即使在這些不確定和動蕩的時期，我們看到的持續需求增長的重要性，此外，無論是鋁還是鋁，市場上根本沒有很多新產能進入市場這一事實氧化鋁，在您繼續看到需求增長的同時，繪圖板上的項目並不多。

And so I think, to me, sort of looking at the immediate situation, you say, yes, there's going to be volatility, but then you step back and you say, what that volatility is not impacting what is a very strong story for aluminum in the medium to long term.

所以我認為，對我來說，從眼前的情況來看，你說，是的，會有波動，但是你退後一步說，波動不會影響鋁的一個非常強勁的故事在中長期。

Our next question will come from Chris LaFemina with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Jefferies 的 Chris LaFemina。

I have a question about the working capital build and another question about margins or costs. So first, on the working capital build, I think, Bill, you said that there are 2 big factors there. Obviously, prices going up a lot in the first quarter, and there was a seasonal impact as well, which you expected.

我有一個關於營運資金建設的問題，還有一個關於利潤或成本的問題。首先，關於營運資金建設，我認為，比爾，你說有兩個重要因素。顯然，第一季度價格上漲了很多，而且還存在季節性影響，這是您所預料的。

So the first question is that if we assume prices across the board are flat going forward, how much of that working capital build that we saw in the first quarter would reverse over the course of the year? Is that all -- I mean if it's just price driven and seasonally driven, I would assume that it would all reverse. Is that a fair conclusion?

所以第一個問題是，如果我們假設未來價格全線持平，那麼我們在第一季度看到的營運資本建設將在一年中逆轉多少？僅此而已-我的意思是，如果只是價格驅動和季節性驅動，我會假設一切都會逆轉。這是一個公平的結論嗎？

It will -- a large portion of it will reverse over the year, Chris. It really will depend on what pricing does both on finished goods products and on raw materials. So it's really difficult to give you a number of how much that will come down over time. But just to put it in perspective, the -- we were up around 20 days, 14 days of that is inventory, 5 days of that is receivables and 1 day of that is lower payables.

它將——其中很大一部分將在一年內逆轉，克里斯。這實際上將取決於成品和原材料的定價。所以很難告訴你隨著時間的推移會有多少下降。但從長遠來看，我們上漲了大約 20 天，其中 14 天是庫存，5 天是應收賬款，1 天是較低的應付賬款。

The inventory levels were up 9 days and -- I'm sorry, out of the inventory, the 14 days, 9 of that is due to price, 2 of it is due to the Alumar restart and 2 is related to the logistics issues. So it will depend on how the logistics issues get worked through, but there's a piece of that will naturally come down as you've seen every year over the last 5 years that we're an independent company that we typically bring working capital down during the course of the year.

庫存水平上升了 9 天，並且 -- 抱歉，14 天的庫存不足，其中 9 天是由於價格問題，2 天是由於 Alumar 重啟，2 天與物流問題有關。因此，這將取決於如何解決物流問題，但正如您在過去 5 年中每年都看到的那樣，其中一部分會自然而然地下降，因為我們是一家獨立公司，我們通常會在期間降低營運資金一年的過程。

Got it. So there's no reason to believe that working capital is structurally higher. Do you have something going on in Russia or anywhere else in the world?

知道了。因此，沒有理由相信營運資本在結構上更高。你在俄羅斯或世界其他任何地方有什麼事情嗎？

Not at this point. It's structurally higher because prices are higher. And if prices stay high, that's a good thing for us.

不是在這一點上。它在結構上更高，因為價格更高。如果價格保持高位，那對我們來說是件好事。

And then just -- sorry. The second question is related to kind of the costs as they flow through the income statement with the lag. So if we assume again prices are flat over the course of the year, will we expect margins to contract in the back half of the year? Will some of the cost inflation that we're kind of starting to see now progress through the second half of the year that will impact margins then?

然後只是 - 對不起。第二個問題與成本的種類有關，因為它們在滯後的損益表中流動。因此，如果我們再次假設價格在一年中持平，我們是否預計利潤率會在下半年收縮？我們現在開始看到的一些成本膨脹會在下半年繼續發展，這會影響利潤率嗎？

So yes, we -- as you know, you can take a look in the backup of the deck, and it walks you through the cost timing for each of the major cost drivers, the big one being caustic soda. So caustic that we're buying today will typically flow through toward the end of the third quarter at this point. So all of those lags are there.

所以，是的，我們 - 如您所知，您可以查看甲板的備份，它會引導您了解每個主要成本驅動因素的成本時間安排，其中最大的是燒鹼。我們今天購買的腐蝕性物質通常會在此時第三季度末流過。所以所有這些滯後都在那裡。

I think the critical thing that I'm hoping people understand is that given the -- where we sit today with alumina and aluminum pricing, it's actually stronger than what we've seen on average. Again, lagged. It's actually stronger than what we saw in the first quarter. So even though we are seeing some higher raw materials and energy prices in the second quarter, there should be margin expansion, assuming that pricing stays where it's at today.

我認為我希望人們理解的關鍵是，考慮到我們今天的氧化鋁和鋁定價，它實際上比我們所看到的平均水平要強。再次，落後。它實際上比我們在第一季度看到的要強。因此，即使我們在第二季度看到原材料和能源價格有所上漲，但假設價格保持在今天的水平，利潤率應該會有所擴大。

Our next question will come from Lawson Winder with Bank of America Securities.

我們的下一個問題將來自美國銀行證券公司的 Lawson Winder。

Very nice to hear from you both, and thank you for today's update. Maybe just asking on cash costs and your goal to become first quartile. What still remains to be done to achieve first quartile cash cost by 2024? And I mean does it involve any closures? And then how does the energy cost linkage to LME alloy factor in there?

很高興聽到你們倆的消息，感謝你們今天的更新。也許只是詢問現金成本和您成為第一個四分位數的目標。到 2024 年實現第一四分位現金成本還有哪些工作要做？我的意思是它是否涉及任何關閉？那麼能源成本與 LME 合金因素之間的聯繫如何呢？

Yes. So let me start on that one, and Bill might want to chime in as well. I think what we're working on are a number of different things as always. There's always the ongoing improvements in creep projects, which is sort of the bread and butter of making sure that our plants are competitive, stay competitive and can be even more competitive in the future. And we tend to be pretty good at creeping those assets. And so there are -- and there are sort of what we call return-seeking capital products that we do put in place in order to lower our total capital or our total operating cost. So that's -- I think that's easy to understand.

是的。所以讓我從那個開始，比爾可能也想插話。我認為我們正在做的工作與往常一樣有許多不同的事情。蠕變項目總是在不斷改進，這是確保我們的工廠具有競爭力、保持競爭力並在未來更具競爭力的基礎。而且我們往往非常擅長爬行這些資產。因此，我們確實採用了一些我們稱之為尋求回報的資本產品，以降低我們的總資本或總運營成本。所以——我認為這很容易理解。

We also have our ongoing operations review, and that becomes a site-by-site focus on how can we get step-change improvements of those facilities that are in the upper part of the cost curve. And so a good example of that is the San Ciprián smelter that was just recently curtailed, had an unsustainable spot-based power price. When we bring that back on, again, our expectation is that we can get a set of power contracts that's able to really significantly slide that down the cost curve. And that then helps to bring the overall energy costs down.

我們還進行了持續的運營審查，這成為逐個站點的重點，關注我們如何對成本曲線上部的那些設施進行逐步改進。一個很好的例子就是最近剛被淘汰的圣西普里安冶煉廠，其現貨電價不可持續。當我們再次啟用它時，我們的期望是我們可以獲得一組能夠真正顯著降低成本曲線的電力合同。這有助於降低整體能源成本。

Portland Aluminum is another great example of a place where we're bringing on some additional parts doing some creep. That is -- that's an energy contract that we're going to need to examine as we get towards the end of that period that we have left, and they can look for both renewable energy, but also at the same time, more affordable energy.

波特蘭鋁業是另一個很好的例子，我們正在引入一些額外的零件來做一些蠕變。那就是——這是一份能源合同，當我們接近我們離開的那個時期結束時，我們需要檢查它，他們可以尋找可再生能源，同時也可以尋找更實惠的能源.

And so those are just meant to illustrate the types of things that we're trying to do in order to drive down to the first quartile. And it's a mix of sort of blocking and tackling and then -- to these pivot points where you can actually change the underlying structure of energy costs, et cetera.

所以這些只是為了說明我們正在嘗試做的事情的類型，以降低到第一個四分位數。它是一種阻止和解決的混合，然後 - 到這些樞軸點，您可以實際改變能源成本的基本結構，等等。

When it comes to the linkage to LME that's embedded in some of those contracts, in the end, that is actually a pretty good problem to have. It might increase our cost, but it means that we're getting a significantly improved margin because the aluminum price that we're getting means that we're going to have better margins. So I become a little bit less worried about getting to Q1. If the problem is that LME is so high that my LME-linked contracts are also high. But in the end, I think there's -- that's a -- there's a lot of plants in the world sitting on that cost curve that are in a similar type of situation where they have linkages over to LME as well. So all that to say, it gets a little bit complicated, but we're driving for margin, and we're driving to have a very low-cost portfolio that has very -- that has the highest margins that we possibly can.

當涉及到嵌入在其中一些合同中的與 LME 的聯繫時，最終，這實際上是一個很好的問題。這可能會增加我們的成本，但這意味著我們將獲得顯著提高的利潤率，因為我們獲得的鋁價意味著我們將獲得更高的利潤率。所以我對進入第一季度的擔憂有所減輕。如果問題是 LME 太高以至於我的 LME 掛鉤合約也很高。但最後，我認為世界上有很多工廠位於這條成本曲線上，它們處於類似的情況，它們也與 LME 有聯繫。綜上所述，它有點複雜，但我們正在推動利潤率，我們正在推動擁有一個非常低成本的投資組合，它具有我們可能擁有的最高利潤率。

The only thing I would add to that, Roy, is about 60% of our energy has an LME linkage to it. And just to be clear, as the LME goes up, that doesn't mean we pass all of that benefit on to the power suppliers. We only pass a portion of that benefit on to the power supplier. So as Roy said, while it may be -- may make that first quartile challenge a little bit more difficult, that will be a great problem to have if that were to come true.

羅伊，我唯一要補充的是，我們大約 60% 的能源與 LME 有聯繫。需要明確的是，隨著 LME 的上漲，這並不意味著我們會將所有這些好處轉嫁給電力供應商。我們只將部分收益轉嫁給電力供應商。所以正如羅伊所說，雖然這可能會使第一個四分位數的挑戰變得更加困難，但如果這成為現實，那將是一個很大的問題。

Okay. Understood. That's excellent perspective. And then maybe could you provide a little bit more of an update on ELYSIS? Just at this point, how is performance versus your expectations and sort of the next milestones over the next year and 9 months?

好的。明白了。這是極好的視角。然後也許你能提供更多關於 ELYSIS 的更新嗎？就在這一點上，在接下來的一年零 9 個月中，性能與您的期望和下一個里程碑相比如何？

Yes. Absolutely, Lawson. So we're careful to continue to talk about the fact that this is in active research and development, probably more development now than research. And so it's a project that we continue to work on. That said, I think you should read into the fact that we continue to say that we're not going to do any brownfields or greenfields of conventional technology because we have a very clear and solid belief that ELYSIS will succeed and that it will not only succeed, but it'll be the technology for the future.

是的。當然，勞森。所以我們小心翼翼地繼續談論這個事實，這是在積極的研究和開發中，現在可能比研究更多的發展。所以這是一個我們繼續努力的項目。話雖如此，我認為您應該讀懂這樣一個事實，即我們繼續說我們不會做任何傳統技術的棕地或綠地，因為我們非常明確和堅定地相信 ELYSIS 會成功，而且它不僅會成功，但它將成為未來的技術。

We're in the midst of scaling it up. And so right now, we have our sort of that next size of industrial pot, which is 450 kiloamperes, is under construction right now. And that's really that sort of next really big step that says, hey, not only does this technology work, but this technology works at a very attractive operating cost point and can work at the scale that we need in order to then start to engineer the large facility. So the set of programs ongoing are on track. They are moving in the direction that we want them to move in. We have a lot of focus on making them successful, but we also have a lot of faith in the technology, which is why we've made the statements that we already made before.

我們正在擴大規模。所以現在，我們有我們的下一個尺寸的工業罐，它是 450 千安，現在正在建造中。這真的是下一個非常重要的一步，它說，嘿，不僅這項技術有效，而且這項技術的運營成本非常有吸引力，並且可以以我們需要的規模運作，然後開始設計大型設施。因此，正在進行的一系列計劃正在按計劃進行。他們正朝著我們希望他們前進的方向前進。我們非常關注使他們成功，但我們也對技術充滿信心，這就是為什麼我們已經做出了我們已經做出的聲明前。

Our next question will come from Lucas Pipes with B. Riley Securities.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Lucas Pipes 和 B. Riley Securities。

I wanted to touch on the demand side. And obviously, prices are very strong. Are you seeing signs of demand destruction? If so, what end markets are you most concerned about?

我想談談需求方面。顯然，價格非常強勁。您是否看到需求遭到破壞的跡象？如果是這樣，您最關注哪些終端市場？

Yes. So let me get started on that one. And I would break it into a few different pieces, but then we could just make sure that I cover all of your concerns when we get to the end. Start off, we talked a little bit about supply chain disruptions. They existed prior to the war in Ukraine, but that war has exacerbated them. I think that's sort of made this chip shortage in automotive be a little bit more difficult. It's also creating some knock-on impacts that are happening around whether the economy continues to grow as it did. And we just saw the IMF bring down their expectations for economic growth just over the course of these last hours or this last day. And so I think that tends to start to erode a little bit some of the demand that we see because aluminum is so tied to the general economic cycle. And I would say that automotive is a place where we're really seeing some of those supply chain disruptions happen and where you have very clear ties in Europe and elsewhere around the world.

是的。所以讓我開始做那個。我會把它分成幾個不同的部分，但是我們可以確保當我們結束時我會涵蓋你所有的問題。首先，我們談到了供應鏈中斷。它們在烏克蘭戰爭之前就存在，但那場戰爭加劇了它們。我認為這在某種程度上使汽車中的芯片短缺變得更加困難。它還產生了一些連鎖反應，這些影響正在圍繞經濟是否繼續像以前那樣增長而發生。我們剛剛看到國際貨幣基金組織在最後幾個小時或最後一天降低了他們對經濟增長的預期。所以我認為這往往會開始侵蝕我們看到的一些需求，因為鋁與一般經濟周期息息相關。我想說，汽車是我們真正看到一些供應鏈中斷發生的地方，並且在歐洲和世界其他地方有非常明確的聯繫。

You're also seeing an inflationary market. And so as we see some of the inflation happen as we see how the U.S. Fed, for example, reacts to that situation, it tends to put a bit of a break on what we're seeing in demand as well. Again, it's very much more at the very edges. And so when we look at our change in expectations for demand from last quarter to this quarter, we were saying 2% to 3% last quarter. We're now saying aluminum is going to grow by about 2%. And so that tells you, yes, you are starting to see some impacts. However, it's not deep, and we continue to see an aluminum market that's growing.

你還看到了一個通貨膨脹的市場。因此，當我們看到一些通脹發生時，例如我們看到美聯儲對這種情況的反應，它往往也會對我們所看到的需求有所突破。再一次，它更多地處於邊緣。因此，當我們查看從上個季度到本季度對需求的預期變化時，我們說上個季度是 2% 到 3%。我們現在說鋁將增長約 2%。所以這告訴你，是的，你開始看到一些影響。然而，它並不深，我們繼續看到鋁市場正在增長。

I would caveat that and just make a very quick reminder that aluminum continues to grow, and we're also seeing significant supply disruptions. So when we look at the favorability of aluminum as a commodity, and it gets down to the financials, the fact is you're having trouble operating smelters inside of Europe because of the price of energy. And we've seen a pretty significant impact there. We're uncertain how much metal is actually being produced in Russia because whether they can actually get the alumina that they need or can actually export that metal. And so from an aluminum perspective, you are seeing a little bit of erosion inside of demand, but you're actually seeing more erosion inside of the supply, the ability to supply and produce aluminum at the same time.

我要提醒一下，鋁會繼續增長，而且我們也看到了嚴重的供應中斷。因此，當我們看到鋁作為一種商品的受歡迎程度時，它會歸結為財務狀況，事實是由於能源價格，您在歐洲內部經營冶煉廠時遇到了麻煩。我們在那裡看到了相當大的影響。我們不確定俄羅斯實際生產了多少金屬，因為他們是否真的能得到他們需要的氧化鋁或實際出口這種金屬。所以從鋁的角度來看，你看到需求內部有一點點侵蝕，但實際上你看到供應內部有更多的侵蝕，同時供應和生產鋁的能力。

For Alcoa specifically -- and this will round out my answer and then we can sort of move on to the next one or you can ask any clarifying questions. For Alcoa, our order book is very strong. And so when we look forward, we have not seen impacts outside of sort of one-off items that can be very quickly replaced. We simply haven't seen our order book suffer because of the current environment that we find. So we're not seeing demand impacts on our orders. And I would just remind you that we're seeing certainly growth in our regional premiums. We're seeing growth in our product premiums -- significant growth in our product premiums, which you saw come out in our Q1 results. And we are maxed out. We simply don't have more capacity because the customers are asking for everything that we can put out there. So I think there is the potential for disturbance in demand, but it's certainly not being seen in the markets where we have our significant sales, which is really North America and Europe.

特別是對於美國鋁業公司——這將完善我的答案，然後我們可以繼續進行下一個，或者您可以提出任何澄清問題。對於美國鋁業來說，我們的訂單非常強大。因此，當我們展望未來時，我們還沒有看到除了可以很快更換的一次性物品之外的影響。由於我們發現的當前環境，我們根本沒有看到我們的訂單受到影響。因此，我們沒有看到需求對我們的訂單產生影響。我只想提醒您，我們看到我們的區域保費肯定在增長。我們看到我們的產品溢價增長——我們的產品溢價顯著增長，你在我們的第一季度業績中看到了這一點。我們已經被淘汰了。我們根本沒有更多的容量，因為客戶要求我們可以提供的一切。因此，我認為需求可能會受到干擾，但在我們擁有大量銷售的市場（實際上是北美和歐洲）中肯定不會出現這種情況。

That's very helpful. I really appreciate it. And I love to ask more questions, but I do want to touch on the R&D programs as well. In the prior quarter, you showed kind of conditional spend on various programs in 2023, 2024. Can you remind us when you will make a final decision on that spend? And then specifically to ELYSIS, what's the monetization path for that technology?

這很有幫助。對此，我真的非常感激。我喜歡問更多的問題，但我也想談談研發項目。在上一季度，您在 2023 年和 2024 年的各種計劃中顯示了某種有條件的支出。您能否提醒我們您何時會對該支出做出最終決定？然後專門針對 ELYSIS，該技術的貨幣化路徑是什麼？

So Lucas, let me address the spend. We had, I guess, a number of different R&D projects that, back in November, we listed out the projected spend for '23 -- for '22, '23 and '24. We've not deviated off of that as public guidance at this point. Each one of those individual projects have stage gates along the way, and we will make a decision around the spend based on whether the business case solves at each one of those stage gates.

所以盧卡斯，讓我談談支出。我猜，我們有許多不同的研發項目，早在 11 月，我們就列出了 23 年的預計支出——22 年、23 年和 24 年。在這一點上，我們並沒有偏離這一點作為公共指導。這些單獨的項目中的每一個都有階段關口，我們將根據業務案例是否在這些階段關口中的每一個解決方案來決定支出。

As Roy said, ELYSIS is moving along well. We're constructing pots in Alma in Quebec. We expect those pots to be operational in 2023. We're continuing to make progress on Australia. Australia is very early in a stage development, and I would classify that more as research than actual development. High-purity alumina will have a stage gate in the middle part of this year. We will be evaluating whether we move forward to building a pilot plant for high-purity alumina, and we'll be reevaluating that business case during the middle part of this year.

正如羅伊所說，ELYSIS 進展順利。我們正在魁北克的阿爾瑪建造花盆。我們預計這些罐子將在 2023 年投入使用。我們將繼續在澳大利亞取得進展。澳大利亞處於非常早期的發展階段，我將其歸類為研究而不是實際發展。高純氧化鋁今年年中將有階段澆口。我們將評估是否繼續建設高純氧化鋁試點工廠，我們將在今年年中重新評估該商業案例。

And then the longer-term, refinery-of-the-future projects really are in the development stage. You probably saw some news about getting funding from the Australian governments for electric calcination. That's a huge step forward that we're getting the support both from the federal and the local governments in Australia. So pretty pleased with where we are on the breakthrough technologies.

然後，長期的、未來的煉油廠項目確實處於開發階段。您可能看到了一些關於從澳大利亞政府獲得資金用於電煅燒的新聞。這是我們向前邁出的一大步，我們得到了澳大利亞聯邦和地方政府的支持。對我們在突破性技術方面的進展非常滿意。

And Lucas, on the monetization pathway for ELYSIS, I think I'll answer that with a very simple statement that we're keeping our options open. We'll have the ability to license that if we see that, that's a lucrative venture or we'll also have the ability to keep that between the partners and grow our facilities if we see that there's a green premium that it makes more sense for us to keep that in-house for the 2 partners, Alcoa and Rio Tinto, in the short term.

盧卡斯，關於 ELYSIS 的貨幣化途徑，我想我會用一個非常簡單的聲明來回答這個問題，即我們保持選擇開放。如果我們看到這一點，我們將有能力獲得許可，這是一個有利可圖的冒險，或者如果我們看到綠色溢價對我們來說更有意義，我們也有能力在合作夥伴之間保留它並發展我們的設施我們將在短期內為兩個合作夥伴 Alcoa 和 Rio Tinto 保留這一點。

And so that's a decision that we don't need to make yet and that we can allow the markets to develop for what is truly green aluminum and what will be the greenest aluminum when combined with low-carbon alumina as well. And so it's -- I step back and I look at the pipeline that we have, and each one of those, like Bill said very well, is in a very different stage. But we're coming at it looking at how we can create not only decarbonization solutions that our markets need, but how we can also make successful -- financially successful, good strong businesses for Alcoa long into the future.

所以這是一個我們還不需要做出的決定，我們可以讓市場發展真正的綠色鋁，以及與低碳氧化鋁相結合的最綠色鋁。所以它是 - 我退後一步，我看看我們擁有的管道，每一個，就像比爾說得很好，處於一個非常不同的階段。但我們正在研究如何不僅可以創造我們的市場需要的脫碳解決方案，而且我們還可以如何取得成功——為美國鋁業公司在未來很長一段時間內取得財務上的成功、良好的強大業務。

Our next question will come from Carlos De Alba with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題將來自摩根士丹利的 Carlos De Alba。

So my first question has to do with the return to cash to shareholders. I mean, clearly, working capital was an issue this quarter, respected and for good reasons, as you elaborated. But as we go forward and we see continued high prices, your cash flow compression should improve. Is there a possibility that you step up your dividend? Or would you be focusing more on share buybacks rather than bumping up the dividend potentially doing a special dividend?

所以我的第一個問題與向股東返還現金有關。我的意思是，很明顯，營運資金是本季度的一個問題，受到尊重並且有充分的理由，正如你所闡述的那樣。但隨著我們繼續前進，我們看到價格持續高企，您的現金流壓縮應該會有所改善。您是否有可能提高股息？還是您會更多地關注股票回購，而不是提高股息，從而可能產生特別股息？

Carlos, just a reminder on the capital allocation framework, and I know you've probably heard this a few times, but it's probably good to remind everyone, we typically want to maintain about $1 billion of cash on the balance sheet. As you saw, we were able to maintain more than that this quarter. I would also say we are trying to maintain a strong balance sheet. And while our balance sheet -- our proportional net debt grew a little bit this quarter, I was pretty pleased with where the balance sheet sits today. That leaves 3 uses of cash for -- going forward in the future.

Carlos，只是關於資本分配框架的提醒，我知道你可能已經聽過幾次了，但提醒大家可能很好，我們通常希望在資產負債表上保持約 10 億美元的現金。如您所見，我們在本季度能夠維持更多。我還要說我們正在努力保持強勁的資產負債表。雖然我們的資產負債表——我們的淨負債比例在本季度略有增長，但我對今天的資產負債表狀況感到非常滿意。這留下了現金的 3 種用途——未來。

The first -- and these are not necessarily in rank order, but returns to shareholders spending on repositioning the portfolio. You probably did notice that we have accrued for $77 million of spending in Spain for the Avilés and La Coruña plants. And then the third is positioning for growth.

第一個 - 這些不一定是排名順序，而是回報股東重新定位投資組合的支出。您可能確實注意到，我們在西班牙為 Avilés 和 La Coruña 工廠累積了 7700 萬美元的支出。第三個是增長定位。

As to your question about how we balance between buybacks and dividends, we'll look at both. We initiated the first dividend in the fourth quarter. We paid the second dividend in the first quarter. And as we get through the course of the year, we'll evaluate dividends versus buybacks. And you've probably heard me say before, it was a huge step forward for our company to launch a dividend. It says that we think that the balance sheet is in a position that's strong and that the portfolio is in a much better position to weather the downturn. So that's the forward view of capital allocation.

至於您關於我們如何在回購和股息之間取得平衡的問題，我們將同時關注兩者。我們在第四季度開始了第一次股息。我們在第一季度支付了第二次股息。隨著我們度過這一年，我們將評估股息與回購。你可能以前聽我說過，我們公司推出股息是向前邁出的一大步。它表示我們認為資產負債表處於強勁的位置，並且投資組合處於更好的位置以度過低迷時期。這就是資本配置的前瞻性。

And maybe, Roy, how -- this might be too early, but maybe you can shed some light about how you are thinking about ELYSIS in terms of future investment. Is this -- are you thinking of potentially retrofitting most of your smelters if the technology works out or just build a couple or a few or one big smelter with ELYSIS if that plays out as expected?

也許，羅伊，如何 - 這可能還為時過早，但也許你可以闡明你對 ELYSIS 在未來投資方面的看法。這是 - 如果技術成功，您是否考慮潛在地改造您的大多數冶煉廠，或者如果按預期發揮作用，只需使用 ELYSIS 建造幾個或幾個或一個大型冶煉廠？

Yes, Carlos. Probably answer with all of the above, right? So when ELYSIS is very successful and when we meet our -- all of our commitments as far as operating cost reductions and productivity with -- of the cell size and then also can find a way to do it for less capital cost per ton than a similar sized plant. So I'll make the assumption that all those things have worked out. There's a lot of work that has to go in them. We have a lot of confidence. Then it becomes a question of whether you go in and start retrofitting existing plants. That's based off the comparison of your financials for the existing plant versus the retrofit and, of course, whether governments want to support that, et cetera, and compare that with building that next greenfield.

是的，卡洛斯。大概回答以上所有，對吧？因此，當 ELYSIS 非常成功並且當我們實現我們的 - 我們所有關於降低運營成本和生產力的承諾時 - 單元尺寸，然後也可以找到一種方法以每噸的資本成本低於類似大小的工廠。所以我會假設所有這些事情都已經解決了。他們有很多工作要做。我們有很大的信心。然後，您是否進入並開始改造現有工廠成為一個問題。這是基於對現有工廠與改造的財務狀況的比較，當然還有政府是否願意支持等等，並將其與建設下一個綠地進行比較。

When I look forward, and this gets up to 2050 where we have a net zero commitment already in place, the answer becomes a little bit more simple because we need to find a way essentially to have zero carbon production -- zero carbon emissions production of aluminum and alumina, which is why we're doing all these different projects. And so the answer becomes, yes, you either retrofit it or you're building green smelters -- green, brand-new smelters that perhaps use those same types of stranded power that we have at some of our facilities. And so that's a pretty nice problem to have.

當我向前看時，到 2050 年，我們已經有了淨零承諾，答案變得更加簡單，因為我們需要找到一種基本上實現零碳生產的方法——零碳排放生產鋁和氧化鋁，這就是我們開展所有這些不同項目的原因。所以答案就變成了，是的，你要么改造它，要么建造綠色冶煉廠——綠色的、全新的冶煉廠，它們可能使用我們某些設施所擁有的相同類型的擱淺電力。所以這是一個很好的問題。

But over the course of these next 5 to 10 years, we're going to need -- prove out that technology, show that it works, whether it's in a retrofit or on a sort of a brownfield next to one of our facilities or a new greenfield, and then start to scale up those investments as we gain more and more confidence.

但是在接下來的 5 到 10 年中，我們將需要——證明這項技術，證明它是有效的，無論是在改造中還是在我們的一個設施旁邊的棕地或新的綠地，然後隨著我們越來越有信心開始擴大這些投資。

Our next question will come from Timna Tanners with Wolfe Research.

我們的下一個問題將來自於 Wolfe Research 的 Timna Tanners。

I don't think either of my questions are conducive to a really quick response, so I apologize. But I did want to ask a little bit about -- I know we've talked a lot about Russia and Ukraine, but China has been restarting some smelters I've seen, and there's concerns over demand. So I was just wondering if you had any updated thoughts on risk of greater exports from China or if they're indeed being disciplined? And my second question is about updated thoughts on your portfolio.

我不認為我的任何一個問題都有助於快速回复，所以我道歉。但我確實想問一點——我知道我們已經談了很多關於俄羅斯和烏克蘭的事情，但中國一直在重啟我見過的一些冶煉廠，而且存在對需求的擔憂。所以我只是想知道你是否對中國增加出口的風險有任何最新的想法，或者他們是否確實受到了紀律處分？我的第二個問題是關於你的投資組合的最新想法。

So let me work on China first, and then we can go and talk a little bit about portfolio. Everything that we're seeing from China, I think we'd agree with your first comments that there have been some restarts certainly coming in from what were some of the dual controls, idles, curtailments that had occurred. We're starting to see some of those come back. We're also starting to see that there's a little bit more friendliness to operations that use coal as an energy source here in the short term because as you see some of those COVID issues, the supply chain issues and the start of a slowdown -- a bit slower growth in that economy that they want to make sure that the economy is moving faster. And so you are seeing some growth happen here in the short term, and you are seeing some of those supply chain disruptions start to slow down a little bit, aluminum demand specifically with the Chinese economy in general. So in the short term, I think there is some pressures.

所以讓我先談談中國，然後我們可以談談投資組合。我們從中國看到的一切，我想我們會同意你的第一個評論，即已經發生的一些雙重控制、閒置和縮減肯定會出現一些重啟。我們開始看到其中一些人回來了。我們也開始看到，在短期內，這裡對使用煤炭作為能源的運營更加友好，因為正如你看到的一些 COVID 問題、供應鏈問題和經濟放緩的開始——他們希望確保經濟增長更快的經濟增長放緩。因此，您會看到短期內出現一些增長，並且您會看到其中一些供應鏈中斷開始放緩，特別是中國經濟總體上的鋁需求。所以在短期內，我認為有一些壓力。

However, when you look at what the Chinese are saying and what they're doing in the medium to long term, it gives you a bit more confidence that while they might be a bit more pro-growth in the short term, they continue to be on the track of decarbonization and continuing to maintain this very clear cap on new capacity coming online for the long term. And everything that they're saying in their 5-year plans and the way that they've been running their dual control system, all points towards the same thing, which is they are going to continue to show more and more discipline going in.

然而，當你看到中國人在說什麼以及他們在中長期所做的事情時，你會更有信心，雖然他們在短期內可能會更支持增長，但他們會繼續走上脫碳的軌道，並繼續保持這個非常明確的長期上線新產能上限。他們在 5 年計劃中所說的一切以及他們運行雙重控制系統的方式都指向同一件事，那就是他們將繼續表現出越來越多的紀律。

And so I don't think the increases that we've seen just slightly on production have been surprising because I think we knew at some point these facilities would come back online again. And the one real piece of evidence that I would submit is the fact that you continue to not see plants that don't have operating permits, they continue to be idle. And number two, there are limited operating permits available. There's not new permits being issued. And so that continues to reinforce the fact that they seem to be maintaining this 45 million ton per year capacity limit.

因此，我認為我們在生產上看到的輕微增長並不令人驚訝，因為我認為我們知道在某個時候這些設施會再次上線。我要提交的一個真實證據是，你繼續看不到沒有經營許可證的工廠，它們繼續閒置。第二，可用的經營許可證有限。沒有頒發新的許可證。因此，這繼續強化了這樣一個事實，即他們似乎維持著每年 4500 萬噸的產能限制。

And so all that to say, they seem very serious about decarbonization. They seem very serious about limiting the total capacity. And they also seem very serious of trying to run towards more renewable sources of energy so that they can also be part of this new green revolution. The issue that they have is that 75% of their smelters are run off coal-fired power. So they've got a pretty big deficit that they need to figure out. But we're not seeing the sort of some of those short-term policy blips turn into anything that seems to be longer term. But of course, we'll keep our eyes on that. So that sort of answers China, Timna.

綜上所述，他們似乎對脫碳非常認真。他們似乎對限制總容量非常認真。他們似乎也非常認真地嘗試使用更多的可再生能源，以便他們也可以成為這場新的綠色革命的一部分。他們面臨的問題是，他們 75% 的冶煉廠都使用燃煤發電。所以他們有一個相當大的赤字需要弄清楚。但我們並沒有看到一些短期政策信號轉變成任何看似長期的政策。但是，當然，我們會密切關注這一點。所以那種回答中國，蒂姆納。

On portfolio, I'll give a first answer, and then I'll let Bill jump in since I've been talking now it seems like for a while. We continue to actively look across our portfolio and sort of like what I was talking about as our drive to the first quartile in the smelting business. In the world that we live in today, it's incumbent on us to look at every single one of our operations and particularly those that have spot exposures and make a decision whether it's better to continue to operate or to look for curtailment or look for slowdowns or all the different types or look for step changes in the operating costs that we have. And so there's still work to be done. And even if we had gotten to the end of our portfolio review program, which we still have outstanding tons, as you probably well know, we would continue to review each and every operation to make sure it is as strong as it needs to be and that we can continue to have a portfolio that will be successful at all points in the cycle.

關於投資組合，我會給出第一個答案，然後我會讓比爾加入，因為我已經談論了一段時間了。我們繼續積極審視我們的投資組合，有點像我所說的，我們推動冶煉業務進入第一個四分之一。在我們今天生活的世界中，我們有責任審視我們的每一項業務，尤其是那些有現貨風險的業務，並做出決定是繼續運營更好，還是尋求縮減或尋求放緩或所有不同的類型或尋找我們擁有的運營成本的階躍變化。所以還有工作要做。即使我們已經完成了我們的投資組合審查計劃，我們仍然有很多優秀的項目，正如您可能知道的那樣，我們將繼續審查每一項操作，以確保它符合需要的強大，並且我們可以繼續擁有一個在周期的所有階段都將取得成功的投資組合。

And so I think that's a bit of a general answer. But from my perspective, the work of being an aluminum company is that we always need to be looking at the portfolio and analyzing, making sure that it fits very well. I don't know if you want to add anything, Bill.

所以我認為這是一個籠統的答案。但從我的角度來看，作為一家鋁業公司的工作是我們始終需要查看和分析投資組合，確保它非常適合。我不知道你是否想補充什麼，比爾。

I think you hit on the key points, Roy. Just to summarize, we still have an active portfolio review that's ongoing. We announced that back in the 2018, 2019 time frame. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but we still probably have 0.5 million metric tons of smelting capacity that we continue to review today. Those smelters look pretty good given the prices that we're at.

我認為你抓住了關鍵點，羅伊。總而言之，我們仍在進行積極的投資組合審查。我們早在 2018 年和 2019 年的時間框架內就宣布了這一點。我沒有擺在我面前的數字，但我們可能仍有 50 萬噸的冶煉能力，我們今天將繼續審查。考慮到我們現在的價格，那些冶煉廠看起來相當不錯。

However, as you know, Timna, our higher-cost smelters typically are our higher carbon smelters, too. So as we look forward to a carbon-constrained world, we will have to take action on some of those smelters. And that doesn't always mean close-curtail. As you know, you've seen our track record over the last 5 years. It can be even close-curtail. It can mean sell. It can also mean repower, and we've repowered smelters over the years. So continue to work on that.

但是，如您所知，Timna，我們的高成本冶煉廠通常也是我們的高碳冶煉廠。因此，當我們期待一個碳排放受限的世界時，我們將不得不對其中一些冶煉廠採取行動。這並不總是意味著關閉。如您所知，您已經看到了我們過去 5 年的業績記錄。它甚至可以接近尾聲。這可能意味著出售。這也可能意味著重新供電，多年來我們已經重新為冶煉廠供電。所以繼續努力。

On the refining side, we still have around 2 million metric tons of capacity under review on refining. And it shouldn't surprise anyone that the energy situation in Spain and more broadly in Europe puts a lot of pressure on the refinery in Spain. So we need -- Europe needs an energy solution that can make industry there competitive.

在煉油方面，我們仍有約 200 萬噸的煉油產能正在審查中。西班牙乃至整個歐洲的能源形勢給西班牙的煉油廠帶來了很大壓力，這一點也不應該讓任何人感到驚訝。所以我們需要——歐洲需要一種能夠使那裡的工業具有競爭力的能源解決方案。

Our next question will come from Emily Chieng with Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題將來自高盛的 Emily Chieng。

I've just got one today, and it's around the Alumar restart, but I think you mentioned that was progressing perhaps a little slower than what was previously expected. So would be interested to hear from your perspective, what are some of the challenges with restarting assets? And why haven't we seen more from you and your peers?

我今天剛拿到一個，它是在 Alumar 重新啟動的時候，但我認為你提到的進展可能比之前預期的要慢一些。所以很想听聽您的觀點，重啟資產有哪些挑戰？為什麼我們沒有從你和你的同齡人那裡看到更多？

Yes. That's...

是的。那是...

So let me take the first piece, and you can take the second piece. The first piece is we announced that we are energizing the pots probably, what, about a week ago, 1.5 weeks ago. We've run into some technical issues there where the bath that we had purchased isn't up to snuff, and we're not able to restart as quickly as we want it to.

所以讓我拿第一塊，你可以拿第二塊。第一部分是我們宣布我們可能在一周前、1.5 週前為罐子注入能量。我們在那裡遇到了一些技術問題，我們購買的浴缸不能滿足要求，而且我們無法按照我們想要的速度重新啟動。

The important thing to know there, Emily, is that we're still projecting that, that plant will be fully operational by the end of the year. So while we have about a month setback, we will catch that up during the course of the year. So we're confident that we'll be able to get it started. This is just a temporary pause on the restart. Do you want to address the broader issue?

艾米麗，要知道的重要一點是，我們仍在預測，該工廠將在今年年底前全面投入運營。因此，雖然我們有大約一個月的挫折，但我們將在一年中趕上。因此，我們有信心能夠啟動它。這只是重新啟動時的暫時暫停。你想解決更廣泛的問題嗎？

Yes. One quick comment on Alumar before we move off specifically. I know the team very well there because I worked directly with them when I was down in Brazil. And they're one of the most innovative and ingenious teams that we have. So I'm pretty sure that they're going to be catching up very, very quickly, and we'll be able to overcome these issues in no time, which is why we reaffirmed the fact that they'd be fully operational by the end of the year.

是的。在我們具體離開之前，對 Alumar 進行快速評論。我很了解那裡的球隊，因為我在巴西的時候直接和他們一起工作。他們是我們擁有的最具創新性和獨創性的團隊之一。所以我很確定他們會很快趕上來，我們很快就能克服這些問題，這就是為什麼我們重申他們將在年底。

More generally, Emily, I think it does illustrate the difficulty that it is to restart a facility. So step away from the very specific issues we're having in Alumar, which I think are representative of some of the supply chain issues that we're having, which is you can't get good material. And if you can get good material, you can't necessarily get it where you want it at the right times. But more generally, it takes a lot of time. We made the decision -- we've been talking about the Alumar restart now for probably a couple of years, looking for that energy contract and then making sure that we can staff the facility in a place where there's probably lots of good, knowledgeable operators that had worked at that facility before, but it's hard to get people to work. It's hard to find the people that you need given how much the economy has been heating up lightly.

更一般地說，艾米麗，我認為這確實說明了重新啟動設施的困難。因此，請遠離我們在 Alumar 中遇到的非常具體的問題，我認為這些問題代表了我們遇到的一些供應鏈問題，即您無法獲得好的材料。如果你能得到好的材料，你不一定能在正確的時間把它拿到你想要的地方。但更一般地說，這需要很多時間。我們做出了決定——我們已經談論 Alumar 重啟可能已經有幾年了，尋找能源合同，然後確保我們可以在可能有很多優秀、知識淵博的操作員的地方為設施配備人員以前在那個工廠工作過，但很難讓人們工作。鑑於經濟一直在輕微升溫，很難找到您需要的人。

You have to secure the energy. You have to make sure that you have the workforce. You need the technical know-how of actually restoring and then restarting those pots. There's a very real reason why you're not seeing a lot of announcements about restarts is because it's really, really hard. And it's also pretty difficult to find consistent energy that can be competitive not just at the very top of the cycle, but at -- but through the cycle. And that really is an artifact of the fact that you have very significant restart costs. It's going to cost us money in order to Alumar up. So you have to believe that it's not just going to work at the very top of the cycle, but that it can actually be successful through the cycle.

你必須確保能量。你必須確保你有勞動力。您需要實際恢復然後重新啟動這些罐子的技術知識。你沒有看到很多關於重啟的公告的一個非常真實的原因是因為它真的非常非常難。而且，不僅在周期的最頂端，而且在整個週期中，也很難找到具有競爭力的持續能量。這確實是您有非常高的重啟成本這一事實的產物。為了讓 Alumar 起來，我們需要花錢。所以你必須相信它不僅會在周期的最頂端發揮作用，而且它實際上可以在整個週期中取得成功。

And so I think that's what creates some of these barriers to seeing more restarts occur. Not to mention the fact that we put a lot of effort into making sure Alumar was restartable. And our technical teams are really good, and they maintained the plant because it was right next to the refinery. They maintained it ready to restart. I'm not sure that's the case in a lot of other places around the world that might be considering a restart. I don't know if they're going to be as good a shape as Alumar was, and it took us a number of months.

所以我認為這就是造成更多重啟發生的一些障礙的原因。更不用說我們付出了很多努力來確保 Alumar 可以重新啟動。我們的技術團隊非常好，他們維護了工廠，因為它就在煉油廠旁邊。他們保持它準備重新啟動。我不確定世界上許多其他可能正在考慮重啟的地方的情況。我不知道他們是否會像 Alumar 一樣好，我們花了幾個月的時間。

Our next question will come from John Tumazos with John Tumazos Very Independent Research.

我們的下一個問題將來自 John Tumazos 和 John Tumazos 非常獨立的研究。

Could you give us a flavor of how many weeks or months of inventory of alumina you can store your various smelters? I'm curious this morning, the IAI reported a 1.9% drop in first quarter world smelter output where their number for Russia, Eastern Europe was 1,000 tons more in March than January or the Russians at least had enough alumina on hand that their smelters made as much if the IAI data is right. So I'm curious what -- what's industry custom for alumina on site? It blows away in the wind pretty easy and washes away in the rain. So I know we don't keep it outdoors.

您能否告訴我們您可以存儲您的各種冶煉廠多少週或幾個月的氧化鋁庫存？今天早上我很好奇，IAI 報告第一季度世界冶煉廠產量下降 1.9%，其中俄羅斯、東歐的產量在 3 月比 1 月多 1,000 噸，或者俄羅斯人手頭至少有足夠的氧化鋁供他們的冶煉廠生產如果 IAI 數據是正確的。所以我很好奇——現場氧化鋁的行業習慣是什麼？它很容易在風中吹走，並在雨中沖走。所以我知道我們不會把它放在戶外。

We definitely don't keep it outdoors, John. We typically have the capacity to keep around 2 months of inventory in each of our smelters. And you'll see that dip down based on ship schedules that can get lower than a month, but we typically have the capacity to keep a couple of months of inventory. The other place that alumina inventory can be had is in ships on the water. So that's really the only 2 places that inventory is stored. That's why, as you well know, having been in the industry for as long as you have been, the alumina market versus the aluminum market is fundamentally different. And I think Roy alluded to the fact that when Nikolaev went down, alumina prices spiked quickly because of the fact that 1.7 million metric tons was being taken out of the alumina market, and there's simply not a lot of inventory in alumina. But then as the Australia ban went into place, alumina prices fell back down because, essentially, that cut off alumina going into Russia and put it back into the rest of the world. Hope that helps.

我們絕對不會把它放在戶外，約翰。我們通常有能力在每個冶煉廠保留大約 2 個月的庫存。而且您會看到基於可能低於一個月的發貨時間表而下降，但我們通常有能力保留幾個月的庫存。可以擁有氧化鋁庫存的另一個地方是水上的船隻。所以這真的是唯一存儲庫存的兩個地方。這就是為什麼，正如您所知道的，只要您一直從事該行業，氧化鋁市場與鋁市場就根本不同。我認為羅伊暗示了這樣一個事實，即當尼古拉耶夫下跌時，氧化鋁價格迅速飆升，因為氧化鋁市場有 170 萬噸被撤出，而氧化鋁的庫存根本就不是很多。但隨後隨著澳大利亞禁令的實施，氧化鋁價格回落，因為從本質上講，這切斷了氧化鋁進入俄羅斯並重新進入世界其他地區。希望有幫助。

And our last question will come from David Gagliano with BMO Capital Markets.

我們的最後一個問題將來自 BMO 資本市場的 David Gagliano。

I just want to ask a question given the conversation about ELYSIS and the future there and the potential there. I wonder if, theoretically, all the smelters in Alcoa's portfolio were retrofitted with ELYSIS technology, where would Alcoa sit on the global cost curve today?

鑑於關於 ELYSIS 以及那裡的未來和潛力的對話，我只想問一個問題。我想知道，從理論上講，美鋁產品組合中的所有冶煉廠是否都採用 ELYSIS 技術進行了改造，那麼美鋁今天在全球成本曲線上會處於什麼位置？

Well, we say that our operating costs would be 15% lower for the ELYSIS technology than what would be typical technology. The fact is we run a portfolio of technologies. So it would likely be at least 15% savings that you'd be seeing. So I think that would have a tendency to push you down the curve.

好吧，我們說 ELYSIS 技術的運營成本將比典型技術低 15%。事實上，我們經營著一系列技術。因此，您可能會看到至少 15% 的節省。所以我認為這會傾向於把你推下曲線。

The other piece that I would mention is that because you're now producing aluminum that has no carbon content, and when that's matched over the renewable energy, you should also be able to avoid any kind of carbon pricing or carbon border adjustments that might be occurring. So that should also be another source of potential leverage from a cost standpoint.

我要提到的另一件事是，因為您現在生產的鋁不含碳，並且當與可再生能源相匹配時，您還應該能夠避免任何可能的碳定價或碳邊界調整發生。因此，從成本的角度來看，這也應該是另一個潛在的槓桿來源。

So I think if I'm answering your question correctly, I think the answer is that it'd be pushing it down the curve because of the way that we've been developing the project. And the fact that you no longer need an anode plant on your facility because you can -- you'll be using these anodes that really don't get changed over very frequently.

所以我認為，如果我正確地回答了你的問題，我認為答案是由於我們開發項目的方式，它會將它推下曲線。事實上，您的設施不再需要陽極裝置，因為您可以使用這些陽極，這些陽極實際上不會經常更換。

Okay. And that is apples-to-apples. That's a C1 cash cost type of a 15% decline, right?

好的。那是蘋果對蘋果。那是下降 15% 的 C1 現金成本類型，對吧？

Yes. Yes.

是的。是的。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Roy Harvey for any closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想把會議轉回給羅伊·哈維來做任何閉幕詞。

Thanks, Matt. And thank you once again to everybody for joining our call today and for your questions and, of course, continued interest in Alcoa. We will continue to execute on our strategies as we progress throughout the year. Both Bill and I look forward to talking to everyone again in July for our second quarter results. In the meantime, please be safe, take care of yourselves and each other. Thank you.

謝謝，馬特。再次感謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議並提出問題，當然還有對美鋁的持續關注。隨著我們全年的進展，我們將繼續執行我們的戰略。比爾和我都期待在 7 月份再次與大家討論我們的第二季度業績。在此期間，請注意安全，照顧好自己和彼此。謝謝你。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連接。