First Plunge After Surge…Century Aluminum Loses $500 Million in Market Cap in One Day

Century Aluminum (NASDAQ: CENX) closed at $63.55 on the Nasdaq on the 13th, a decline of 6.46%. Over the course of a single day, its market capitalization fell by roughly $380 million (approximately KRW 500 billion), and trading volume surged to about 1.708 million shares.

In January, the company signed a joint development agreement with Emirates Global Aluminum of the United Arab Emirates to build the United States’ first new large-scale aluminum smelter in Inola, Oklahoma, with an anticipated investment of around $4 billion (approximately KRW 5 trillion), securing a 40 percent stake in the project.

In February, it bolstered its cash position by selling the idled Hawesville, Kentucky, smelter site for about $200 million (roughly KRW 260 billion) and updated its first-quarter 2026 earnings outlook and the status of its key projects.

Headquartered in Chicago, Century Aluminum is one of the largest primary aluminum producers in the U.S., operating smelters in Grundartangi, Iceland; Mount Holly, South Carolina; and Sebree, Kentucky. As one of the few major smelting companies domestically, its financial results and stock price have been highly sensitive to aluminum spot prices, power costs, and shifts in U.S. tariffs and industrial policy.