Alcoa Inc said on Tuesday it planned to spend $40 million to expand its rolling mill in Itapissuma, Brazil, boosting production of specialty aluminum foils for packaging.
The company said demand for specialty food and beverage packaging, made from a combination of thin aluminum, paper and plastic, was growing in Brazil.
The expansion would add about 50 jobs at the facility, which now employs about 700 people, and Alcoa said it expected commissioning to start in 2016.
Alcoa has been pushing to expand its production of more processed-aluminum products, which tend to offer higher profit margins than unprocessed metal.
Last week the company said it would cut 147,000 tonnes of smelting capacity in Brazil, citing the weak global aluminum market and rising costs.
