Venezuelan aluminum returns to the US: 15,000 tons
Venezuela is selling aluminum to the United States again, for the first time in eight years. A cargo of 15,000 tons of primary aluminum from state-owned CVG Venalum was unloaded on Monday, October 5, 2026 at the Port of Avondale in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the first such shipment since 2018. The sale was arranged with Swiss trader Mercuria Energy Group and U.S. investment firm Heeney Capital.
What is known
- How much: 15,000 tons of primary aluminum ingots. Venalum puts the purity at 99.5% to 99.7%. The last shipment to the U.S., in 2018, was 8,000 tons.
- Where it left from: CVG Venalum’s dock in Bolívar state. Heeney Capital announced the departure on September 18.
- Who bought it: the shipment is part of an offtake agreement between the Venezuelan government, Mercuria and Heeney Capital, according to Heeney’s September 18 release.
- Who welcomed it: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Representative Julia Letlow, both Louisiana Republicans, according to Heeney’s October 5 release.
- What comes next: Henry Heeney, the firm’s co-founder, said the cargo “will be one of many future shipments of Venezuelan aluminum to the United States.” The company expects more shipments in the coming months.
On the Venezuelan side, Héctor Silva, minister of Ecological Mining Development and Basic Industries, said (in Spanish): “We are once again exporting the best aluminum in the world to the United States.”
What is not known
- The price and value of the cargo. Venalum, Heeney and the government have not published them, and Bloomberg Línea could not confirm them either.
- Who gets the metal in the U.S. The releases only say it “will support American manufacturing.”
- How much Venalum produces today. The Puerto Ordaz smelter can make 440,000 tons a year, according to the USGS. The latest international production figure for the whole country is an estimate of 47,000 tons in 2022. There is no public figure for 2025 or 2026.
Why it matters
For decades Venalum was one of the hemisphere’s big aluminum exporters, and the fall in its output left it far below capacity. This shipment is the first practical test of Venezuela’s new 2026 framework: April’s Organic Mining Law and the U.S. Treasury licenses that allow trade in Venezuelan minerals.
Heeney Capital’s interest goes beyond aluminum. On September 16 it signed a concession with the Republic and the Corporación Venezolana de Minería to develop and operate a gold project in the El Callao mining district, in Bolívar state. It announced the deal in Houston, at a G20 energy ministerial meeting.
To see where each of Venezuela’s minerals is and how much it produces, read our guide Venezuela Minerals: List, Locations and the Most Valuable.