Aleris Expands Capacity to Produce Wide Aluminum Sheet for Automotive Applications

BEACHWOOD, Ohio, May 9, 2011 - Aleris today announced that it will invest $70 million to install a new
cold rolling mill in its Duffel, Belgium facility in order to significantly
increase its capacity to produce wide automotive-body sheet. Product to be
produced by the Duffel plant will be the widest currently available in the
industry.

"We are making this investment to meet the increasing demand for aluminum
auto-body sheet and support our customers as they address increasingly
challenging emissions and fuel efficiency requirements," said Roeland Baan,
Aleris executive vice president and chief executive officer, Europe and Asia.
"This new cold mill, together with our existing capacity, will give us the
flexibility to produce sheet ranging up to 2200 mm. With the expanded
capacity, we are well positioned to meet a complete range of customer needs
globally."

Customer shipments of existing products are not expected to be affected
by construction of the new cold mill in Duffel. The company expects to begin
customer shipments of the wide sheet by the end of 2012.

About Aleris

Aleris is a privately-held, global leader in aluminum rolled products and
extrusions, aluminum recycling and specification alloy production.
Headquartered in Beachwood, Ohio, the company operates more than 40
production facilities in North America, Europe and Asia. For more
information, visit www.aleris.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release are "forward-looking statements"
within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Statements about our
beliefs and expectations and statements containing the words "may", "could",
"would", "should", "will", "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "plan",
"estimate", "target", "project", "look forward to", "intend" and similar
expressions intended to connote future events and circumstances constitute
forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include statements
about future costs and prices of commodities, production volumes, industry
trends, demand for our products and services, anticipated cost savings,
anticipated benefits from new products or facilities, and projected results
of operations. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and
uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from
those contained in or implied by any forward-looking statement. Important
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
expressed or implied by forward-looking statements include, but are not
limited to, the following: (1) our ability to successfully implement our
business strategy; (2) the cyclical nature of the aluminum industry, our
end-use segments and our customers' industries; (3) our ability to fulfill
substantial capital investment requirements; (4) variability in general
economic conditions on a global or regional basis; (5) our ability to enter
into effective aluminum, natural gas and other commodity derivatives or
arrangements with customers to effectively manage our exposure to commodity
price fluctuations and changes in the pricing of metals; (6) increases in the
cost of raw materials and energy; (7) the loss of order volumes from or the
retention of our major customers; (8) our ability to generate sufficient cash
flows to fund capital expenditure requirements and debt service obligations;
(9) competitor pricing activity, competition of aluminum with alternative
materials and the general impact of competition in our industry segments;
(10) risks of investing in and conducting operations on a global basis,
including political, social, economic, currency and regulatory factors; (11)
liabilities under and costs of compliance with environmental, labor, health
and safety laws; and (12) other factors discussed in our filings with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, including the sections entitled "Risk
Factors" contained therein. Investors, potential investors and other readers
are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the
forward-looking statements and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on
such forward-looking statements. We undertake no obligation to publicly
update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether in response to new
information, futures events or otherwise, except as otherwise required by
law.

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Kristen Bihary, +1-216-910-3664