Alcoa Says $3 Billion Brazil Investment Gave No Return

　　Alcoa Inc. (AA) , the largest U.S. aluminum producer, said returns on $3 billion of investments in Brazil “have not yet come” because of “unbelievably high” energy costs.

　　“We’ve invested $3 billion there and frankly the returns have not yet come,” Alcoa Chief Executive Officer Klaus Kleinfeld said today in Pittsburgh, speaking at the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting. Losses in the South American country are “partly due to the unbelievably high energy costs,” he said.

　　Alcoa, the second-largest aluminum producer in Brazil, said March 31 it’s considering curtailing output at its Pocos de Caldas and Sao Luis smelters in the country. In January, it asked the government for assistance in lowering energy costs.

　　“We really have to change how we operate in Brazil,” Kleinfeld said.

　　Alcoa dropped  2.2 percent to $9.37 at the close in New York. The shares have declined 46 percent in the past year, the largest drop on the Dow Jones Industrial Average .