Looming USTR port fees will add to freight costs
Upcoming USTR port fees targeting Chinese-built vessels are set to upend transpacific shipping costs, squeeze capacity, and ripple through U.S. supply chains as early as 2026.
Author: nicholasbell
Commercial vehicle update: Demand softens while structural costs mount
Weakening truck and trailer orders, freight volume declines, and newly expanded Section 232 tariffs on aluminum derivatives signal mounting pressure on margins and investment decisions across the commercial vehicle sector.
Lawsuit challenges Aluminum Dynamics' plans for Arizona plant
A lawsuit in filed against the City of Benson, Arizona could delay Aluminum Dynamics' flagship secondary smelter.
Midwest and European premiums favoring Canadian producers
Rising Midwest and European premiums are giving Canadian aluminum producers a rare boost, restoring pricing power just ahead of key 2026 negotiations.
PPI and M3 data: Inflation makes aluminum growth disappear
July's producer price index (PPI) and manufacturing survey (M3) data show an aluminum sector that looks steady on paper but is shrinking once inflation is stripped away, with costs cascading unevenly through the supply chain.
Update on the state of electricity supply-demand in the U.S.
Recent IEA data underscores an erratic electricity supply mix alongside sharply rising demand, with future prices signaling poor economics for operating an aluminum smelter and pointing instead to behind-the-meter generation backed by outside financing.
AMU Survey: Lead times split by product group
The August AMU survey reveals lead times lengthening for sheet but easing for billet and extrusions, with distributors, producers, manufacturers, and recyclers each reporting conditions shaped by their position in the value chain.
Crosscurrents in non-residential construction Part 2: Dodge data
Parsing out conflicting construction data from the census, Dodge and other sources to see where the market may be headed.
LME contangoes: Why they may or may not matter
Volatile LME spreads may not directly dictate physical aluminum prices, but with tight inventories, rising Midwest premiums, and traders creating "artificial contangoes", financing costs are increasingly being pushed into the physical market.
Crosscurrents in non-residential construction Part 1: Spending, billings, backlog
Conflicting reads across census spending, backlog surveys, and Dodge planning data point to a construction market where commercial may be nearing a floor, infrastructure remains buoyed by long pipelines, and heavy industrial lags.