Can the West catch up with China on aluminum smelter costs?
What’s possible, and what’s not, for aluminum producers outside China.
Category: Global Trade
What copper's scrap crisis signals for aluminum
We’re already seeing similar themes on the aluminum side: export bottlenecks, tariff fallout, domestic oversupply, and pricing dislocation.
Why China's aluminum capex stays so low
What Tianshan’s latest expansion tells us about China’s unique playbook for cheap smelter builds.
The art and science of Midwest Duty-Paid Premium discovery
When calculating replacement cost, let’s be clear. The process tells us what a given commodity “ought to be worth”, not what it will subsequently trade at.
What you might’ve missed: Premiums, psychology, and pricing math
Didn’t catch the live webinar? We broke down where these numbers come from and its implications for scrap players and semi-fabricated producers.
Squeezed in the middle: What downstream buyers need to watch now
This is the new aluminum market: policy-led, premium-driven, and full of uncertainty. If you're not actively watching the signals, you're likely reacting to moves after they've already happened.
Aluminum buyers are juggling chaos, and that’s exactly what we’re talking about
From shifting demand to runaway premiums, the aluminum market isn't following the script.
Week in review: Holding pattern or breaking point?
Premiums are spiking, tariffs are biting, and buyers are scrambling. This isn't normal, it's aluminum in chaos.
The calm before the clause: When exchanges decide to intervene
Downstream players are left guessing which market signals are real and which are being quietly managed behind the scenes.
Week-in-review: Data dumps and price jumps
Between the macro results and tariff fallout, there's more than enough to unpack - the data dump was massive, prices went haywire, and the outlook got even foggier.