The smelter had been the largest domestic source of high-purity primary aluminum used in aerospace and defense applications—arguably falling under the national security rationale of Section 232.
Rising global capital and power costs, driven by China's production cap and higher-cost expansion in Indonesia, are structurally resetting aluminum's incentive price, making higher LME levels necessary to unlock new primary capacity outside China.
We saw solid gains in most markets this past week, but intraday swings were massive as high volatility persists. In base metals, tin was the biggest winner for the week (up almost 13%) followed by nickel (up by 5.2%). Copper and aluminum rose by about 4% each, followed by lead (2.1%) and zinc (up by 1%). The cash to-three month spreads moved into a backwardation for both copper and aluminum. But contangos were evident in the rest of the group.
Timna Tanners, Wells Fargo managing director, spoke about tariffs, supply and demand and the outlook for 2026 during a joint Community Chat hosted by AMU and its sister publication Steel Market Update.
There’s a lot of news to keep track of, so we’re lending a hand with highlights from the past month and what they mean for you.
So much for Thanksgiving being an uneventful week for the markets as the last few days defied conventional thinking. Most markets came roaring back, ignoring the fact that US investors were AWOL – busy gorging on turkey. Stocks The most notable advance occurred in the US equity markets. All three major averages reclaimed their 50-day […]
Robert DeFrancesco and Alan Price, trade attorneys with Wiley Law, discussed the impact tariffs have had on steel and aluminum markets, and what could happen if they are changed or repealed.
Southwire is expanding the footprint of its Heflin, Alabama cable plant and intends to outfit the additional space with new aluminum-capable drawing and medium-voltage cable production equipment.
Elysis announced the start-up of its new technology at a Rio Tinto smelter, which it said is the next step in the transition toward large-scale, low-carbon aluminum production
In a rare Section 403 filing, the Department of Energy formally argued that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission already has the legal authority to directly regulate large-load grid interconnections.