Tag: Middle East

Indonesian unwrought aluminum exports increased sharply in August, with the US and South Korea accounting for a growing share of shipments.

EGA will route up to 250,000 metric tons of aluminum through the UAE’s east coast in the first year of a new agreement with Gulftainer.

Despite the recent attacks in the Gulf, we were surprised to see Saudi shipments have increased substantially. In fact, Saudi oil flows are running at their highest levels since the war began.

The Midwest premium could slip if Canada reroutes primary back to the US. But the balance in supply would still be coming from other countries, likely the Persian Gulf.

What's playing into the economy this week

US diesel prices hit a record $6 per gallon last week. That will have a forceful impact on American pocketbooks, just like higher gasoline prices are having.

Despite our concern that last weekend's doomed US-Canada trade talks would unsettle sentiment, most markets shrugged off the impasse and instead held up fairly well.

And there certainly was no shortage of things to talk about. Tariffs, geopolitics, domestic production trends, data center construction, and scrap availability were just some of the topics getting the spotlight.

Canadian aluminum exports to the US have continued to drop since the tariff rate increased to 25% in March 2025, with a growing share shipping off to Europe and Mexico. The tariff rate has since spiked to 50%.

Aluminum prices recovered after the July 9 checkpoint, but financial and exchange indicators didn’t move uniformly.