By Joseph C. Benedyk, Editor. On September 29, 2016, the day after the Aluminum Association and Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) Management Conference finished their Aluminum Week program in Washington, D.C., the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) held a hearing (Investigation No. 332-557) — Aluminum: Competitive Conditions Affecting the U.S. Industry. The hearing addressed the harmful […]
The Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) has joined the China Trade Task Force (CTTF), an organization aimed at addressing structural imbalances in the global aluminum market that AEC attributes to Chinese government policies. Century Aluminum and the United Steel Workers are also CTTF members. “China is harming the primary aluminum market in North America,” said Jeff Henderson, […]
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By Goran Djukanovic, Aluminum Market Analyst & Consultant. Uncertainty hangs over the primary aluminum industry in U.S., or what has been left of it. Plummeting aluminum prices and high electricity costs resulted in closure or curtailment of some three-fourths of primary aluminum production in the last five years, leaving less than 1 million tonnes of […]
The Wall Street Journal published, “Chinese Billionaire Linked to Giant Aluminum Stockpile in Mexican Desert,” an investigative report on Liu Zhongtian, founder of Chinese metals conglomerate China Zhongwang, alleged use of Aluminicaste, an aluminum remelt factory in Mexico, to game the global trade system. The article notes that nearly 1 million metric tons of aluminum was […]
European Aluminium issued a statement regarding the deal under consideration by the European Commission for the steel sector in exchange for granting China the coveted Market Economy Status (MES). According to the organization, this approach ignores the enormous Chinese overcapacities in industries like aluminum and creates unfair distortions on the EU market. “The European Commission is […]
The U.S. Department of Commerce (DOC) issued its long-awaited circumvention decision in the Aluminum Extruders Council’s (AEC) petition against China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd. The AEC alleges that the company has systematically and illegally evaded duties on aluminum extrusions imported into the United States. The DOC concluded that “based on the information provided by Petitioner, the Department finds […]
The Aluminum Association reported that a group of leading U.S. manufacturing associations announced the formation of a new coalition, Manufacturers for Trade Enforcement, to oppose China’s designation as a market economy at the end of 2016. China has claimed that it should be automatically accorded treatment as if it were a market economy after the […]
The U.S. House Committee on Ways & Means requested a formal investigation by the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) into the global competitiveness of the U.S. aluminum industry. The request initiates an inquiry by the U.S. government into the competitive conditions of the aluminum industry domestically and in major producing and exporting countries, such as […]
The Aluminum Extruders Council (AEC) filed a petition against China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd., alleging the company has systematically and illegally evaded duties on aluminum extrusions imported into the United States. The alleged scheme involves hundreds of millions of pounds of aluminum extrusions that are simply cut and welded into aluminum slabs. Upon entering the U.S., […]
