Dive Brief:
- Nearly five dozen members of the U.S. House of Representatives — 42 Republicans and 16 Democrats — sent a letter to Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick requesting an investigation into “pricing irregularities in the sale of domestic aluminum.”
- They reference the Midwest Premium, a regional price that is different from the global base price and incorporates the Trump administration’s 50% tariffs on aluminum under Section 232. The premium applies regardless of where the material is sourced, according to the lawmakers, so domestic manufacturers are subject to tariff costs.
- The Midwest Premium also affects businesses that rely on domestically recycled aluminum, according to the representatives. That includes the U.S. beverage industry, which the lawmakers say uses more than 70% recycled content in its aluminum cans.
Dive Insight:
Many regions across the world have physical premiums over the global benchmark price of aluminum. Despite its name, the Midwest Premium functions as the nationwide premium for aluminum in the U.S. market.
Premiums are broadly viewed as surcharges to account for factors including regional transportation costs and tariffs. However, S&P Global Platts, the independent assessor and publisher of the MWP price, says in an online fact sheet that this premium is “simply a term for the regional price of aluminum” and not an extra fee.
The Aluminum Association noted in a statement that it has no role in industry pricing, including for the MWP. It emphasized that S&P Global Platts publishes the MWP price as a data point for industry participants and customers to use when negotiating aluminum sales prices.
“Regional transaction premiums are common in the aluminum industry around the world. Similar mechanisms are used to price other metals like lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper,” said Charles Johnson, president and CEO of the Aluminum Association, in the statement.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission oversees aluminum pricing in the U.S., Johnson said, and that independent agency “has not indicated any sign of market irregularities. That said, the Aluminum Association is happy to assist with any fair and transparent inquiries regarding the MWP by providing data and information as appropriate.”
The Aug. 6 letter to Lutnick says that incorporating the administration’s tariffs into the MWP is “unnecessarily inflating prices” and means “even users of domestically-sourced aluminum are paying the Section 232 aluminum tariff.”
“This not only creates price constraints for U.S. manufacturers in need of aluminum, but it ignores domestic producers over importers — ultimately undermining the president’s goals of reindustrialization and manufacturing growth,” the letter says. “Meanwhile, aluminum users and American consumers continue to face the unnecessarily inflated price.”
S&P Global Platts told sister publication Packaging Dive via email that it does not agree with some of the statements or characterizations of the MWP in the lawmakers’ letter.
“This letter demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of how aluminum markets trade and how they are assessed by Platts. Our methodology is publicly available, rigorously tested, and aligned with the IOSCO PRA Principles – the global standard for commodity price reporting,” the spokesperson said. “The Midwest Premium provides a consistent, trusted benchmark for the market to understand value and manage risk.”
The Iran war has resulted in production and transportation disruptions that have further impacted the already low global aluminum supply, lawmakers said. The Can Manufacturers Institute is among the groups that has long noted that the U.S. imports a huge amount of its aluminum and tin mill steel, with domestic can makers importing nearly 80% of the latter.
The congressional team is calling for an examination into how the MWP is calculated, whether the price reporting methodologies are appropriate and how it affects the use of recycled content. This investigation would help “restore balance in the aluminum market by strengthening domestic production, supporting downstream manufacturing and maintaining affordability for American families,” all of which would support the administration’s agenda, according to the letter.
S&P Global Platts does not believe such an investigation is needed. The spokesperson reiterated that the MWP is an “independent, transparent reference for the value of primary aluminum delivered into the US Midwest.”
“Our daily price assessment is grounded in actual activity in the open market – reflecting bids, offers and transactions from buyers and sellers in the physical spot market. Participation in the Platts assessment process is entirely voluntary, as is use of the benchmark,” the spokesperson said.
The Beer Institute spoke out against the Midwest Premium, noting negative impacts to the price of cansheet. The group noted that 70% of this material in the United States is made from recycled aluminum, which is not subject to Section 232 tariffs. However, incorporating tariffs into the MWP negates that exclusion. The trade association says with no federal agency overseeing MWP pricing, companies along the aluminum supply chain charge it even on recycled materials not subject to tariffs.
In a statement, the Beer Institute expressed support for the bipartisan coalition’s request for an investigation into “the unregulated MWP to ensure pricing irregularities and other unfair market practices do not disproportionately have a harmful effect on end-users of aluminum.”
The Coalition for a Prosperous America, an advocacy group that represents manufacturers, also has detailed the cost pain that U.S. businesses feel from the MWP.
“When Section 232 tariffs raise the cost of primary aluminum entering the United States, that tariff pressure flows into the U.S. country-premium and raises input costs for downstream aluminum producers across the country,” it said in an Aug. 6 post. “U.S. aluminum tariff policy must consider the full aluminum value chain.”
The group cited recent surges for cost of aluminum, with the MWP reaching new highs this year. “The U.S. country-premium alone now accounts for over 40% of the all-in transaction price of aluminum in the United States,” CPA said. The group calls for “strong downstream tariff coverage.”
The Department of Commerce did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with statements from S&P Global Platts.
