SMM10 16-the struggling aluminum market is testing the American aluminum company (Alcoa Corp.). Last week, Alcoa shares fell the most since 2016 and fell further as the stock market posted its first annual loss in three years.
In the third quarter of 2007, the company sold its stake in Chinalco at a profit of $218 million (25 cents) a share.
The company also said profits would be hit this year as US tariffs increased the cost of transporting aluminium at its Canadian plants, which has fallen about 25 per cent since its April high, a trade war that has severely weighed on market sentiment.
In addition to aluminium producers, downstream US aluminium companies, especially aluminium can makers, have also been severely affected by tariffs. For example, Collin Castore, co-founder of Ohio Seventh Son Brewing Craft Brewery, said, "the United States itself does not produce much aluminum." The small brewery produces bottled, barreled and canned beer for sale. New US tariffs on imported aluminium are raising production costs for wholesale and manufacturers of American aluminium cans.
Brewery owners across Utah also say higher production costs for aluminum cans are inevitable. Scott Ray, co-owner and operations manager of Park City Brewery, says the brewery uses aluminum to pack about half of its beer. The rest is stored in buckets, which usually contain some steel. Equipment for making beer, such as fermenter, is also usually made of steel. Ray also said most of the steel used by breweries did not come from the United States. When he was ready to expand the scale of brewery production, the arrival of steel and aluminum tariffs was undoubtedly a nightmare.
Virginia brewers are also affected by steel and aluminum tariffs. Virginia's handmade breweries make more than $9 billion a year in profits for the state, but brewers worry that the steel and aluminum tariffs will indirectly raise the average price of beer. Brian Nelson, Hardywood Park Craft Brewery's chief winemaker, says the brewery industry has led to a boom in the state's tourism industry. But local winemakers have told the media that they are slowly and truly feeling the pressure of rising aluminum prices.
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