Commodities Roundup: Green policy, China and aluminum; US steel capacity utilization rate slips; Monthly Metal Indexes for raw steels, stainless, copper, aluminum

Here’s a quick rundown of news and thoughts from particular commodity markets, including the downside of aluminum and green policies, US steel utilization, and MetalMiner’s Monthly Metal Indexes for raw steels, stainless, copper, aluminum.

MetalMiner, a sister site of ours, scours the landscape for what matters. This week:

China, green future and aluminum

MetalMiner’s Stuart Burns looks at the hopes of aluminum to bring about green policies, but Reuters also says the metal also has a downside.

“The world needs more aluminum to go green. However, the smelters that produce the stuff use huge amounts of power. Those smelter account for around 2% of all manmade emissions each year, much of which is due to Asia’s overwhelming reliance on coal as a power source,” Burns’ post says.

“Squaring the circle between aluminum’s huge power demands and efforts to meet emissions commitments is proving very challenging for China’s aluminum industry.”

Steel capacity utilization hits 84.5%

The U.S. steel capacity utilization rate for the week ending Sept. 4 fell to 84.5%, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) reported this week.

The rate marked a decline from 84.9% the previous week.

Meanwhile, steel output last week totaled 1,866,000 net tons, AISI reported. The total marked a 0.4% decline from the previous week but a 23.5% year-over-year rise.

Analysts focus on metals prices

Check out MetalMiner’s analysis of prices and news in its Monthly Metals Indexes, which come out at the start of each month.

• Raw Steels MMI: Index drops after a 14-month climb
• Stainless MMI: Stainless producers announce base price hikes
• Copper MMI: Copper prices continue to decline
• Aluminum MMI: Rising aluminum prices concern Beijing

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