- Aluminum futures in London climbed to $2,697 a metric ton on Monday, the highest point since 2011.
- The metal is up roughly 80% from May 2020, when the pandemic crushed sales volume.
- A lot of the aluminum supply is trapped in Asia while US and European companies face supply chain challenges.
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Aluminum prices are reaching 10-year highs as a supply chain rattled by challenges fails to meet surging demand.
Aluminum futures in London climbed to $2,697 a metric ton on Monday, the highest point since 2011 for the metal used in beverage cans, airplanes, and construction. The price represents a roughly 80% jump from the low point in May 2020, when the pandemic snarled sales to the transportation and aerospace industries.
While there is enough aluminum to go around globally, much of the supply is trapped in Asia as US and European buyers struggle to get their hands on it, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.
Shipping ports like in Los Angeles and Long Beach are jammed with orders, while containers that are used to move the industrial metals are in short supply, the Journal said. Shipping rates are also skyrocketting in a trend that's good for shipping companies, but bad for customers who have to face rising costs.
"There's just not enough metal inside of North America," Roy Harvey, the CEO of aluminum company Alcoa told the Journal.
Aluminum's rally paints a stark contrast between other commodities including Copper and Lumber, which have seen their prices scale back as supply and demand equalizes a year and a half into the pandemic.
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