the aluminum slump...?

I wasn't very active on here this summer and early fall so maybe the topic was covered but what is causing the current aluminum slump? Al prices were fairly strong right after the Prez's steel and aluminum tariffs were announced but seem to have cratered sometime since. Cast and clean Al were up around 40 cents a pound late spring or so but now are only at 26 cents. Alum cans, which seem to be more price drop resistant, have been sliding recently. This spring they were over 50 cents a pounds but now have gone down to 35 cents around here. I think I remember that the Al cans is sort of seasonal but is it this year? Its a drag to see Al drop 30-35% in half a year. Sigh...

China shot back with their own tariffs and it put a halt on Chinese refiners buying from the US. I am not sure what all came of it but when it first happened I heard the refiners were trying to find ways around the tariffs such as shipping to Malaysia for "sorting" before shipping to China.

Our NewZealand Aluminium smelter, Tiwai point, has just reopened a 50+ cell potline that was closed down a few years ago.
That's about 52 Tons of High grade Aluminium being produced a day.

Hey, LHB who's no longer a boy and probably doesn't have long hair anymore, glad to hear you're still doing some metal recycling!! Did you do any trapping this year? What are you doing with yourself nowadays...?