The aluminium industry has recovered quickly from the Corona shock of the previous year. Only a few companies are suffering from declining orders. However, the bottlenecks in freight, containers and packaging materials are a cause for concern.
Many companies are suffering due to the fact that it is increasingly difficult to find sufficient transport capacities and that auxiliary materials, such as wood as packaging material, are also in very short supply. Prices for freight rates and auxiliary materials are rising accordingly. In addition, the availability of goods on the world market is generally hampered by container bottlenecks, which further boosts certain commodity prices.
"Many sectors of our industry have been in a kind of special boom since the beginning of the year, with high demand for products and services on the one hand and an insufficient supply of semi-finished metal products on the other," reports the Berlin-based WGM Wirtschaftsverband Großhandel Metallhalbzeug. The production capacities of the factories are being used to capacity internationally and delivery times are longer than average. The rapid growth of billet premiums could be interpreted as an indication of insufficient supply and production capacities. Premiums for AlSi7 have meanwhile risen to between 350 and 400 euros per tonne, mainly due to rising freight costs.