Market Data

Aluminum Prices, a Broad Nonferrous PPI and Import Values: Different Measures

The global aluminum benchmark, a broad nonferrous mill-shapes index and aluminum import customs value cover different products and units. Their differences do not measure a fabrication premium.

The global aluminum benchmark is $3,158/tonne (Jul 2026), up about 21.2% from a year ago. The second series, at 399.03 index (1982=100) (Aug 2026), up about 23.3% from a year ago, is BLS WPU1025, Nonferrous Mill Shapes. This page previously called it an aluminum-only index; its actual coverage is broader. The aluminum import series reports monthly customs value, not physical metal crossing the border. These observations describe different products and units, so they cannot be treated as three prices for the same aluminum purchase.

Why the two price measures do not give a conversion spread

WPU1025 covers nonferrous mill shapes beyond aluminum, while the global benchmark is an aluminum price per tonne. Subtracting an index level from a monetary price has no useful cost interpretation. Even comparing their percentage changes does not isolate aluminum conversion cost: the populations, product mix and pricing bases differ. To estimate a conversion premium, use matched aluminum feedstock and finished-product prices in common units and periods, together with the relevant contract terms.

What import customs value adds to the read

Aluminum import customs value is currently $2.74B/month (Jul 2026), up about 49.2% from a year ago. It adds a nominal trade-value observation, not a demand-and-availability verdict. Co-movement with prices can reflect physical quantity, price, form, origin, timing, or several at once; a decline does not by itself prove tariff friction or domestic substitution. Use classification-level quantities, unit values, duties, inventories, lead times, and supplier quotes to distinguish those explanations before changing a purchase or hedge.

Two price series and one customs-value series can frame the question. Quantity and composition evidence are what turn it into an answer.

Aluminum, year by year

Over the 35-year record aluminum has moved decisively rather than oscillated: from $1,209 at the close of 1992 to $3,158 today, up 161%, and now in the upper third of its 35-year range. A change of that size across a span this long is a level shift, not a cycle, and planning that assumes a return to the 1992 figure is planning against the whole record.

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Published 2026-08-05.