Aluminum prices have climbed to their highest levels in over a decade, providing a boost for processors extracting the non-ferrous metal from scrap electronics.
According to the London Metal Exchange, the price was over $2,700 per metric ton, or about $1.23 a pound, as of Aug. 31. The last time it was this high was in early 2011, although it did hit nearly $2,600 a metric ton in April 2018, LME records show.
Aluminum is one of the metals e-scrap companies recover from electronics, in addition to precious metals, copper and steel. Copper hit record prices earlier this year, topping out at over $10,700 a ton (about $4.85 a pound) in May, but the price has since retreated a bit to less than $9,500 a ton.
The Wall Street Journal published an article explaining the international trade dynamics underpinning aluminum’s recent rise.
