Aluminum Traders Brace for Turmoil as Iran Crisis Chokes Supply

The Iran war is sending shock waves through the global aluminum industry, with manufacturers facing a spike in prices and traders expecting widespread suspensions of supply contracts unless flows through the Strait of Hormuz resume quickly. Aluminum is the most ubiquitous industrial metal after steel, but in recent years the market has been periodically rocked by supply shocks that have exposed fragilities in the complex network of bauxite mines, alumina refineries and aluminum smelters that supply to manufacturers around the world often in highly specialized forms that can't readily be replaced. Timna Tanners, Managing Director of Equity Research at Wells Fargo Securities, joins Bloomberg Businessweek Daily to discuss. She speaks with Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec from the Bloomberg Invest conference in New York City.