S&P Commodity Insights provides an independent assessment of where commodity prices fall each day and has no financial stake in the price going up or down.
Myth: The Midwest Premium is a “fee” that is charged to buyers and end users of aluminum—intended to account for “transport and storage” costs.
Fact: The “Midwest Premium” is not a "fee" for “storage and transportation”—it is simply a term for the regional price of aluminum in the Midwest United States.
Myth: The Midwest Premium is “set” by “only one entity” (Commodity Insights).
Fact: Commodity Insights does not “set” the Midwest Premium or the price of aluminum - it simply provides (like its competitors) an independent assessment of where the price of aluminum fell between buyers and sellers in the market each day (the use of which is voluntary).
Myth: The Midwest Premium is an “opaque pricing system” based on a “black box survey.”
Fact: Commodity Insights sheds light on commodity markets by:
- publishing an independent assessment of where prices fell between buyers and sellers each day using a methodology that is published on our website
- reporting all pricing information Commodity Insights sees and relies on for market participants to see and validate themselves.
Myth: The Midwest Premium is “artificially inflated”.
Fact: S&P Global Commodity Insights does not “artificially inflate” the Midwest Premium or the price of aluminum, and has no financial stake in the price of aluminum or any commodity going up or down. APEX Act supporters have made claims of the Midwest Premium being “inflated” even as it reached a multi-year low of 8 cents/lb in May 2020.
Myth: The APEX Act is needed “to equip the CFTC” with the authority “to investigate pricing irregularities” and “unfair market practices.”
Fact—the APEX Act is:
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Not needed because the CFTC already has the authority to oversee commodities markets, including aluminum, and investigate any "pricing irregularities," including "artificially inflated" prices or manipulation of the market |
Built on unsubstantiated claims the CTFC has already refuted - testifying to Congress: "we monitor that very carefully... we have not found manipulation" |
An effort by one industry to use political influence to lower the price of aluminum through "government intervention" following increased aluminum costs from tariffs |
Potentially disruptive to commodities markets through unrestricted government authority over commodity pricing |
The annotated price history timeline of US Aluminum P1020 Midwest Transaction Premium (MWP) shows the impact of market events and tariffs.
“S&P Global is an independent publisher and doesn't participate in trading in the markets we assess.”
– Saugata Saha
