Boeing, Airbus Still Scratch And Claw As Weekly Aluminum Prices Rise

Boeing CEO James McNerney threw down the gauntlet: “They [Airbus] don’t have the appetite to do a ground-up airplane, and they’d have to do a ground-up airplane.”

Tom Enders, the CEO of Airbus’s parent, European Aeronautic Defence & Space, or EADS, hit back: “The aircraft we rolled out a couple of weeks ago didn’t have rivets from Wal-Mart, like the ones our competitors had at the time of their roll-out.”

BOOM.

Boeing is not only picking on someone their own size; they’re also picking on much smaller parties. According to a few articles earlier this week, ”McNerney told attendees at the company’s annual investor conference that suppliers will have to agree to cut their prices as contracts are renewed, or they’ll be cut from the Boeing team.

‘We have no-fly lists across the company,” McNerney was quoted as saying. “If a certain group is not working with us … they’ll be on a no-fly list. They’ll not be allowed to bid on new programs with Boeing.’”

According to the Dayton Business Journal, “Boeing has roughly 500 suppliers in Ohio - supporting an estimated 250,000 direct and indirect jobs in the state -and spent about $8.3 billion in purchases from Ohio companies in 2011, according to company officials. The aerospace giant also has 600 employees across Ohio and more than 6,600 retirees.”

That would be quite a different - yet interesting - catfight.

In terms of aerospace raw materials, most aluminum prices on our MetalMiner IndX℠ increased over the past week.

A 1.9 percent increase made the Indian aluminum cash price the week’s biggest mover on the weekly Aluminum MMI®. Following a 2.1 percent increase the week prior, the primary aluminum cash price fell 0.9 percent on the LME last week to $1,821 per metric ton. The aluminum 3-month price fell 0.7 percent on the LME to $1,857 per metric ton after rising 2.0 percent the week before.
Chinese aluminum prices were mixed for the week. The price of Chinese aluminum billet rose 0.3 percent over the past week. This was the third week in a row of increasing prices. Closing out the third week of rising prices, the Chinese aluminum cash price increased by 0.3 percent. Chinese aluminum bar remained essentially flat from the previous week.

European 5083 plate saw its price rise 0.7 percent over the past week. European 1050 aluminum saw a 0.7 percent decline over the past week. The week finished with no movement for Korean 3003 coil premium over 1050 sheet. The price of Korean 5052 coil premium over 1050 sheet did not change since the previous week.

The Aluminum MMI® collects and weights 12 global aluminum price points to provide a unique view into aluminum price trends.