Abstract
The pricing policy of aluminium semifinished products is influenced by various factors, the price of the metal being the one that plays the most important role. There are several prices in the market (producer';s list price, producer's actual price, transfer price, spot price, London Metal Exchange price) each of which has its own influence on sem(finished pricing policy. In numerous applications, aluminium has been and still is in competition with other materials (plastics, steel, copper, tinplate, glass) and the relative prices of these materials and of aluminium, by modifying the competition among them, influence the pricing policy of aluminium sem(finished products. Rolled and extruded products are the main aluminium semifinished products. The structure of the industries operating in these two market sectors is quite different. The rolled-products market is in the hands of a few companies. who are also producers of aluminium (the so-called ‘integrated’ companies), while in the extruded-products sector there are also several small companies that operate by purchasing metal on the market (the so-called ‘independent’ companies). This difference in structure has a marked effect on the pricing policy of the two sectors. Pricing in the USA and in Europe are not alike. Apart from historical reasons, the differences can be traced to several factors: the diversity of the European market, the large presence in Europe of state-owned companies, the different antitrust legislations, and the frequent fluctuations in the rates of exchange between the various European currencies.
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