NEW YORK -- Alcoa Inc., the world's largest producer of soft alloy and hard alloy extruded products, has posted another round of price hikes on soft alloy extrusions it said would amount to 5 cents a pound effective with new orders starting June 26 and all shipments commencing June 30.

The Pittsburgh-based aluminum giant, which lofted a 7-cent-a-pound price hike on soft alloy extrusions in January, said that the new round would exclude rods in diameters over 7 inches, square bars over 6 inches and rectangular bars with a circle size topping 13 inches.
There was no indication from Alcoa at presstime as to whether the 5-cent-a-pound price hike scheduled for the end of June would be additional to prices arrived at following the 7-cent boost posted in January, adding up to at least a 12-cent-per-pound price increase year-to-date. U.S. aluminium companies seldom post price cuts.

Alcoa and its competitors posted price hikes of 21 to 24 cents a pound in the last three quarters of 1999--quite a bit better than the bench-mark London Metal Exchange cash price, which climbed about 19 cents a pound over the same period.

The LME price moved up another 6 cents a pound in January, providing the groundwork for the 7-cent move on soft alloy extrusions by Aloca and some of its competitors. But the LME price has since fallen about 9 cents a pound.