Metal prices drop as the economy continues to weaken Doug Smock, Contributing Editor -- Design News, October 6, 2008 Metals prices are tanking and the reason is not a good one – the economy continues to weaken. Steel prices have dropped 20 percent in the past three weeks, a sharp reversal from the pattern from 2003 to 2007 when Chinese demand sent prices soaring. Now steel from China and other countries is pouring into the United States at cut-rate prices because of weak local demand. Aluminum prices on the London Metal Exchange went from $3,292 per metric ton in July to $2,340 in early October, a 29-percent drop. Alcoa laid off 770 workers at its Rockdale aluminum smelter, further curtailing production. Ohio Valley Aluminum closed its plant in Boonville, IN. Almost 69 percent of economists think the economy has started or...
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