Tehran stepped up its attacks on Gulf nations, hitting aluminum plants in Bahrain and the UAE this weekend.
The strikes add to the pressures facing global commodities markets amid disruptions to both production and shipping.
The Middle East accounts for 9% of the world’s production of aluminum, an abundant metal that is essential to the functioning of the global economy given its importance to a wide range of industries, including packaging, aerospace, and transportation.
Aluminum prices had surged in the weeks before the war given tight supply, and the price shock from the conflict has pushed the metal to a four-year high.
That could make construction projects less financially viable, a US builders group warned: “Even more projects will not move forward.”
