Baldwin, Cotton Lead Bill to Ensure Fair Aluminum Pricing for American Brewers

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Tom Cotton (R-AR) reintroduced the Aluminum Pricing Examination (APEX) Act, bipartisan legislation to level the playing field and ensure unfair market practices do not disproportionately harm the American beer industry and the more than two million jobs it supports.

The APEX Act will bring much-needed transparency to aluminum benchmark pricing, which helps all those in the beer industry and the multitude of American businesses that rely on aluminum.

“Wisconsin’s beer industry supports nearly 70,000 jobs, has a $12 billion economic impact, and continues the Badger State’s proud legacy of filling mugs across the world,” said Senator Baldwin. “Many of our brewers rely on fair aluminum pricing in order to sustain jobs and grow our economy, and I’m proud to champion this bipartisan legislation to bring stability and transparency to the price of aluminum.”

“Arkansas brewers employ thousands of Arkansans, and the APEX Act will ensure these brewers are paying a fair, market price for aluminum,” said Senator Cotton.

Under current law, no federal agency has direct oversight authority over the aluminum benchmarking system. The APEX Act addresses this problem by providing much-needed oversight authority over aluminum premium benchmarking entities. The APEX Act grants the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) the statutory authority to conduct oversight of the aluminum market and to investigate price setting, benchmarking, and reporting entities. This bill also enables the Department of Justice to consult with the CFTC to ensure all regulatory and oversight actions align with antitrust statutes, including those that publish the Midwest Premium.

The bill is supported by the Beer Institute, the Brewers Association, the American Beverage Association, the Flexible Packaging Association, the National Marine Manufacturers Association, and the Consumer Brands Association.

“We applaud Senators Baldwin and Cotton for their work to ensure aluminum costs reflect market fundamentals,” said Jim McGreevy, president and CEO of the Beer Institute. “The APEX Act is a commonsense proposal that will provide much-needed transparency to aluminum pricing. Aluminum is the largest commodity cost for brewers, and the beer industry supports more than 2 million jobs across the U.S. This legislation is critical for our nation’s brewers to continue to create good-paying jobs and invest in their operations.”

“As manufacturers face cost increases at every link in their supply chains, there could not be a more important moment for this legislation,” said Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the Consumer Brands Association. “The APEX Act will bring more certainty and transparency for the consumer-packaged goods industry – which depends on aluminum to make and package everything from aluminum foil to canned goods – and will allow the CPG industry to continue to deliver essential goods to the American people. We thank Senators Baldwin and Cotton for their leadership on this critical issue.”

“The APEX Act is a common-sense proposal that will provide much-needed transparency in aluminum pricing,” said Gavin Hattersley, President and Chief Executive Officer of Molson Coors. “Aluminum is the single largest commodity cost across the beer industry, making it imperative to have fair and open price discovery processes for buyers and sellers alike. We thank Senators Baldwin and Cotton for their leadership on this critical issue.”

For the full text of this legislation, click here.

An online version of this release is available here.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.