ABSTRACT
The 1970s can be described as the ‘swan-song’ of the international aluminium cartel. At the same time as the aluminium industry came back to cartel-like agreements and succeed in settling a global device for its governance, it drew the criticism of antitrust authorities that curbed them. As a consequence, the model of international regulation that had governed this industry since the eve of the twentieth century was seriously compromised. Price instability already emerged when LME contracts were designed and aluminium was no longer ‘different’ as regards the need of the futures markets. However, penetrating EEC antitrust action accelerated the transition to a new model of governance, which ended up making aluminium converge to the pricing structure of other – and older – non-ferrous metals.
