On April 6th, the US imposed sanctions on Russian aluminum producer Rusal, which supplied large amounts of aluminum to the US.  This drove a sharp increase in prices, affecting both the LME and Midwest spot premium.  Due to these sanctions, Midwest Avg. rose to $1.23 per lb, up $0.10 per lb from where it was in March and April of 2018.  This increase in price settled down near the end of April due to the delaying of sanctions until the fall.  MEA was not affected by these sanctions directly, as we source almost all of our material with domestic suppliers, and we are confident that our metal contracts in place are more than adequate to meet customer demands in 2018.