A federal agency will be looking into the whether market manipulation is taking place in the aluminum industry.

The U.S. International Trade Commission announced Wednesday, April 6, that it is launching an investigation to examine the U.S. aluminum industry and global aluminum trade. The study will include a public hearing as well as research into recent trade trends and the factors that increased supply and drove down prices in recent months.

The drop in aluminum prices is one factor that led Alcoa to announce the curtailment of the Intalco Works aluminum smelter near Ferndale. The curtailment is scheduled to take place at the end of June, laying off around 465 workers…