Stamping Out a Living

Food Production Daily
31/03/2005 - Steel prices might have been in decline through January and February but a pick up in March is likely to continue into the third quarter, predicts analyst MEPS.
However, the UK-based steel analyst suggests that prices will begin drifting downwards by the end of the year and beyond. The prediction comes after MEPS suggested European steel prices across the board were beginning to show signs of decline in March. According to MEPS, March figures have fallen from February levels by between two and four points for individual flat rolled products, and by as much as ten points for long products.
The analyst says that customers are holding off from placing fresh orders, and less than the normal volume of agreements for new business have been reported this month. They are living off stocks that have been mounting since the latter part of 2004.
There is undoubtedly a stock overhang in Europe and North America. However, the strong markets in Asia has lead MEPS to predict that global prices will continue to be quite strong - at least in the near term. Projections indicate that world steel prices will end the year below the values at the beginning but will remain solid.

A reminder that a convenient link to the MEPS web site, a very interesting site indeed, is in our left margin on this BLOG.

Yahoo! Finance
SALZGITTER, Germany - Salzgitter AG said it expects China's demand for steel to remain strong in 2005 as the Asian nation continues to build large industrial plants and expand its overall infrastructure.
In addition, Germany's second largest steel maker wrote in its annual report that it sees 'positive impulses' coming from the Indian and Russian markets.
Salzgitter also said it expects prices for raw material used in steel production such as coke and iron ore to remain high or perhaps even increase.

Yahoo! Finance
SALZGITTER, Germany (AFX) - Salzgitter AG said its planned steel price increases of 15 eur per ton in the second quarter cannot be implemented to all customers, according to chief executive Wolfgan[g] Leese.
'We wanted to increase steel price by around 15 eur per ton, but will not be able to implement this across the board.'
Salzgitter announced the price increases in February in reaction to rising raw material costs.
Leese added that Salzgitter will follow other steel manufacturers and agree to a 71 pct price hike for iron ore.
'We won't be able to get around it,' Leese said.

CP Via Yahoo News
TORONTO (CP) - Harris Steel Group Inc. said Wednesday it has appointed former executive vice-president Paul Kelly to replace the recently promoted John Harris as president and chief operating officer.
Harris was named chairman and chief executive Monday after the death on the weekend of his 77-year-old uncle, former chairman and CEO Milton Harris, the company's founder. Kelly, formerly president of Harris Rebar, will remain a director of the company and also retain his role as president of Laurel Steel, a division of Harris.

Yahoo Finance
China Pledges More More Curbs on Surging Investment, Warns About Excess Spending
SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- China's top leaders have pledged more curbs on surging investment, warning that excess spending on steel factories and surging prices for iron ore threaten the economy.
The moves were announced by the government following a meeting of the State Council, China's Cabinet, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.
[...]
Investment in construction, factories and other "fixed assets," China's benchmark measure of capital spending, rose 24.5 percent in January-February compared with the same period a year earlier.
Although the pace of growth has been cut about in half from its peak a year ago, it was above the 21.3 percent on-year increase for December and far exceeded the government's target of 16 percent growth in such investments for all of 2005.
Officials have repeatedly said they fear a rebound.
The State Council said it would further tighten controls on steel investment and strictly control steel exports by eliminating tax rebates for exporters, Xinhua reported.
The government also plans steps to deal with a surge in iron ore prices on the international market by strengthening coordination of imports and iron ore operations, it said.
Chinese steel makers are among many in the industry facing a 71.5 percent price increase for low-grade iron ore from Brazil-based Companhia Vale do Rio Doce SA, the world's largest ore producer.

TORONTO (CP) - Puffy. P. Diddy. Puff Daddy. Or is it Sean Combs? Maybe Sean John?
[Bunch of stuff about his clothing line, and then]
he recently inked a production deal with MTV and another with Kansas City's Weld Wheel Industries to manufacture aluminium rims, which will retail between $700 and $3,000 US.

TORONTO (CP) - Milton Harris, the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Harris Steel Group Inc. has died after recently being diagnosed with cancer. Harris was 77.
Harris, who died Saturday, "was a modern day renaissance man with a special genius for commerce," his nephew John Harris said Monday in a release. "His contribution to the Canadian steel industry has been immeasurable," said John Harris, who has been appointed CEO and chairman of the Toronto-based company.
"I believe his greatest talent in business was to empower and mentor so many of us. As a result Milt leaves behind a great organization led by a robust and deep management team. I know that building on the foundation left to us by my uncle will be the greatest medicine for the grief we are feeling today."
Harris Steel operates as a steel trading business, purchasing steel from mills and fabricating that steel into a variety of products for sale to its customers.
Roughly the same article also ran in the National Post The obituary is here and roughly the same obit ran in the Toronto Star as well.
Excerpted here:
HARRIS, Milton E., O.C. Born July 26, 1927 in Detroit, Michigan. Died peacefully on Saturday, March 26, 2005, after a short illness fought with courage. [...] Contributions may be made to the Native Men's Residence (Na-Me-Res) (416)652-0334 or The Jewish National Fund for trees in Israel (416)638-7200. A fine man who gave charity at all times.

People's Daily Online
The Shougang Group, a major Beijing-based iron and steel producer, has been ordered to phase out smelting operations in Beijing and completely stop them by the end of 2010.
'The iron and steel smelting capacity must be reduced by 4 million tons by the end of 2007,' Chinese vice premier Zeng Peiyan said Thursday at a meeting held in Shougang.
According to a plan approved by the State Council, Shougang will relocate most of its existing production facilities to Caofeidian in Hebei Province. Meanwhile, it can go ahead with its cold-rolled steel sheet production project in Beijing.
'The relocation of Shougang is a major measure to improve the environmental quality of the capital city, adjust its industrial structure and realize comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable economic and social development in the city,' said Zeng.
He said the more than 80-year-old company had made great contributions to the national construction and development of Beijing. It has spent 'huge sums of money' on pollution control but still cannot meet the requirements raised by the hosting of the Olympic Games in the city.
'Shougang annually discharges 18,000 tons of solid particulate matter, accounting for more than 40 percent of that discharged by the whole industrial sector of the city,' said Zeng. 'That has putheavy pressure on environmental protection. "

USATODAY.com
Sean Combs is joining forces with a Kansas City manufacturer to produce a new line of custom, precision-forged aluminum rims for sports trucks, luxury SUVs and high-end American and German-made automobiles.
[T]he former Puff Daddy is going into the auto parts business — and it's all about the wheels.
The 50-50 joint venture between Combs' Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group and Kansas City's Weld Wheel Industries was announced at the New York International Auto Show. SJC Wheels will produce and sell "Sean John Wheels," named for the entertainer. They hit stores next month, retailing at between $700 and $3,000 each.
"Wheels have become a fashion statement — a badge of taste and style," Combs said. "We see an opportunity to bring excitement to the wheel category by delivering the Sean John sophisticated design with the best quality production."

Yahoo! Asia News
China imported 1.59 million tons of steel products in February this year, 330,000 tons less than in January;[Ed Note: a drop of 17% if I got my decimals in the right place]and exported 1.49 million tons, equal to the amount in January, Customs' statistics show.

MEPS STEEL NEWS
European steel prices across the board are showing declines in March - a development that has come as a surprise to those of us who were expecting the first few months of 2005 to see steady market conditions.
The dips are affecting all major carbon steel products.
Customers are holding off from placing fresh orders, and less than the normal volume of agreements for new business have been reported this month. They are living off stocks that have been mounting since the latter part of 2004.
Buyers placed orders with local mills for more steel than they needed during the panic-buying period of last year, in an attempt to secure supplies at a time of shortage. They also turned increasingly to imports in the last few months of 2004. The tonnages that were purchased then have now arrived, and are contributing to the overhang of unused stocks.
Suppliers seem to have misjudged the quantity of steel in the market. Real consumption in the EU -15 appears to have gone up by less than 3 percent last year. Figures from the producers’ organisation, Eurofer, show that EU mills increased deliveries into their domestic market by no less than 5.7 percent in the same period - double the rate of growth in actual consumption. Imports also expanded quite strongly in the second half of 2004. Estimates suggest they rose by about 15 percent year-on-year and are thought to be remaining high in the first few months of 2005.

JS Online
Metal-product manufacturers are expecting a decline in orders over the next three months, according to a new survey from the Precision Metalforming Association
Less than half of the surveyed companies expect orders to increase between now and June, down from 56% a month ago. The slip in confidence is unusual because companies usually feel good about business in the spring, Gaskin said. "We have done this survey for 26 years, and March has almost always been a positive month," he said.
"We are all a little nervous," said Jeff Clark, president of Waukesha Tool & Stamping Co. [...] "The companies having the most difficulties are the ones that are very concentrated in the automotive and haven't diversified enough".
For years, some metal fabricators aggressively sought automotive contracts because the dollar amounts were large and the work seemed endless. But that might have been a mistake, as the torrent of money slowed and automakers stepped up the pressure on suppliers to deliver parts at lower costs.
"I have tried to stay away from the auto industry because of the way they pressure their vendors," said Chuck Norris, president and CEO of Mechanical Industries Inc., a Milwaukee custom metal products supplier.
Mechanical Industries Inc. sales are up about 10% from a year ago, Norris said, partly because of an increased demand for parts in the agricultural and boating industries.
"We are making parts as fast as we can for some of our clients," Norris said. "My biggest issue is the price of steel," some of which has more than doubled in the last year.

[this is old news, except for the last line, which was news, at least to me]
Yahoo! Finance
China may become a net exporter of steel products as early as this year as domestic production outpaces demand, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing the London-based Iron and Steel Statistics Bureau.
[...] Xinhua said that China had been a net exporter of steel on a monthly basis between September and December last year and that it could become a net exporter on a full-year basis as early as this year.
China's net imports of steel halved [...] and last year the country was the world's fifth largest steel exporter, the agency said.
The Chinese government is looking into scrapping tax rebates for steel exports to discourage overseas shipments, Xinhua added, citing Chinese industry officials.

Yahoo! Finance
ThyssenKrupp said further increases in its steel prices are 'unavoidable' following the recent hike in iron ore costs.
'There is no way we can avoid this,' a company spokesman said, adding an increase will 'most likely' be made for the quarter beginning July 1.
In January, it had said steel prices will be raised by 15 eur per tonne from April 1.
ThyssenKrupp said last week it will have to pay 71.5 pct more for iron ore from Canada supplied by Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto and that it expects similar price hikes for iron ore from other suppliers.

[I believe the last sentence should have said ... protect the steel industry by allowing it to act before... at least that is the sense I get from the rest of the article. I quoted it as written, but I believe the sense of it is backwards]
The Tribune Chronicle - Your Mahoning Valley News Source
The extension of the steel import monitoring program through 2009 is good news for the steel industry and a signal that the Bush administration is keeping its word.
The monitoring program was put in place when Bush ended steel import tariffs in 2003, earlier than planned. Bush is not a tariff-type president, preferring free trade. But when presented with the facts by the steel industry early in his presidency, Bush instituted an investigation and implemented tariffs to protect what was left of the domestic steel industry.
As bankruptcies by steelmakers mounted, Bush also told the industry clearly that consolidation of companies was needed if there was to be a domestic steel industry.
Consolidation has occurred, and Bush is responding to an industry that is doing what he requested, and what is necessary, to survive.
The import monitoring program may not seem like much to the average citizen. It doesn't prevent surges in low-cost imports or dumping of foreign products.
But it can protect the steel industry from being able to act before it is too late.

The market driver is China, no question about it
The Seattle Times
Insatiable demand from China, along with the recovering U.S. economy, has boosted prices for raw industrial commodities across the board. As a result, several Pacific Northwest metals industries — steel making, aluminum smelting, hard-rock mining for silver, lead and zinc — have rebounded from their near-comatose state of just a few years ago.
But as other industries have learned, China can be a competitor as well as a customer. In recent months, China has begun exporting spare rebar to the United States, pushing down prices and prompting production cutbacks at producers such as the Nucor Seattle plant. In aluminum, China's production capacity nearly tripled between 1995 and 2003, reshaping the global market.
Prices for many metals remain at or near historic highs, despite some recent slippage. But high prices alone can't guarantee healthy metals industries, in the Northwest or anywhere else. Steel mills and aluminum smelters require lots of cheap electricity, and the Bush administration's recent proposal to raise Bonneville Power Administration rates sent industry and government leaders scrambling to block it. And if U.S. industrial production falters, so will metals demand.

Forbes.com
The chief executive officers at both United States Steel Corp. and International Steel Group Inc. cashed out company shares for checks worth $34.8 million and $40.1 million, respectively.
That's on top of annual salary.
Thomas Usher, who stepped down as chief executive at U.S. Steel in September, made nearly $46 million, which on top of exercised options, includes a $825,225 salary, a bonus of $3 million, a retention bonus of $3 million, and another $2.7 million as part of a consultation agreement.
In SEC documents filed Thursday, ISG reported that its president and chief executive, Rodney Mott, exercised options worth more than $40 million on top of his salary of $650,000, and a nearly $2 million bonus.
Executives at both companies navigated deftly through a major consolidation in the industry that saw dozens of competitors collapse. At the same time, they worked new contracts with labor unions that strengthened long-term prospects for both companies and sent steelworkers home with bigger paychecks from profit-sharing.
'These guys were putting in a lot of hours and a lot of hard work not so long ago and they were getting relatively little in terms of payouts,' said Charles Bradford of Bradford Research/Soleil Securities in New York. 'For some it was being in the right place at the right time, but the payouts are tied closely to what they've done.'
Similar payouts are likely for executives at Nucor Corp., which is expected to file documents with the Securities and Exchange Commission later this month outlining executive compensation.

[This isn't directly about steel, but I got it in a newsletter I receive regularly about the Auto Industry and China, so I guess it's somewhat related. I especially found it interesting how everyone thinks they are benefitting at someone else's expense, and how government policies have contributed to the problem.]
CHINAtalk articles
In a thorough study on how China's human capital is educated and training, Will Hickey paints a grim picture of wrong perceptions among all players, over expensive and ethnocentric training that basically fails to prepare China's employees to build up a solid resources of knowledge workers.
Summary:
Chinese workers are remarkably well adapted to crunch numbers, do engineering, and utilize software but the issues of communication, collaboration, teamwork and leadership are endemic problem areas. The findings indicated that continuous use of ethnocentric solutions are meeting with questionable results.
There is a large assumption about exactly who develops and how to develop talent of both workforce and management in China. Foreign direct investment (FDI) believes it to be local Chinese polytechnical schools and universities, alternatively, the Chinese government looks for Western expertise to develop their citizenry. A real time assessment shows that MNC management, whether ex-patriate or Western educated Chinese management, believe consulting and training companies in China can do the job. All three are misguided.
At Chinese universities concepts such as teambuilding, group discussion, leadership, and presentation are not put forward, as they are in Western ones. Of course, much of this is promulgated by the government, which does not want its citizens engaging in active dialogue, and has therefore discouraged, if not banned, such activities from its universities and colleges. Chinese universities are now partnering with Western universities to deliver 'executive MBA' programs. Respondents told the researcher anecdotally they consider this training expensive and unreliable.

Yahoo! News
Chinese steel futures, banned a decade ago, may soon stage a come-back as officials seek to protect companies from dramatic price fluctuations in the crucial commodity, state media said.
Steel futures can help "protect China's pricing rights" on international markets, said Xiao Hui, a researcher at Shanghai Futures Exchange.
Steel futures were first introduced in 1994, but frantic, uncontrollable speculation caused them to be banned again within months.
Now, China is again warming to the risk-hedging instrument and has introduced oil, cotton and corn futures within the past year.
China's boom, reflected in economic growth of 9.5 percent last year, has led to a rapid increase in the demand of steel, with a palpable impact on global markets.
From 2000 to 2003, Chinese steel demand grew by an average 23 percent a year, and it now consumes nearly a third of the world's supply of the commodity.
Steel demand is unlikely to decelerate anytime soon, given the ambitious plans of several key industries in China.

TheStar.com
Eight years ago, Mike Krieger was fixing photocopiers.
Today, his expertise in custom stainless steel is being praised in the toniest homes in Toronto.
Indigo Books & Music Inc.'s Heather Reisman can't laud his talents enough.
'They were outstanding to work with,' Reisman says of the team from Krieger's company, Serious Stainless, who worked on her new Rosedale home. Not only did they co-ordinate their work with the other tradesmen on site, they were always on time and completed every job with care.
Krieger's company built her a canopy over the kitchen stove, cladding for several cabinets, an indoor planter and several floor grates, all of stainless steel.
Reisman stresses she never speaks to the press about personal matters, but is making an exception on Krieger's behalf.
'The quality of their work is superb, superb. The quality of the people who come to do the installation is outstanding,' she says enthusiastically.
Krieger draws clients from Forest Hill, Lawrence Park and Cabbagetown, where 'they all love their nice things.
'When you deal with the clients we deal with, everything has to be perfect,' he says.
Don't mistake his comments for arrogance. He is as down-to-earth as they come. Custom design takes time and small details can mean big bucks. Even designers, sometimes, don't realize what's involved, he says.
So far, he has fashioned countertops, backsplashes and sinks, cabinets and stovetops as well as outdoor barbecues, firepits, planters and chairs, each a work of art.

Green Bay Press-Gazette
Steel prices aren’t as weighty as a few months ago, but metal fabrication shops aren’t counting on the tab to retreat for much longer.
Tom Bella, vice president of operations at Custom Fab and Finishing in Waupaca, is keeping a close eye on the next few weeks.
“I think the second quarter is going to tell whether prices are going to go back up or stable off,� he said. “I think if anything they’ll go up a little bit.�
Since last October, the maker of building components like mezzanines, stairs and guardrails plus heavy duty trailers through a sister company has absorbed the price hikes rather than pass them on to customers.
“We’re not making money. We’re staying alive,� Bella said.
Despite the forecasts, Bella is confident the firm, which employs 18, will continue to grow by adding different product lines.
Other observers, like Craig Fitzgerald, were not as optimistic.
The Southfield, Mich., attorney who has many clients who make auto parts predicted half of the metal stamping plants that supply parts for the automobile industry won’t be around in six years. That means a large number could be at risk in Wisconsin, which claimed 2,029 small and large metal fabricators at last count, according to the state Department of Workforce Development.
“I think we are going to see some bankruptcies and quite a number of sales,� Fitzgerald said.
Prices still are unstable enough to merit inclusion of surcharges in contracts between fabricators and their customers.
“We’ve had to put a standard disclaimer on our quotes that prices are based on material availability and cost at time of quote subject to review at time of order,� said Steve Schick, an estimator at Baum Machine in Buchanan. “We’re basically having to requote everything twice.�

Reuters via Yahoo! Asia News
China, the world's top steel producer, may become a net exporter of steel products as early as this year because production is outpacing demand, the London-based Iron and Steel Statistics Bureau said on Thursday. China -- which became the world's top steel importer only in 2002 -- emerged as the number-five exporter of steel in 2004.It still imported some products, but its net import position halved to about 15 million tonnes from 30 million tonnes in 2003.
Industry executives now fear that Chinese-made products will swamp the globe and plunge the long-suffering industry back into the global glut of four years ago.
'There is a possibility of China changing from being a ... net steel importer to a net steel exporter' on a full-year basis, said Steve Mackrell, director of the bureau, which compiles and analyses global steel industry statistics.
'I think it is going to happen sometime,' he told a conference organised by the China Iron and Steel Association. 'And it could be as early as this year.'
Mackrell said that on a monthly basis China had been a net exporter of steel between September and December, though exports and imports had balanced out in January.
'Last April, imports began to fall very sharply,' he said. 'The government moved to cool the economy and dampen consumption. But despite this, Chinese production continued to grow. Chinese steel mills had to turn increasingly to exports.'

Yahoo! News
Responding to pleas from lawmakers and the steel industry, the Commerce Department (news - web sites) announced Wednesday it will extend a program that monitors how much foreign steel is imported into the United States.
The Steel Import Monitoring and Analysis System was established in 2003 as part of President Bush (news - web sites)'s program that imposed tariffs on low-priced steel imports. At the time, the imports were flooding the market and contributing to the industry's financial woes.
The tariffs ended last year, but Bush left the steel monitoring program in place. It was to expire March 20.

Metalforming Xtra
The [U.S.] Department of Commerce (DOC) reports that steel imports for January 2005 dropped to 2.2 million metric tons, an 18 percent decline compared to December 2004, the fourth straight month of declining imports. Precision Metalforming Association president William E. Gaskin, commenting on the DOC report, also notes that imports of hot-rolled sheets, the products most used by PMA members, also declined for the fourth straight month, to 0.2 metric tons, a 6-percent decline compared to December. Gaskin used the news on steel imports to renew PMA?s call for the lifting of duties on hot-rolled steel, and will testify, along with representatives from PMA member companies, in Washington D.C. on March 2 at the sunset review hearing of the International Trade Commission. The hearing will address whether to terminate or continue antidumping/countervailing duties on hot-rolled steel from Japan, Brazil and Russia beyond the five years they have already been in place.

FT.com (subscription)
World steel prices are poised to fall from this summer in their first sustained drop for more than three years, according to Bruno Bolfo, chairman and owner of Duferco, the world's largest independent steel trader.
Mr Bolfo's views carry weight in the global steel sector because of his broad view of demand and supply patterns. If he is correct the sector may suffer loss in revenues after a spectacular increase in profits over the past two years.

Coal mine owners have been ordered to use some of their profits to urgently improve safety conditions. The demand issued yesterday by a senior State Council official comes after China's appalling work safety record in mines plunged new depths.

The article goes on to say that this will raise coal prices, and that's not a bad thing, because so much is wasted because it's so cheap, it's also an ecological problem.

Another article in Newsday puts this into context:
China's Legislature Gears Up for Session
The annual meeting of China's legislature may be little more than tightly scripted political theater, but in a country where all decisions are made in secret, it offers a rare peek behind the curtain.
Later, the author writes:
So much else in China is changing day by day -- from business to technology and even village governance -- but the National People's Congress remains a relic of years gone by. Still, the annual spectacle offers a glimpse into the intentions of a government increasingly sure of China's rising global status and able to swiftly crack down on any opposition to one-party rule.
Topping this year's agenda is an anti-secession law aimed at curbing pro-independence sentiment in Taiwan[... .]
In closed-door sessions, delegates will discuss eliminating graft, improving workplace safety, lifting rural incomes and protecting China's ravaged environment, while avoiding any challenges to current policy or leaders.
They also plan to debate how to discourage the abortion of female fetuses in a country where 117 boys are born for every 100 girls.

The whole issue of workplace safety in China has been on my mind recently. Here are some other stories and references:

Death Penalty for China Fireworks Plant Boss
Thursday, December 23, 2004
AP via Fox News
A Chinese factory boss has been sentenced to death for illegally producing fireworks in a workshop where 36 people were killed in an explosion last year, the government said Thursday.
Chen Jicheng set up the unlicensed factory late last year in the northeastern city of Tieling in Liaoning province, the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The factory had only been open for three days when an explosion on Dec. 30, 2003, tore apart its two workshops, killing 36 people.
The factory's manager, You Tao, was sentenced to 7 years in prison for producing illegal fireworks, it said.
China's fireworks industry suffers hundreds of deaths every year in fires and explosions. The industry employs thousands of people, often in poor rural areas, who do much of the work by hand.

An interesting site is Asian Labour
Asian Labour An online database of news about workers in Southeast Asia and China and the issues that affect them , including a fairly new category of Labour Stats Such data is sparse and hard to find on the internet. There are also pointers on that web site to many other web resources.

Labels: china, safety

CNN.com
China will aim for slower growth of 8 percent, keep a tight grip on economic controls and push ahead with reforms to its fixed currency in 2005, Premier Wen Jiabao said in a report seen by Reuters on Friday.
The government would maintain 'stable and healthy' monetary and fiscal policies, Wen said in excerpts of an annual report to be delivered to parliament on Saturday.
Wen said consumer price inflation would be about 4 percent, similar to last year's rate of 3.9 percent.
The 8 percent economic growth forecast contrasts with the usual 7 percent forecast issued in previous years and which is routinely exceeded. China's gross domestic product was 9.5 percent higher in 2004 than in the year before.
Wen also pledged to reform the yuan's fixed exchange rate, a goal long sought by countries such as the United States

CLEVELAND (AP) - New faces in the Bush administration are unnerving to U-S steelmakers who are renewing efforts to get the government's help dealing with cheaper imported steel.
Companies say they don't know how new Commerce Secretary Carlos M- Gutierrez will respond to the industry's requests. Officials say the fear of the unknown has increased anxiety in the industry.
The industry's most pressing priority is discussing with the new officials whether the federal government will renew a program that monitors how much foreign steel is imported into the United States.
The monitoring program is to expire March 20th. The industry says the data is valuable for studying import trends and preventing the kind of flood that hurt bottom lines before.

Gee ... even my canned pineapple costs more these days because of steel ...
Yahoo! News
Del Monte Foods Co. on Thursday said profit for its latest quarter fell 9.3 percent due to higher steel and energy costs.

Asia Pulse
A higher than expected rise in iron ore prices is set to spark an all-round reshuffling of the Chinese iron and steel industry. Shanghai-based BAOSTEEL, on behalf of Chinese steelmakers, late last month agreed with HAMERSLEY of Australia and COMPANHIA VALE DO RIO DOCE of Brazil to raise ore prices by 71.5 per cent.
Anticipating a sharp increase in production costs, large Chinese steel firms have begun to increase the ex-factory prices of products.

nwitimes.com
Ford Motor Co., the second-largest U.S. automaker, and Delphi Corp., the world's largest auto parts company, asked the U.S. ITC today to lift duties on steel imports from Brazil, Japan and Russia while steelmaker opposed the move.
Executives from the two companies joined their automotive industry peers at an International Trade Commission hearing in Washington, saying the five-year- old U.S. tariffs on hot flat-rolled steel from those nations have led to record steel prices, which are squeezing their profits.
'I cannot exaggerate the degree to which the steel supply situation is affecting Ford's business,' said Jeff Engel, the executive director for purchasing at Dearborn, Michigan-based Ford. 'It is consuming the attention of every senior officer.'
The share of flat-rolled steel used in the U.S. that was bought overseas has dropped to 7.1 percent from 15 percent since the duties were imposed. Prices jumped from $260 a ton in March 2002 to a record $756 in September 2004, but has since fallen. Prices hikes brought record profitability to steel producers, which had seen from multiple bankruptcies in their ranks since 1999.
'There's no doubt that last year was an excellent year,' U.S. Steel Corp. Chief Executive John Surma said. 'But a single good year will not be enough to make you whole, we have a long way to go to ensure our long term health.'
U.S. Steel and Nucor Corp., the two largest American steel producers, generated record profits last year because of the higher prices. Today they were joined by two-dozen lawmakers defending the tariffs, and said removing them would lead to more cheap imports. The U.S. already ruled those nations subsidized their industries and 'dumped' steel at bargain prices.

Yahoo! News
Lawmakers, steel companies and unions urged a trade panel Wednesday to keep steel tariffs on some foreign imports for five more years. Carmakers and appliance manufacturers said it's time to let competition back into the market.
"Unfortunately, unfairly traded imports of hot-rolled steel have continued to plague this industry and continued to harm steel workers and their families," Rep. Ted Strickland (news, bio, voting record), D-Ohio, told the panel. "Now is not the time to terminate relief as the domestic hot-rolled steel industry has only just begun to recover."
About two dozen other lawmakers from steel producing states, including Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Michigan, North Carolina and Illinois, also testified in favor of keeping the tariffs.
But domestic manufacturers such as Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp., Maytag Corp., Whirlpool Corp. and auto parts maker Dana Corp., told the trade panel that the tariffs are causing higher steel prices and harming their business.
"We believe that the restitution in this case are no longer needed," said Jeff Engel, executive director for American production purchasing at Ford. "The industry has consolidated, it is competitive, it has recorded record profits and it is improving."
The U.S. steel industry has rebounded and reorganized since the tariffs were first ordered. International Steel Group was born after merging several bankrupt steel companies, including LTV and Weirton, while U.S. Steel and Nucor each acquired other companies.
In 2004, the industry turned its first profit in years. But steel companies and unions say one year does not make a trend. They want the ITC to continue the tariffs so they can earn enough cash to ensure financial viability, make capital investments and fund retiree benefits.

Yahoo! News
BEIJING - A cache of explosives at the home of a coal mine manager blew up in a town in northern China, killing him and at least 20 children at a nearby grade school, news reports said Thursday.
The explosion occurred Wednesday in Kecheng, a town in Shanxi province, one of China's biggest coal-mining regions, newspapers reported.
'Grade school students who were in class were buried,' the Shanxi Commercial News said. It said at least 20 children were killed.
The mine manager was among the dead and his wife was injured. [...A]n unspecified number of injured children from the Beixin Village Elementary School were hospitalized.
China's coal mining industry is the world's deadliest, with thousands of deaths reported every year despite a marathon government safety crackdown.
The country also suffers hundreds of deaths a year from the mishandling of explosives used for mining, construction and fireworks manufacturing.

[Well, I should warn you that this next one is satire, just in case it isn't obvious]
SatireWire
AT&T will reduce its workforce by an unprecedented 120 percent by the end of 2001, believed to be the first time a major corporation has laid off more employees than it actually has.
AT&T stock soared more than 12 points on the news.
The reduction decision, announced Wednesday, came after a year-long internal review of cost-cutting procedures, said AT&T Chairman C. Michael Armstrong. The initial report concluded the company would save $1.2 billion by eliminating 20 percent of its 108,000 employees.
From there, said Armstrong, "it didn't take a genius to figure out that if we cut 40 percent of our workforce, we'd save $2.4 billion, and if we cut 100 percent of our workforce, we'd save $6 billion. But then we thought, why stop there? Let's cut another 20 percent and save $7 billion.