Stamping Out a Living

We've been following copper prices here for a while (because we stamp so much out of copper and it's derivitive alloys).

Here's news of a potential, slight break in the price rise ...

Bloomberg.com: Canada
Copper may decline for a second consecutive day in London as inventories in London Metal Exchange-monitored warehouses rose to a 14-month high.
Inventory climbed 1,825 metric tons, or 2.1 percent, to 89,575 tons, the LME said today. That's the highest since October 2004. Stockpiles have gained 11 percent in two days.
``If further large deliveries are seen then this may well start to address some of the complacency in the market,'' Will Adams, an analyst at Saffron Walden, England-based Basemetals.com, said in a report today.

Labels: Copper

The Motley Fool via Yahoo! News
Forget silver and gold. Copper has been a truly precious metal over the past five years. The price of this ultra-useful base metal has risen from a low of $0.61 a pound in late 2001 to as much as $2.14 a pound this month. That makes the doubling of silver prices and the near-doubling of gold over that same time period look downright chintzy by comparison.

While gold and silver both have their uses, they pale in usefulness in comparison to copper. I don't want to sound like a paid spokesperson of the Copper Council, but this metal is used in everything from wiring and plumbing to motors, circuits, and corrosion-resistant alloys. Given its place in construction and manufacturing activity, it won't be any surprise to hear that China's economic growth has sucked up a lot of the world's copper production in recent years.

Labels: Copper

This is good news, not just because small businesses like stampers are hard hit by energy costs, but because many of our parts go out to heat treating, austempering, case hardening or other gas-intensive processes.

Yahoo! Finance
Natural gas futures plunged 10 percent Tuesday, settling at their lowest level in three and a half months amid forecasts calling for mild U.S. weather over the next week. It was the third straight decline for natural gas prices, which have fallen 23 percent since Wednesday, and the selloff triggered a decline in other energy futures.

A little humour goes over well at this time of year.

I guess I should have added, for those who aren't familiar with the situation, that this is a bit of an ironic parody of Dell Computers decision to outsource support to India.

By the way, they later brought some of it back after customer complaints. Tech support calls from customers with Optiplex desktop and Latitude notebook computers will now be handled from existing call centers in Texas, Idaho and Tennessee

Yahoo! News
Arcelor said it will offer $63 a share, or $4.9 billion, trumping the friendly $61.50-per-share bid Dofasco's executives arranged with German steel conglomerate ThyssenKrupp AG.

On Friday, investors placed bets that there are more bouts to come, driving Dofasco's stock (TSX:DFS - news) up 90 cents to $64.80 - above the latest offer.

Arcelor said its proposal will be mailed to Dofasco's shareholders in coming days.

The Hamilton-based steelmaker's only response was that "when and if such an offer is made," its board will consider it.

In a statement on its website, ThyssenKrupp said it has taken note of Arcelor's announcement and will review the bid before deciding on how to proceed.

Labels: Dofasco

An interesting article out of England about the little steel company just down the road from us in Hamilton.
MEPS STEEL NEWS
The current bidding by several contending parties to buy the Canadian steel producer Dofasco has highlighted the extraordinary turnaround in the value of steel company assets in the last couple of years.

Aside from privatisations, where special circumstances apply, it is hard to recall the last time that a steel company was the subject of a bidding battle between rivals anxious to grab its business and assets for itself. During the decades when steelmakers struggled to provide investors with a return on their capital, such takeover wars were rare.

Most recent steel company fusions [...] have been agreed deals, not contested takeovers.

Steel company amalgamations like these were usually based on cost-cutting and finding synergies. Industry executives were looking for ways to rationalise in order to reduce inefficiencies. Such mergers often led to plant closures, capacity reductions and serious job losses.

Now things have changed. Dofasco is part of other companies’ expansion plans. ThyssenKrupp and Arcelor are both increasing their production of slabs at low-cost locations in Brazil, and they need Dofasco as a captive consumer.

Labels: Dofasco

This sounds interesting ...

Yahoo! News
The United States has suggested to China that the two countries launch a bilateral dialogue on the steel sector to head off potential trade disputes, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.

Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade Franklin Lavin said he had put forward the idea of creating a mechanism for discussing steel, similar to those in place for energy and telecommunications, in meetings this week with Chinese officials.

"We've had a number of steel issues that have come up, formal trade disputes, and wouldn't we be better if we looked at these issues in a broader economic context and not simply wait till we got to a trade dispute?" Lavin said at a news briefing.

"So let's look at issues such as tax and subsidy and capacity and try to have some kind of discussion on these issues."

and this, near the end ...

Lavin also called on Beijing to reduce non-tariff barriers to trade in such industries as telecoms, film and pharmaceuticals to allow more U.S. imports.

He said increasing exports to China was the most constructive way of addressing the gaping U.S. trade deficit with China, which Lavin said he expects to reach $200 billion this year.

Roughly the same content also here.

CITAC
The U.S. Senate today approved repeal of the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act, commonly known as the “Byrd Amendment,� as part of The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. In a compromise reached between House of Representatives and Senate conferees, the repeal will be delayed for two years and Byrd Amendment distributions will continue for entries made prior to October 1, 2007. The conference report now heads back to the House for final action to resolve discrepancies between the House and Senate reports that are unrelated to repeal of the Byrd Amendment. President Bush is expected to sign the legislation soon.

Yahoo! News
The Senate narrowly agreed to repeal the so-called Byrd amendment as part of a sweeping $40-billion US budget-cutting bill. Vice-President Dick Cheney cast the tie-breaking vote in the 51-50 decision.
But proponents of the law, named for Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, struck a deal to delay ending the provision until Oct. 1, 2007.
That will allow the U.S. Treasury to continue funnelling money from duties on Canadian imports directly to American competitors for two more years. The Byrd amendment is the mechanism for distributing billions in Canadian softwood lumber penalties to rival U.S. firms, although that money is still being held by U.S. Customs.
The World Trade Organization has declared the five-year-old law illegal and several countries, including Canada, have imposed retaliatory duties. American critics have attacked the law as a prime example of corporate welfare and government waste.

Yahoo! News
The Republican-controlled Senate passed legislation to cut federal deficits by $39.7 billion on Wednesday by the narrowest of margins, 51-50, with Vice President Dick Cheney casting the deciding vote.

I haven't seen any reporting yet whether the move to drop the Byrd amendment stayed in or was dropped in the Senate ...

A few hours earlier ...
Vice President Dick Cheney will be on hand on Wednesday in case his vote is needed to break a tie on legislation to cut spending in what is expected to be a close budget vote.
...
In his role as Senate president, Cheney could break any tie on the legislation backed by the White House.

Yahoo! Australia & NZ News
China's third largest steel maker Wuhan Iron and Steel Group and Liuzhou Iron and Steel Group, the largest steel maker in China's southern Guangxi Autonomous Region, signed an agreement on reorganization here on December 19.

Under the agreement, Liuzhou Steel will invest all its net assets valued at 6.2 billion yuan and Wuhan Steel will invest 6.5 billion yuan (US$804.85 million) to jointly set up the Wugang-Liugang Group Co., Ltd. The new company is set to build modern iron and steel works in Fangchenggang, coastal Guangxi, with annual output of over 10 million tons.

This is a new major reorganization move among major Chinese steel makers following the consolidation of the Anshan Steel and Benxi Steel to form the Anben Group several months ago.

Owing to overcapacity, China's iron and steel industry has ended its high-profitability era and a wave of mergers and acquisitions is now underway in the industry.

The Plain Dealer
The Pentagon is helping underwrite plans at Brush Wellman Inc. for a primary beryllium plant being considered for a site in Utah or Ohio.

The Cleveland company closed its obsolete primary beryllium operation in Elmore, Ohio, about five years ago, after the Defense Logistics Agency said it would begin selling beryllium from a national strategic stockpile.

Since then, Brush, a unit of Brush Engineered Materials Inc. in Cleveland, has been buying the strong, lightweight metal in the form of cast beryllium ingots from the stockpile under a long-term contract. The ingots are used in making critical parts for missiles, satellites and jet fighters and some nondefense products. The parts are machined by other manufacturers from beryllium supplied by Brush.

Company officials said there is no viable substitute for beryllium in several defense applications. Since the Elmore operation closed, the nation has lacked a sustainable domestic supply, the officials said.

As the strategic stockpile declines, Brush will be working on the new plant, which is expected to be up and running by the end of this decade.

"We expect there will be material [in the stockpile] to take us through most of this decade, which will be the period of time it will take us to build the new plant," said Michael Anderson, president of Brush Wellman's beryllium products group. The firm also buys small amounts of beryllium from a producer in Kazakhstan.

I expect some of this growth will end up in bringing cheaper steel to Europe and North America.

Asia Times Online
After 25 years of breakneck growth, China's massive steel industry is on the brink of achieving Mao Zedong's dream from the 'Great Leap Forward' period: China could become the world's top steel producer, by quantity, for 2005, if December production holds to the trend for January-November.

According to Chinese news services, China's crude steel production reached 318 million tons in the first 11 months of 2005, up 25.5% year-on-year, and the figure for the whole year is likely to exceed 340 million tons - which would see China surpass Japan as the world's leading crude producer, according to statistics released by the China Iron & Steel Industrial Association.

In addition, pig iron output registered 298.51 million tons in the first 11 months, up 29.4% year-on-year; and rolled steel production increased to 335.25 million tons, surging 24.6% year-on-year. By 2010, the country's annual steel production is expected to top 400 million tons, according to Shan Shanghua, head of the China Metallurgical Industry Planning & Research Institute.

Byrd is really on it's way out, maybe, over 2 years ...
Bloomberg.com
The House-Senate agreement passed by the House yesterday also phases out over two years the so-called Byrd Amendment, a contentious measure that allows duties on foreign imports to be distributed to companies.

Bloomberg.com
The House-Senate agreement passed by the House today also phases out over two years the so-called Byrd Amendment, a contentious measure that allows duties on foreign imports to be distributed to companies.

The Dallas Morning News
On family day at the Nissan assembly plant, a silver-gray robot from the paint shop faced a blank chalkboard.
Holding a piece of chalk in its single, tubelike 'arm,' the robot wrote: 'Hi, I am Robot No. 1.'
'Then it erased it and wrote it again, and did it all day,' said David A. Boyer, vice president of manufacturing at the plant. 'People loved it.'

FT.com
The US Senate made it clear yesterday it would vigorously oppose an effort to repeal the controversial Byrd amendment, which allows US companies to collect the revenues from successful antidumping lawsuits filed against foreign companies.

The vote was 72-19. I'd say that's pretty clear.

Wait! Hold the presses! Just when you thought the Stelco thing was finally settling down comes this little nugget (in the middle of a larger report).
cbc.ca
The restructuring plan essentially wipes out the value of Stelco's current shares. The shareholder group alleges that the forecasts the plan is based on lowball the Hamilton-based steelmaker's value.
...
Navigant's report uses Stelco's valuation model, but substitutes steel price forecasts consultant received from Metal Bulletin Research. The report concludes that Stelco's shareholder equity is worth between $1.1 billion and $1.3 billion, which translates into between $10.76 and $12.71 a share.
In court documents prepared for Friday's hearing, Murray Pollitt, president of Pollitt & Co., alleged that Stelco's management and board actively undermined Stelco's shareholder equity through inaccurate information released to its stakeholders.
'It is my belief that Stelco was cynically using the (creditor protection) process to compromise the legitimate interests of its various stakeholders including its employees and the unions, its retired pensioners, its creditors and, most significantly, its equity holders,' Pollitt said.
In an affidavit, James May, a consultant with Metal Bulletin, said his base estimate for hot rolled steel coil in 2006 is $525 per ton. Stelco's forecast was $458 per ton.

Labels: stelco

We're free traders ... free only in specific cases when it benefits us, otherwise not.

The West Virginia Gazette

The U.S. Senate on Thursday voted 72-19 directing Senate negotiators to reject action by the House repealing the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Offset Act.
The act, often called the Byrd Amendment, helps companies and workers offset the costs of foreign imports illegally subsidized or dumped on American markets.
Sens. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., and Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, led the bipartisan effort to save the legislation.

Good to know someone still believes in the Byrd amendment ... good old Byrd himself ...
The Charleston Gazette
Sens. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., and Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, are leading an effort to stop a move they say would make it easier for foreign companies to illegally dump products, including steel, on U.S. markets.

DeWine and Byrd are leading a bipartisan coalition in the Senate to defend the Continued Dumping and Subsidy Act, often called the Byrd Amendment.

“This law continues to play a very important role in defending American companies from the injuries that unfair trade causes to American workers. Repealing this legislation would be a grievous mistake,� DeWine said during a Senate floor debate on Wednesday.
...
Byrd said the amendment “breathed new hope into American manufacturing industries and farm and fishing industries.�

“The United States Congress must not abandon working families,� he said. “We must stand with them. We must fight for them.�
...
DeWine and Byrd both said the U.S. Constitution does not permit any international organization to tell Congress how to distribute funds from the U.S. Treasury.

Byrd said the Bush administration has failed to address import controversies in ongoing WTO trade talks, which are continuing in Hong Kong this week.

“The United States must not balance bad international trade decisions on the backs of American workers,� Byrd said.

In the middle of the pack is Number 3 ...

The Byrd Amendment takes tariffs on imports that allegedly have been “dumped� in the United States and transfers them to the foreign firms’ competitors. It’s bad enough that these tariffs raise prices for U.S. consumers, but the Byrd Amendment gives U.S. firms the incentive to run to the government for protection rather than duke it out in the marketplace. Even worse, the WTO has ruled that the Byrd Amendment violates U.S. trade obligations and has awarded a number of countries the right to impose retaliatory duties on U.S. goods. For these reasons alone, ending the Byrd Amendment, as the House reconciliation would do, is a no-brainer; that it would save the government an estimated $3.2 billion is just icing on the cake.

The Cato Institute
House and Senate conferees are expected to produce a compromise Budget Reconciliation bill this week. While both versions are decidedly timid in tackling the goliath deficit, the House language includes repeal of a costly corporate boondoggle known as the Byrd Amendment, which taxes the budget as well as America's international credibility.
...
Beyond its fiscal impropriety, the Byrd Amendment has come to symbolize American hubris, even underhandedness, in its approach to international trade rules. Soon after its passage, the Byrd Amendment was challenged by several countries in the World Trade Organization on the grounds that it violated certain trade rules. The WTO largely agreed, ruling that Byrd punishes foreign exporters twice — first, by imposing the duties as a remedy to dumping or subsidization (which is acceptable), and then by using those funds to directly subsidize the U.S. petitioners (which is not).

Despite the ruling, the United States failed to repeal Byrd and last year the WTO authorized retaliation by the complainants. Thus far, Europe, Canada, Japan, and Mexico have begun imposing retaliatory tariffs against various U.S. exports.

President Clinton signed Byrd into law because his only alternative was to veto the entire agriculture appropriations bill of 2001, into which Byrd was snuck at the eleventh hour. Clinton objected to the Byrd provisions and called on Congress to repeal it. Likewise, the Bush administration supports repeal.

But the Senate, in particular, has been vocal in its criticism of the WTO ruling against Byrd, finding its logic flawed and, therefore, unworthy of U.S. compliance. Such a posture is unseemly, considering that the United States coauthored the WTO rules, which have served U.S. interests well for more than 10 years.

Wouldn't the Senate expect China and other countries to honor WTO rulings, particularly if the United States were the complainant? And if the United States sees itself as above the rules, why should other countries negotiate new agreements containing yet more rules that might be disregarded to serve some political agenda?

Press Release - Canadian Federation of Independent Business
It costs Canadian businesses a staggering $33 billion a year to comply with the countless rules imposed by all levels of government, according to a report by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). This estimate includes the time and money spent on everything from figuring out how high a business can hang its sign, to complying with legislation such as the federal privacy laws and filling out tax forms.

“With $33 billion, you could eliminate the GST,� Garth Whyte, CFIB’s executive vice-president, said. “$33 billion represents 2.6 per cent of our national GDP.�

The report, Rated R: Prosperity Restricted by Red Tape, concludes that while some regulation is necessary, too much of it limits consumer choices, raises prices, frustrates entrepreneurship and reduces productivity and innovation.

“If governments are serious about Canada’s competitiveness, they had better get serious about reducing this burden,� Whyte said, pointing out that 63 per cent of survey respondents said regulation “significantly reduces� productivity in their business. When asked what they would do if this burden was lightened, six in ten small business owners said they would invest in new equipment or business expansion.

Whyte further noted that small businesses are hit especially hard, since they don’t have the resources to deal with the truckloads of rules. Most Canadian businesses have fewer than five employees and pay more than $5,300 per employee every year to follow government rules. Meanwhile, firms with 100 employees or more pay $1,100 per employee.

Press Release via Yahoo News
CITAC today released the '2005 Millionaires Club' of Byrd Amendment recipients showing that five companies received over half of the total $226 million Byrd Amendment payouts in 2005 and that 80% percent of the payouts went to only 34 companies. CITAC released the list following the publication of the FY2005 Byrd Amendment payouts by U.S. Customs and Board Patrol. More than $1.26 billion in Byrd Amendment payouts have been distributed since 2001, with more than one-third going to The Timken Company and its subsidiaries.
...
"Why is the U.S. government continuing to pay millions of dollars to big companies through a government-funded subsidy that distorts competition?
...
Enacted in 2000 by Congress without hearings or debate, the Byrd Amendment redirects antidumping and countervailing duties from the U.S. Treasury to those companies that petitioned or supported antidumping and countervailing duty actions. All other customs duties are deposited to the U.S. Treasury.
...
The Timken Company, a Fortune 500 Canton, Ohio-based producer of ball bearings and steel tubing, and its subsidiary MPB Corporation, took in the highest Byrd payments, totaling $81.2 million or approximately 36 percent of the total FY2005 disbursements.
...
Three other top Byrd Amendment recipients were Emerson Power Transmission, an Ithaca, NY-based bearings company ($16.6 million); Lancaster Colony Corporation, a Columbus, OH-based candle company ($11.4 million) and AK Steel Corporation ($7.1 million), a Middleton, OH steel producer. (See list of $1 million-plus recipients to be posted at http://citac.info/.)
...
Companies in the steel and steel-containing products sectors by far received the largest Byrd payouts, totaling $154 million. Other sectors that received substantial government payouts include food products, such as honey, pasta, and catfish ($26 million); candles ($21 million), and fibers ($5 million).

Creditors approve Stelco restructuring plan
Stelco Inc. Investor Relations
Stelco Inc. announced early this evening that a third amended restructuring plan was approved by affected creditors at the previously-adjourned meeting that resumed today. Affected creditors of certain Stelco subsidiaries also voted to approve the plan at other meetings resumed this afternoon.
At the meeting of affected creditors of Stelco Inc., the plan was approved by 78.4% of those affected creditors who voted in person or by proxy, representing 87.7% of the total value of affected claims that were voted at the meeting.
Courtney Pratt, Stelco President and Chief Executive Officer, said, 'We truly appreciate the support shown by our creditors today. The approved plan is fair, reasonable and responsible. It balances the competing interests of our stakeholders. And it paves the way for Stelco to emerge from Court protection and to become a viable and competitive steel producer for the long term.

Labels: stelco

As the Stelco turns (or is that twists?)
Stelco Inc. Investor Relations
Stelco Inc. announced early this morning that its Board of Directors has approved an amended restructuring plan for consideration by its creditors.
Courtney Pratt, Stelco President and Chief Executive Officer, said, 'The Board has approved an amended plan taking into account, among other things, the interests of the Company and fairness to our stakeholders. We believe the amended plan addresses those concerns in a fair, reasonable and responsible manner. While the amended plan contains certain new and positive features, including significant cash for our creditors, we are not in a position to say that it is supported by all stakeholders at this time.'

Labels: stelco

Boy, you think you can trust people these days, but the news of the last few weeks has had us all wondering, whom can we trust?

Sony Music/BMG has been putting dangerous spyware software on our computers without our consent, software that can slow down, damage or destroy your computer. The situation is so bad, the Attorney General of Texas is suing Sony, joining several other suits, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation suit, see: Sony Sued Over DRM Rootkit
Two other legal firms, Green Welling and Lerach, Coughlin, Stoia, Geller, Rudman and Robbins, joined the digital consumer advocacy group in the suit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

According to www.sonysuit.com, Microsoft has labeled Sony's software as "spyware" and plans to provide tools for its removal. Additionally, Sony is recalling unsold CDs from all stores and now offers an exchange program for the infected CDs. Sony contines to maintain that "there were no security risks associated with the anti- piracy technology", despite the earlier virus and malware reports.

There are five class action lawsuits already filed, with more certainly on the way. One is based in New York and is designed to cover all US citizens, two in California and focus solely on Californians. The Texas Attorney General has filed suit. A suit has been filed in Oklahoma focusing on citizens of that state as well. It also appears that the Law Firm of Lawrence E. Feldman & Associates is planning to file suit soon.

People, this is Sony! Starting in the '70s, I have trusted Sony implicitely. I have one of their early reel-to-reel tape decks, 3 of their cassette tape decks including a battery operated portable I used to record folk music in eastern Europe, I use their microphones when I DJ. More recently I bought 3 of their portable CD players, a portable boom box for teaching dance. I have goodness knows how many of their CDs, probably several hundred. I have one of the infected CD titles, although, luckily I turned Autorun off for my CD players in my PC.

Can't trust them any more!

Now Japanese architects and builders charged with the earthquake safety of buildings have been caught cheating on the strength calculations to cut costs ... And this architect says he isn't the only one, just one of many who have done this ...

Now what am I supposed to do? Check who the architect was before I walk near any building? How can I possibly do that?

The Boston Globe
Until the scandal broke, Hidetsugu Aneha was just an anonymous architect, running a small Tokyo-area company that carried out the mundane but crucial calculations on how much reinforced steel should be used to keep buildings from collapsing in an earthquake.

Now he is Japan's most notorious cheat.

Claiming he was under pressure from condominium and hotel builders looking to cut costs, Aneha has admitted to fiddling with safety figures on at least 21 buildings, prescribing steel bars that were too thin and too few in number to absorb the shock of a major quake. If a big tremor shook those buildings, he confessed last month to the Japanese media mob that staked out his office demanding an explanation, ''there is a possibility they could fall down."

''Pillars might bend or crash," he said. ''I think there might be human damage."

The aftershocks to that confession have rumbled across Japan. At least seven hotels have closed. Angry condominium owners have fled their homes, demanding their money back, and construction has paused on other Aneha-related projects. Of the first 14 affected buildings reexamined by engineers, all but one was ordered demolished.

And investigators who went looking for signs of trouble in the rest of the 206 condominiums, apartment blocks, and hotels that Aneha had a hand in designing across Japan have so far found he fudged the numbers on at least 43 of them.

[...]

Aneha said at a closed-door hearing of government officials that three construction companies had ordered him to reduce the amount of reinforced steel in his designs or they would take their business elsewhere.

Another side to the Byrd Amendment ...

Daily Comet Thibodaux, LA
The federal government may be crawfishing on its commitment to collect tariff payments for commercial fishermen.

Domestic crawfish producers filed their own anti-dumping petition in the late 1990s out of fear that foreign competitors could shutter the local marketplace. Chinese tail meat was so inexpensive during the period, in fact, that dozens of Louisiana processors -- many in Acadiana -- did end up going out of business.

When the Department of Commerce initiated tariffs on the foreign competitors in 2001, the move brought some relief to domestic interests. Louisiana’s crawfish industry has received $25.4 million since that time.

If the repeal passes, however, that same money would end up going to the U.S. Treasury in coming years.

Commissioner of Agriculture and Forestry Bob Odom, who partly oversaw the crawfish tariff initiative, said he hopes Congress will not only preserve the current Byrd Amendment but even consider expanding it to include crawfish farmers, not just processors.

"We fought long and hard to get the tariffs in place, and the money collected rightfully belongs to the industry," Odom said.

But unlike their crawfish brethren, Louisiana shrimpers have yet to receive a dime.

Scott St. Pierre, a Galliano-based commercial shrimper, said he has grown increasingly discouraged. Like others, he scrambled to fill out the necessary paperwork to apply for Byrd Amendment money but was disappointed by the end result.

"A check for zero dollars," he said. "Are they not collecting the tariff? I don't know."

the Byrd Amendment has only benefited a handful of large companies around the U.S. --- five companies received nearly 40 percent of the total distributions over four years

Protectionism, protectionism, here it comes again ...

Hint: "all" you have to do is get the Chinese to stop manipulating their currency, and the steel will become 40% more expensive, ergo it won't be "dumping" any more.

yahoo.com
Just as U.S. steelmakers are beginning to reap big profits again after decades of red ink and bankruptcies, the specter of foreign steel manufacturers dumping cheap imports is looming over the industry.
The global surge in demand, driven in part by China's industrial revolution, has spawned calls for Washington to act to stem the flood and protect American steel manufacturers.
Data show that total steel imports rose at least 18 percent from September to October, while Chinese steel production was 4.3 percent higher in October than September, despite Beijing's promises to curb its domestic industry.

Interfax
"A top executive at China's Iron and Steel Association (CISA) criticized Friday a government report that predicts an enormous oversupply of steel in 2006.
Qi Xiangdong, the deputy general secretary of CISA, said he does not think China's steel supply will exceed demand by more than 1 million tons next year as outlined in a report recently released by the Development Research Center of the State Council, according to a statement Qi posted on the CISA's official website.
He called the results of the center's investigation unprofessional and incredible.

Lots of copper news today Prices are rising, despite a (small) China sell-off

Bloomberg.com
Copper rose to a record in London, heading for its seventh week of gains, on signs global economic growth is boosting demand, outpacing supplies from mining companies and scrapyards.
Construction spending in the U.S., the world's No. 2 copper consumer, rose for a fourth straight month in October, while manufacturing growth last month in the 12 nations using the euro was the fastest in more than a year, government and industry reports showed yesterday. Copper demand outpaced global production by 114,000 tons in the first eight months of this year, the Lisbon-based International Copper Study Group said.

Copper rises after China sells reserves at high price
Copper prices rose again on Wednesday after China sold reserves of the metal at a higher price than some traders had estimated, signaling continued strong demand.

In Beijing, the State Reserve Bureau auctioned 14,000 tons of copper on Wednesday at $4,601 to $4,743 per ton.

"People in the Shanghai market were surprised" by the auction prices, said Edward Meir, a commodity analyst. Copper is gaining because of some shortages and good demand, he added.


And something to look forward to:
China To Auction Another 20,000 Tons Of Copper On Dec 7

SRB sold 20,000 tons at the first auction on November 16, and nearly 13,500 tons in the second auction on November 23. In the third auction on November 30 [...] it sold 13,834 tons.

Labels: Copper