Steel Strip

MEPS report a that steel oversupply continues to drive prices down
Steel prices for both flat and long products are in decline across the whole ofEurope. The downward movement is proving to be stronger than most observers –and steel producers – anticipated even a few months ago.Many mills haveannounced cutbacks in production in an attempt to [...]

The MG Rover demise is causing concern for jobs at Telford based Johnson Controls according to the Telford Journal. The American owned company is owed £1.5 million and has been told it has little chance of receiving any of its money back. The company employs hundreds of people at its sites at Halesfield and Stafford [...]

In contrast to businesses that sell consumer goods, and are paid immediately, most manufacturing companies including steel suppliers sell “on account”. Payment for supplies is usually scheduled for between thirty and sixty days after delivery. It is therefore not only good practice to deal with complaints quickly, but often a financial necessity too, as customers [...]

What a waste of Bandwidth.
Tonight I was using BlogPulse to check out any chat in the steel world. I have found some “gold” out there amongst the web logs, although it can be a painstaking job to find it.
What really “pissed me off” whoever was ploughing the bandwidth wasting drivel, which is epitomised by this [...]

Firstly I am not a great TV fan, I can usually find much better things to do with my evenings (sometimes not even involving drinking), but I shall be checking out ITV tonight at 8. Sandwiched between Airline and Corrie is “Tonight with Trevor McDonald” , the first of a two part investigation in to [...]

It’s two months on from the Rover collapse and still too early to assess the long term effects.
It’s clear from talking to steel strip suppliers and users alike that things are very quiet in the UK at the moment. High stocks and flat demand are resulting in low activity. Add to that the Rover effect, [...]

German steel and industrial group ThyssenKrupp expects global steel prices to stay soft for up to five months.
As reported by Reuters
Increased Steel production in the first quarter, combined with high stock levels at service centres and re-processors and reduced demand from China have combined to keep pressure on price.
I would add that talking to the [...]

I recently read Pauls posting over at Tinbasher regarding the state of UK business Blogs and I am unashameably going to reproduce it here, to put in to context my own thoughts.
Do you recall how 2005 was supposed the year of the business blog?
As it stands I’m possibly more inclined to think that it may [...]

I have just come back from a short break in Turkey, with my significant “other half”, who has finally realised her dream of having a home in the sun.
Having left Birmingham on a wet and windy Monday night, we appear to have brought some Mediterranean sun back with us, so I am writing this dispatch [...]